The Cairo bulletin., 1905-09-26
THE FOG AT SQUONK.
BY R. K. MuNK1TrR1cx.


Knees about a foot. higher than his
mead, when was young man the los
down here TO Squonk was 50 all-fire
thick that Inc wind could NOT biuw IL
away The wind only dried il aad left
II lying around In drifts. We useh tc
cut IL up in stove lengths and use il
tor fuel, as it was easier to chop than
wood One day l aot elughs In IN
log when | was in swimming vhen
the los was SO thick that you could
hold on to 1t TO keep from SINKING A.
came all OF sudden and | could no
tell which way the land was To save
my HE. can just tell you | got
mighty scared when | couldn't tell
winch way was a-swimming. / struck
out and just took the chances on head
ing In the right direction. Soon bang
went my head against something
solld!"
he paused moment and a boy who
was minching peppermint lozenge
interrupted him by asking:
Was 1t a boat you struck"
thought SO at first" replied old
Uncle obed, but It wasn't no boat Al
all It was rocking chair, and land.
ca right a-settin' in it,"
Whiie the grocery crowd opened rs
eyes y blank establishment the how
who was still engaged in grinding on
the peppermint lozenge. found time
TO ask:
what! rocking chair rocking in
the sea?''
No, not In the sea" replied the old
water dog, with chuckle; mot In the
sea, put on my front stoop. You see
! haa been a-swimming right along in
she log, and not in the water at al
ana | never could understand how
Ger had such luck as to land kerr
hop IN that there rocking chair
Many queer things must have han
pened when YOU had one OF those foes
on, said a bystander. whose remark
vas intended to draw the old Souonker
out
! Just guess there did, replied OLD
Uncle 0bed, Ii a reminiscent sort az
way Il Just guess there did. some
times the schooiboys would make a
lot of fog balls Gust like snowhalls
YOU know, and have d regular foe
Dall night with them after the fog
banks had went away. They also
made fog forts and fog men. II YOU
could only set on top Of fog bank
once you could roll the stun 40 into
balls, and the more you rolled them
the bigger they got
How could you get Oh top OF the
log hank?" asked one Of the summer
residents.
When we began to climb On ,on
q them replied old Uncle Obed, I'VE
used to lay d ladder up against the
SIDE q II and Chamber up
And what did you want ID 40 m
lori asked the boy, who was still
masfflcating the peppermint lozengea
TO catch fish. Sometimes Goldfish
and bluehsh would swim Id on the
'og, lust like | did when | lit inter
me rocking chair, and when the for
went away they would be left fion-
ping on the ground.
You may think 1t sounds like ly1n'
g say we could walk around on the
Iog that was wet enough to swim in
tut u won't seem SO funny when | say
nat we wore snowshoes. We used
2 walt until the fog got sorter drv
ING tllen we'd press chunks of 1t out
lat Ter wallpaper. rugs and mat
iesses. After we got these things
pressed out we'd varnish them. ann
nat would waterproof them 90 they'd
lever warp or lose their shape.
rave seen ducks swimming in wet
90 down here to squonk, and I've seen
lehs scratching around In dry for
ts All Q question Of your foE's bntn'
yet or dry Eve seen a fine Initiation
i mineral wool made out Of fag s,,pp
= we used to have down hero ~
'quohk, and once when we had CLIMBED
ne sheep the fog sprouted on them
no growed SO fast that we got Eve
y SIX crops that couldn't fall or them
very summer. This fog wool was
ust Ike raw silk, and the silkworm
vas put out Of business by the silk
heep. Gosh. you ought to see the
urtalns we made out of 1t. But il
'asnt as good. by jugful, for blank
Is emo shingles as the raw foe right
II the sea. Sometimes we would
train 1t for pearls"
What exclaimed the crowd.
Strain It for pearls" reiterated
'ncle Obed, as If it was nothing IN
sual
do you expect lis to believe that
ncle Obed?' asked the crowd.
do you think It's unreasonable,
We'll, rather!" answered the crowd
/ chorus. I
"All right then" replied Uncle 4
bed, With an injured air, "then.T won't q
I'll you nothing more about the won 4
erful fog down here to Squonk.
seq 10 drive staples into II and fas-
20 the cows to the same with
,pe 70 keep them from straying away.
nd have pasted and nailed circus
osters and advertisements ORTIZ IT.
lt won't tell you nothn moro about
because you amt got no faith In
-.