The Ocala evening star., 1905-07-15
UNCLE
AND HIS WILL.

Mr.. Owens slowly drew a fat green
pod from the basket beside him. split
il down the middle with his thumb
and sent the peas rafting into a pan
between his knees; then ne took his
pipe from his mouth and yawned
broadly.
Slow job, this shellin peas, amt
il.
Yes said /. Il often wonder that
no one has invented way Of she!ling
them by machinery"
Invention" he snorted. Don't
ever say invention 10 me again.
wish every feller that ever invented
anything was hung"
was much surprised and asked
him TO explain. After some coaXing
Mr. Owens complied with my wish,
and began:
Yer never seed Maria's (my wife's)
Uncle Ephum, did yer? No? Well, the
old man was a queer un. | tell yer.
Richer'n the steel trust. he was; had
thirty acres er 'op gardens and a fish
wier and a quarter interest in mack
erel boat and Lord knows what more,
besides a lot of cash in the bank.
Maria and her first cousin. Siddie. was
the only near relations he had after
his wife. Ant Olindy that was. died
Well, Siddie and her old man and
Maria and me figgered considerable
on the old mans money and who was
agOin' TO get il when the old man peg
ged out. Siddie and her tribe wasn't
on speakin' terms with me and Maria,
OWN to a leetle sQuabble we had
over dog he owned that bit my brin-
die heifer and scarf her so she run
onto the railroad track and got made
into hash by the up train. There was
a lawsuit and one thing er another ter
add ter the general good feelin' be-
sides
So me and Maria guessed that none
of the money was goin' to Siddie, and
Siddie said the same thing about US.
Uncle Eph was kinder impartial, as
yer might say. One spell he'd be for
us and have his will fixed up so as
We could get everythin. and the next
thing yer know he would twist around
and leave it all to tother side of the
fence.
Fust off he came and lived with US,
and he was trial and no mistake;
crOss-grained and fussy and deef-
why. he was so deef that a cannon
might have gone off by his ear and all
he'd say would be. What? Why don't
you speak lOuder?"
Men Maria put up with it as best
we could and never give him any back
answers and did our best to please
him. KNOWN quite well that the meek
inherit the earth.
But he overdone it, He was dread
ful fussy about his eatin'. ani one
time he took a notion for goDseba-ry
pie. Nothin' would do but he mist
have gooseherry pie So Maria she
cooked a big one and he ct most the
whole of it and was awful si"K. and
swOre We tried to poison hin. He
had his will changed. leaving evcry--
thing 10 Siddie. and went off and lived
with her and her old man for most a
year.
We was purity down in the mouth.
but everythin' comes TO them who
waits. and bimeby he had a row with
Siddie that beat the one he had with
us all to pieces. Yer see, Siddie's old
man is an inventor. Up to that time
nothin' he had invented was worth a
cent. but he kept at it just the same.
persistent as a hen that wants to set
Well. Uncle Eph took notions over
there, same as he had done with us,
and it came about that he thought the
flies ives pesterin' him at night arter
he'd gone ter bed. Seems as twas Oc-
tober; | guess the flies was mainly
imagination, but he said there was
millions of 'em round him every
night. and that he couldn't get wink
of sleep.
So Siddie's old man went to work
and invented a machine for driving
away the flies. He argued that if you
were campin' out. or fishin' or any
thing where there was lots of flies.
that they'd bite like everythin' when
it was calm, but if a breeze came up
they would all go OFF So he rugged
up a contrivance to hang over Uncle
Eph's bed Twas a kind of a wind
mill thing like them fans they have
in the city eatin' houses. II hung
right over Uncle Eph's piller and
could be raised or lowered and pulled
by a string TO start il goin. Tko:e
was a windmill on the roof that was
connected with il and give il the pow
er.
Well. the very first night Uncle Eph
tried il he laid down. lowered it close
to his face and hawled the rope that
set her a buzzin' and went TO sle ap.
Middle of the night he wakes up nd
heard a noise and thought 't'~as
thieves come 10 torture him for his
money Sc he sets up in bed an i
whack, one Of the arms of that ere
fiymill caught him right on the ear.
He thought twas burglars sure. II N.