The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-24

voted for it, but some O the others baked.
 They said ,twan't poker. But we l talked 'tm over, an 1t happened as no" the very first time we started that there
 side kitty Marm Spoonover bust Into the room.
 Up state they tell how twas nlgh hundred year ago t the big earthquake | come t left the hull St. Francis Valley nigh foteen feet lower n any O the | country round, but all up through them | sunken counties folks is still a talkln about that ere earthquake. Fears ike things don't happen frequent In them parts like they does in city ike this'
 an it's news up there yet
 l Anyway, they talk about 1t continual I an pears like they're aPays on the look l out for a earthquake. Likely that's the | reason the fambly next door to me held
 camp meetin' out in the street TT the
 res Q, the night a'ter Marm Spoonover bust in. They was i'm the St. Francis
 country.
 | things hadn't gone none too well up to I Ben's place fir the most O the winter
 He hadn't said much about 1t, but we | seen f he want none too well off, Il | some O the boys was kind O chahn about buyin' out O turn when he was settln in on every round.
 ''Bein' as he was good spender when | he had it. there hadn't been nothin said,
 but we was all wishin' he'd make a raise somehow, afore his hardupness Q | get chronic.
 "When Joe Bassett came in that even i in an told about this here yap up to l the hotel t had a wad an was lookin | for a game I says to myself right away | t here was a chanst O Ben Spoonover a settin' in an maybe pullin' out. "He were a tol'ble good player at times If he'd been more reliable. likely he'd hal stood in with the reg lar players. but he had a way O backin' queen high too obstinate an maxim other fool plays un-
 expected t kind O disqualified him as a expert when it come to the real Arkansas City game.
 That was how come I says to Ben t may be there'd be a chanst for him to
 set in that night, but Ben he shook his
 head.
 "I'm fiat broke, he says, 'an' there ain't no way f'r me to buy a white chip 'thouten you stake me, 'nless t l sh'd
 sell the COW. Martin wants her, but kind O hate to let her go. bein her milk
 is nigh all there is to eat in the house. Can't you loan me twenty-hveT
 Well, I thought ha' let him had 1t,
 bein as I al'ays liked Ben tof able much,
 if t hadn't been f'r the COW, but l hate to see any man get the habit O borryin', so told him I was short, an Ben went off n sold the COW. An that was how
 come t Marm spoonover bust in. T aint sayin' t Ben had quite oughter had done it, if things was as he said they was, but bein' as twas did. an he'd invested the money, an the yap 1 was there i'm up the river with his wad | it did look as If tn old woman might ha' been mite reasonable. an waited | till mornin' fr somepin to eat, stead O bustin in, like she did. an breakin' up | one O the most promisin' games we'd | had fir a hull season.
 "But that was what was sayin' about women in the first place. Pears like there ain't no tellIn' what they'll do, any | time. Ben thought ha' gone home with | hundred or two in the mornin', an If he hadn't. Marm Spoonover wouldn't ha' | been no worse off n she was, seein' the | COW was sold. Stead O that, she bust In. "The game was a progressin' prosper I ous Feared this here yap had come I'm some part O the country where 'twan't customary for to make full house. l drawin' to two pair, an he had a up- | state confidence in ace flush agin a one-card draw t was well calc'iated for