Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1904-08-08

lookin' fer George Iast nlgur, ne pc
gan awkwardly, tan lowed thar'd
be no harm In havin' a word with you.
That's all right 'twixt me m George,
squire. He told me jest now he never
knowed what he was about ans that
he's sorry. shucks he never hurt me,
Mr.. Hillyer. Besides, I'd let that chap
maui me in the face as much as he
likes after the friend he's been to Jeff.
Eff he's done my boy one favor he has
a hundred My wife feels jest like
do about George, an eff she was to hear
I'd got i'm in trouble over little thing
like that last night she'd quit me-"
$50 thar won't be no charge agin
i'm, them said Hillyer in relief.
'sNot bit" said the mountaineer, un-
consciously stroking the jaw George
Buckley had bruised the night before.
THE marshal come to me jest now an
axed me eff I wanted to make case,
an told i'm he was crazy, that me n
George was jest playir', an some o.
them dern niggers lowed we was fus-
SIM
''I'm glad you feel that way, Truitt, ;"
said Hillyer, and he went into the Of
fee, sat down at his desk and began
to read his mail.
Two citizens of barley made the
warehouse their business headquarters,
using the desks without pay. Henry
Hanks, a tall, lank, married man about
ffty-fve years of age, had desk in
one corner of the office. He wore a
long brown beard, was dyspeptic. yell
low skinned and nervous. He was a
Confederate veteran who had, after the
war, developed q surprising capacity
for making money out of the unfortu-
nate section he had bravely fought for
He was a well to do note shaver, and
sold farmers thei- yearly supplies at
an enormous profit. Anything from a
cooking stove to yoke Of oxen was
considered good security when once de-
scribed in the ssiron clad" mortgage
note of which he was the inventor. He
never wore a vest, and the pockets of
his thin coat were always bulging with
notes and accounts which he carried on
his person to have them ready at mo-
ment's notice when he ran across de-
linquent. The other citizen was Jim
Kenner, a jovial cotton buyer, bach
elor about forty-five years of age, who
was the very life of the little circle.
When he had business to transact he
could be as long faced and serious as
any one else; but even then his humor
was apt to bubble up and burst at the
very moment no one was expecting it.
His chief amusement was in teasing
Hanks, whom he sarcastically called
sold Liberality," or lib" for short.
He spoke with whine that always
ended in rasping laugh thatwas very
infectious. Hanks had never been
known to smile, and yet close observ-
er would have seen that, In his own
way. he seemed to enjoy all his assoc
ciate's levity. 1t was chilly day and
there was good fire in the long wool
stove, and the two men bent over II.
George Buckley sat on his high stool
at his desk at work on his big ledger.
Say, George whined Kenner, as he
threw cigar stump under the stove
and leaned back In his chair did you
ever hear that tale Bill Cover is a-teIl-
In on Lib, about his burn out when he
used to be In the junk business?''
George smiled indulgently and said,
without looking round. that he had
not
lab made his start in the junk bush
ness down at the fur end o. the street, |"
said Kenner. "Jest after the surrender
thar was a lots o. scrap iron an the
like lynn around, an he gsade money
buyin' it up an shippin' it to iron
foundries. Then he added wheat an
peas an corn as a side line, an one
fall when he had a purity big stock of
everything his shack tuck fire. A wind
was a-blowin an things looked shaky.
A line o. bucket passers was formed to
the highest well, an we was dom pur-
I ty fair work when Lib come lopin'
down the street. maxim a noise like a
boss full o. water When he seed what
we was dom he got awful ratified an
yelled for us to tote out the stuff.
wasn't nigh i'm, but Bill Cover says
when some o. the crowd laid hold o.
the wheat sacks Lib yelled at 'em, Let
the, wheat alone, it's insured; tote out
the scrap iron?'
George laughed at this recital, but
Hanks simply swung his foot back and
forth and chewed the end OF his I'M
lighted cigar To all appearances he
had not heard word of what had
been said.
(To Be Continued)