Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1905-05-04
The Words Of H.
Contrary Swayback.
T was the first day sence the snow
had come and hOled us up back o.

LackaWack like 'cOOnS In holler log,
said the man from the classic but some
What ambiguous division Of the Pike
ccunty woods and ridges, that any of US
had dug himself out SO as he could git
down to the tavern, and we was allowin'
among VI pooty strong that no setch
weather as that had ever sot down on
to US before, when see that Uncle Jase
was windin' up his recollectin' works
to set 'em goin'. AID it wasn't long be-
fore they begun to buzz.
ct see,' says he, that none Of you
don't recomember the winter Of
But I cut in and shet him on right
thereby sayin':
1--WE amt settin' here, Uncle Jase,'
says, to listen to no Contrary Sway
backinH' says.
"Wunst on time Pete Swayback was
our oldest inhabitant, and he had setch
an yuncompromisin' way O. facin' us
down by rememberin' the time when
somethin' had happened that was a
leetle wuss than anything that was hap
PENN with us, partic'ly the weather,
that we used to call him old Contrary
Swayback, and his memory is lingertn'
yit in back O. Lackawack.
I'VE used to have some toler'ble snug
and s'archin' weather there, takin' it
as the seasons come and went, and /
recomember one day in July when the
sun was jest a-sizzlin' things so that l
had to quit mowin' and pull for the
tn tho oA0o NJ tn a
field, and it was nigh about all l cd do
to keep from cookin' fore l got there
When I got to the tree who did l find
lollin' there but Contrary Swayback.
He was pantin' wuss than a tired-Out
churn dog and ketchin' for breath till
/ was afeard he was goin' to die, while
the sweat rolled often him big as peas.
Peter says as soon as could git
wind enough to talk, this is leetle the
red hottest of any red hot weather that
was ever made and I'll bet on it, l
says. e
"Peter mopped his face awhile and
betwixt pants he says to me:
'Danl,' he says, 'this'd be most like
the frosts O. November says he, long
side the July we had back in '48!' ~
"A drought struck us one spring and
hung on to us for weeks. Everything
was dryer than a bone, and the cattle
was standin' around with their tongues
hangin' out, poor critters, cause water
was so tremendous skeerce.
"The wells was dry, and there wasn't
a spring in the hull district that had
water enough in it for chippy bird to
battle In. had to lug water in from the
pond, two miles from home, and the
pond was gittin' so low that had to dip
the water out of it into my pail with a
pint dtpper.
Zone day, at the height O. this dry
spell, l was comm home with a pail o.
water from the pond, and met Pete
Swayback in the road. His lips was
crackin' and his tongue was thick, he
wanted q drink so bad, but he never let
on that such was the case, and says to
him: ..
"'Pete,' says, if~there's been any
thing dryer'n this spell of Our'n sence
the ashes O. Sodom and Gomorry, says,
.hist'ry's forgot to set it down.
pete tried to get little moistur'
on to his lips by wipin' 'em with his
tongue, but there want none there, and,
without even lookin' at the water In
my pail, he says:
".Danl,' says he, this dry spell is
like sponge you could squeeze wetness
out of by the bar'l, says he, to the
drought that tackled us in the spring
of '48.'
II guess it was the very next fall after
that when we had them tremendous
rains. They fell night and day for a
week, and the creeks was ragin' and
roarin' torrents, a mile wide, most, in
some fiat places, and on top O. one O.
them rippin' floods what should come
ridiu' and bobbin' down when they was
at their very wust but Pete Swayback's
cabin, and Pete straddlin' its peak like
circus man on camel.
.aThe rollin' waters swep' the cabin
under the overhangin' limb of a button
wood tree, and scraped Pete OF into the