The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-19

1 soon diskivered that my feelin
had not played me false. The mayor
of the town had boss which could
canter bit. ans after he had throwed
out few hints about integrity PEN
the highway to success, 1 put up SIS
and rode my own boss and beat MIN
three rods in mile. In the nrst
flush of his disappointment his I'M
petuous natur' forced him to call me
a scoundrel and liar. but later On
he apolCgized i'll the most contrite
and humble manner
had sxeercely given the heathen
credit for $3.50 on account, when the
cross-eyed postmaster began to md
fault with the legs of my hghtin dog,
and argue that they had been tied IN
wrong. In order to settle the ques-
ton we put up SIS apiece in the
hands of the man who invented the
motto. What is Home Without a
Mother" and the postmaster brought
out his own canine.
The conflict lasted only nine min
utes at the end of which time the
stakes were passed over to me, and
I wrote down a credit of $3.50 more
for the poor black men who know
nothin' of the game of golf. and have
no watches to set and wind as the
days pass slowly by.
l was sorry for the postmaster in
a way. but no cross-eyed man should
leap to conclusions and bet Oh them.
He observed in the same degree of
heat that he could lick me in two
minues but as it was the town of Red
Hot 1 refused to take his fervidness
amiss-
The people were anxious for tin
types, but when I had taken two dog
en- the justice of the peace in and for
that town came about and softly OBJ
served:
1T may be that in your pilgrimage
you may hev met up with the game
of poker?'
Il hev," I admitted, land tits a sin
full game. 1t has parted the best of
friends 1 even caught my own uncle
with an ace up his sleeve and had to
withdraw my confidence from him."
Il am disappointed in you," said
the justice, as he turned away with
a sigh Il thought you a likely man.
The game of poker is sinful or good,
accordin' to who plays and what the
objeck is. If me and you should sot
down and purvide the heather of
Africa with russell shoes and celluloid
collars, could the best of men say
nay? on the contrary. if we had in
view the smashin' of the Chicago
meat trusts, 1 grant you that our fell
ler-men might look askance at us.
Under these conditions, I might
take a few hands," says 1. and little
later we had a jackpot on the board.
won't think the justice had the
interest of the far-away at heart as
much as 1 did. I don't think be-
cause at the end of two hours 1 had
the $50 with which he had heeled
nlSSGlI 10 uGInOASn me. Oue Cre0lI
should be given him for maxim four
raises on a pair of aces when 1 held
three of a kind but the fms of the
game did not find him in boundin'
speerits. On the contrary, he init
mated that If 1 was brought before
him on a charge of stealth a hog he
would give me six months in Jail
without hearin' any of the witnesses.
/ think he went away calkerlatin' to
stir up strife again me, and thus prove
my words about the sinfulness of
poker, but before he had succeeded in
creatin' a feelin' of hostility he fell
into the river and was hauled out so
wet that he abandoned his plans.
1 had credited up 81 more to the
people spoken OF, and was maxim
ready to exhibit and sell my Allevi-
ator. when a red-headed citizen dis
kivered my grasshopper in his bottle,
and cried out agin my cruelty to ami
mails I explained that 1 had found
the hopper on the plains. an orphan