St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-05-13
The Words of &
Contrary Swayback
T was the first day sence the snow
had come and holed us up back o

had come and hOled us up back o
Lackawack like 'coons in a holler log,
said the man from the classic but some
what ambiguous division of the Pike
county 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 US 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'. and it wasn't long be-
fore they begun to buzz.
"I see, says he, that none OF you
don't recomember the winter Of
But | cut in and shet him off right
there by sayin':
I'VE amt settin' here. Uncle Jase,'
says. to listen to no Contrary Sway
backin!' says.
"Wunst on time Pete Swayback was
our Oldest inhabitant, and he had setch
an uncompromisin' way O. facin' us
down by rememberin' the time when
somethin had happened that was
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 lingerin'
yit in back o. Lackawack.
I'VE used to have some toler'ble snug
and sarchin' weather there, takin' it
as the seasons come and went. and |
recomember one day in July when the
sun was jest asizzlin' things so that
had to quit mowin' and pull for the
shade of a tree over to the edge of the
field. and it was nigh about all cd do
to keep from cookin fore l got there.
When I got to the tree who did l find
iollin' there but Contrary Swayback.
He was pantin' wuss than a tired-out
churn dog and ketchin' for breath till
l 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.
Peter mopped his face awhile and
betwiXt pants he says to me:
"DanI,' he says, this d.be most like
the frosts O. November says he, long
side the July we had back in 49,
"A drought struck us one spring and
hung on to us for weeks. Everything
was dryer than 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
q spring in the hull district that had
water enough in it for a 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 u
pint dipper.
Zone day, at the height O. this dry
SPELL, l was comm home with pail O.
water from the pond, and l met Pete
Swayback in the road. His lips was
crackin' and h5 tongue was thick, he
wanted drink SO bad, but he never let
on that such was the case, and says to
him:
Pete l 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.
IeC6 tTleO W ScI d lllllc .uiOlStul
on to his lips by wipin' EN- with his
tongue but there want none there, and
without even lookin' at the water in
my pail, he says:
"Dan1,' 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 49,
81 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, mile wide, most, in
some fiat places, and on top O one O.
them rippin' floods what should come
ridin' and bobbin' down when they was
at their very wust but Pete Swayback' S
cabin. and Pete straddlin' its peak like
a circus man on camel.
THE rollin' waters sweep the cabin
under the overhangin' limb of a button
wood tree, and scraped Pete off into the
b'ilin' flood, kerplunk. Clean down out
o. sight he went, but come up agin in
time to ketch log that was rushin' by,
and away he went down stream agln,
ridin' the log. ..... 5."