Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1904-03-19
EZRA BRIGGS
ktVtNOt B, D. H.
TALMADGE


tlnS Ou tue lIOnt pOICu VI HIS tStablSl
ment lazily putting small clouds OF
blue smoke into the air and blinking
comfortably at his slppercd feet
which were resting against II post OIL
q level with his face. | spoke to him.
and the feet slipped down with IL thud
"Howdy." he said Some warmish
amt it?'
! nodded, wiping from my face the
perspiration engendered by an i'll adj
viscd walk of two miles over a road
unshadcd from a merciless July sun
The family at the farmhouse where
from motives of economy. was spend
ing my vacation had gone to Il funeral.
and l had wearied of my own compa-
ny. Wherefore. the afternoon being
too hot for fishing. had come to Har-
leyville to seek companiOnship.
I'D have went to Ikes funeral my
self" said the storekeeper whon | had
explained thus to his understn nding
20, and | didn't like to close up the
place on account Of the pOstoffice.
was down to Ike's when the great
damp breath blew his lamp out. l set
up with him two or three nights along
at the last"
"He was a close friend of yoursY'
l asked.
"Well." signing exploslvply. there
aln't much doubt he was considerable
close, and we was always friends, him
and me- had feeling Of sympathy
for him during the last years of his
life, tOO-sOrt Of an admiration for
him because he took his medicine like
does"
"Then he had long been an invalid"
mo; that amt the idea. He wasn't
sick n great while. The story dates
back nigh on to twenty years. when
him and Ezra Briggs was rivals for the
hand of Martha Telford. Twas nip
and tuck between 'em. but Ezra finally
won the match. Ike was fool enough
to get mad about it. and when his pa
died, leaving among his other effects il
mortgage on the old Briggs place where
Ezra was living. his parents both being
defunct, he foreclosed the thing and
made n regular dickens Of a bad mess.
Ezra could have paid II he'd had an
other six months, but Ike wouldn't
wait That was the beginning Of n
mighty hard time for Ezra. Nothing
he touched after that seemed to pros
per. Him and Martha-there wasn't no
children-come at last to live In house
cI Inv
the mill yondcr, and the woman's love.
SO my wife and daughter sny. sort Of
took sick and died. I've heard tell there
amt much female love that's proof
against poverty long drawn out. and
heaps Of what passes for real honest
affection leaks away through the worn
out places in wOmans clothes.
"It's my opinion that Martha wasn't
real comfortable person to live with
during the last two or three years of
Ezra's life. I've got suspicion. more
or less founded on fact. that she was
sourer than the dregs of vinegar and
that her patience sort of shot off like n
GatAng gun once 1t had busted. Ezra
took sick finally with somebody or 9th
ers disease of something or other that
the doctors said was incurnble. and he
didn't keep up after that. just poked
around and groaned till the trouble
knocked him down into bed.
"He kept his own counsel pretty
much. but I've got notion he was
nursing n feeling OF bitterness against
Ike most Of the time then. said to
myself 'twould he blessing If the old
death angel would only flop down and
carry him off before he done anything
that would shock the community
"But was worrying unduly. How
ever much he may have been figuring
on revenge, there wasn't no bloody vIo-
lence mixed into his figuring. He did
give the community sort of shock.
though. such as twas Most Of us
couldn't understand then why he done
as he did. but 1t is as clear as molas sses
to me now.
"The river yonder five years ago
last March got on ripping tear owing
to sudden thaw. and among other
things 1t done 1t swoopcd down across
Ike's barnyard and carried off Il lot Of
live stock and things. Including Ike
himself. who was trying to rescue
valuable ram he'd paid big price for
Mt the state fair.
"He went along with the flood and
never stopped till he stuck in the
branches of a small tree about seventy
or eighty feet from shore near where
EZra's house stood. And as chance
would have 1t Ezra heard him yelpng
for help and dragged himself out OF
the house. where he was staying alone
with his disease while Martha washed
dishes up to the hotel over at Bottom
village.
"Now. 'twould have been no more
than natural for a man I'm Ezra's po-
sition to have done nothing but gloat
over the situation. But Ezra didn't
do nothing of the kind He hustled
around as fast rs his disease would
let him to save Ike before the tree
come unrooted.
"He got long rope and tried to
throw one end of 1t TO Ike. but 1t fell
about five feet short every time. so he
waded out into the water, though the
doctor had told him 'twould kill him
TO get his feet wet When Ike had
tied one end of the rope to himself
Ezra tied the other end to a fence post.
and the current done the rest.
"That wetting OF his feet and legs
WAS the hepinninp Of FZrn's finish