The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-11-12
A Fool Streak
at Wigglefork
By 2. Il. aALMADGE
Copyright. 1901, By Daily story rub. co..


Dc IT'S a piece OF dunn foolishness
Them fellers ought to have sense
enough to know Wigglefork can't sup
port two drays. / amt certain sure
1t can support one. It appears to me
boy with a wheelbarroW could attend
to all the drayin' business there is
here, and then have time to cut the
family wood,-it does, by jinks.
Ezra Rollins seated himself in the
front doorway Of the Wigglefork gen
eral store and cast severe eye down
the street in the direction Of the rail-
way station where two drays we're
racing to the accompaniment OF tlnk-
ling bells. Inen he rubbed his nose
and continued:
''Of course, just now while the quar-
Tyin' business is goin' on SO big, there's
more or less jobbin' around to do
pretty near as much as would make 1t
worth while for one man and team,
but that amt goin' to last long. l
spotted that ledge Of rock down there
80 years ago, and got an expert here
to look 1t over. but he said tWasn't
any use goin' into it: the stone was
practically worthless for buildin' pur-
poses. So''-he smiled dry1y-"when
these fellers come along and wanted
to buy q couple OF acres Of my bluffs at
a good figure just naturally closed the
deal before they had a chance to back
out. It's been good thing for the
town, too" he added, refectively.
They've got il men workin', and
every one Of EN- has got good appe-
ute and enough wages to keep 1t salts
fed. The Widow Ruggles is boardin'
nine of 'em. She says she's goin' to
take a trip back to York state this
fall
Salem Tunk. who had driven into
town with a load Of hoop poles that
morning and was spending an hour
with his old friend, the storekeeper,
suddenly Strengthened his shoulders.
she is. hey?" he said. II reckon
maybe I'd better see il she cant pay
me for that. cow sold her last fall. Z
'The girl bought clothes with the
profits said Mr. Rollins "'Twas just
about then that Bill Elliott begun to
shine around her, and when a girls
got beau she thinks she's in duty
bound to wear fancier clothes than she
would otherwise I've got notion the
Ruggles girls a kind Of fool. It's
along of her that Bill Elliott and his
brother Jim are maxim fools OF them
selves with their drays."
%, 'tis?" Mr. Tunk appeared inter
ssted. Both got a hankerin' for her.
hey?"
Seem to have" The storekeeper
arose to wait on a little girl who
wanted nickel's worth of brown
sugar, then reseated himself III the
doorway. "Jim's been overheard to tell
Bill that he begun maxim, advances to-
wards the girl first, and Bill's been
overheard to reply that nobody, not
even the girl, seemed to know it If he
was maxim advances, and IL didn't
make dun bit of difference, anyhow.
Twas Bill's idea--fbe comm to town
and startin' up dray line. He had
team Of his own, and q dray was the
nature Of 3 permanent town business
in connection with a team reckon he
thought he had Jim fixed when he done
1t. OF course, you see, Teller in town
all the time where the girl is has got
q heap better show than the Teller that's
four miles away on his pas farm, all
other things bein' equal. But 'twasn't
long before Jim seraped up team, too,
"a couple OF bronchos that are afraid
of their own shadders, and lie rugged
up dray and come to town. Him and
Bill don't speak; / don't reckon .
words passed between 'em for six
months.
But how do they manage the court
IMP" asked air. Tunk. amazedly.
well, they amt doin' much courtin'.
You see, they can't. Sometimes Bill
meets the girl on the street and chins
with her. and sometimes Jim meets
her and ehins with her. but beyond
that there amt much doin' They
don't let each other get out Of
sight very long at a time; when
you hear one Of their fool drays
taink1in' along, pretty soon you'll
hear the ether And in the meantime,
just betuixt you and me, the voice
Of Mr.. Rollins fell to whisper and a
roguish expression appeared in his
fshlike eyes-eunless things go con-
trary TO what I'm flgurin', I'll be mar
Tyin' the widow fore them fool boys
come to their senses. Don't say moth
I'm OF it, Salem; she's kind Of beatin'
about the bush with me vet. after the
way Of all women but shes @ine. I
amt no fool when 1t comes to
4 customer appeared at this juneture
"a woman who wanted calico.
Mr.. Tunk sat for time impassiYely
blinking at the quiet scene presented
by the priAcipai thoroushfare Of Wig