Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1906-03-16
THE MAN WHO
CAME. BACK

4
People who could remember Samuel
/ Hastings as boy and young man
and Nancy Lee as a girl and young
woman could not recall that either Of
them was particularly disputatious or
obstinate. When the two. got married
It was called good match, and all
seemed to go well for three or four
months. Then II was known that argu
ment and dispute were the order Of the
day.
About year after marriage and aft.
er they had had numerous disputes and
separations Samuel came up from the
potato field one day and said:
"Dlng my buttons. but them potato
bugs are just going tor the vines TO
beat all creation. | wonder why they
have so many more legs than bug
"They haven't" replied the wife.
"Yes, they have. They've got sixteen
legs, and you can't find bug with
over twelve"
"They haven't got but ten legs was
looking at tne this afternoon"
sixteen. Nancy"
"Only ten, Samuel
/ was q boy twelve years old and
working for the family. and | heard
the dispute. There was no anger In t.
but each party was mulsh and deter
mined. They kept up the dispute for
three hours. and at length the husband
said:
Nancy, I'm not going to stand any
more of this. II you insist that tateT
bug has only got ten legs, I'll leave the
J house."
II say ten and shall stick to 1t, and
IL you want to leave you can"
Next morning Samuel left. He had
about $40 I'm money and a bundle Of
clothes, and he did not say where he
was going-in fact, he walked of with
our q word. and the wife stood In the
door and saw him go and made no eff
fort TO detaln him. II was n small
farm, and when he had been gone a
week she hired a man to do the heavy
work, and things went on as usual.
: One day, year and a half later, the
: missing husband walked into the house.
He looked about as usual. and hung
his hat up in the same old place as II
perfectly at home.
"Howdy, NancyY' he saluted, and she
: saluted him the same way.
J Dinner was just ready, and he sat
down at the head OF the table. They
talked about the farm and the crops
! and the weather, and when he was
/ through eating he showed back and
/ said:
, "Well, Nancy. are you ready to give
; In that tater bug has sixteen legs?"
. "Nope. I know they have only ten,"
t she replied.
t "Are you going to stick to itr'
e "Till I die"
A "And shall stick to sixteen"
7 He picked his teeth for awhile with
! out anything more being said and then
. rose slowly up. walked outdoors and
--iSTii was DOT seen cr heard of again Tor oveI
h two years. His own people did MOI
s know where he was and held no corrc
v spondence with him. The matter was
e Of course known to everybody for five
v miles around, and there were many
1 vino thought 1t their duty to wrestlt
r with Nancy She would listen to al
n they had to say, and when they had
finished her reply was:
p Just as long as Sam Hastings car
q stick to sixteen l can stick to ten, ant
r he may stay away and be hanged Il
him."
: Samueps home coming on the second
n occasion was good deal like the first
. His wife sat on the veranda sewing
one summer afternoon when he turned
I in from the dusty highway with bun
> die on his shoulder She knew him a.
soon as she saw him. but she made M
fuss over 1t. When he had reached tn,
veranda he laid down his bundle anC
said:
q We'll, Nancy, don't see that you
have changed much"
Nor you either"
d, Feeling purity well?'
"First rate"
"So'm l."
, Then they discussed the neighbors
. for an hour, and she said:
! II suppose you will stay to support"
! "Oh, l guess So"
a He stayed, but when the meal wa.
. finished he asked:
About them tater bugsp'
"They have still got ten legs" she re
!, piled.
!. Couldn't make 'em sixteen, coult
your
= mot II was to be burned at the
> stake Samuel, you know what de
. termlned woman l am"
q What a mule, you mean"
Then you are just as big one
Just as long as you stick to sixteen
!, shall stick to ten"
/, Then goodby to you"
:. Three minutes later he was out oi
q the gate and going down the road, and
things went on in the old routine
again. This time fve long years pass
, ed away. Then the Widow Hastings
: as she had long been called, got III
one morning to find Samuel sitting in
= a chair by the kitchen stove. He had