The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-11
OLD ZEB WHITE.
The Postum Hunter Tells of the Per-
versity of Woman.

/ &
the old possum hunter of Tennessee
| one evening as we sat on the doorstep
of his cabin smoking our pipes. IT
was twenty-five and she was twenty
when we jined up, and we both
| thought we knew a heap. We soon
| began to differ about this and that. 1t
| wasn't quarrelin', but jest differin'
which isn't exactly the same, but bad
| huff. The mo- we differed the mo- we
wanted to, and it finally come about
that we could see nuthin' with the
same eyes. I amt allowin' that it was
my fault at all, but that 1T come about
through the perversity of woman. She
was tryin' to be boss when the Lawd
never intended that she should be.
"As I said, this went on for five
years, and then it had a mighty sud-
den endin'. I hain't gwine to admit
that 1 caved in and took a back seat,
but reckon the old woman has had
her way mostly since that date. We
was sittin' in the ca bin doah one eve
min when we heard the report of
rifle on the mountings, and the old wo-
man speaks up and says:
I reckon that's Bill Shafter shoot
in at q wild cat
It's mo- likely to be Joe SelIin'
shootin' at a BAR says I.
4 consider to reckon you are
wrong
"'And I consider to reckon I'm
right.
Pears to me I heard wild cat
scream about half an hour ago.
And it pears to me I heard a bar
growlin' jest afore the shot was fred
"'Zeb, what's the use O your hang
in to the bar like mew1?'
Amt you hangin' to the wild cat
jest the same?'
"You see how silly and senseless it
all was" said the old man with a
smile. 81 might have known that the
Lawd made woman to have the last
word, and that the thing fer me to do
r. hot I.,,f IL, AZ
I couldn't see it. I kept ta1kin' back
and mimeby we got purity mad at each
other I don't reckon nuthin' much
would have come of it il she hadn't
flung out about wild cat chasin' me
into the cabin one night. 1t was a
fact. 1 had been out in the woods
huntin' our COW, and didn't have SO
much as knife with me. and when
heard that cat wauling I picked
up my feet and travelled. 1t alluS made
me mad to think of it, and when the
old woman softly smiled and limited
that some wild cats was too much for
some men L frothed up and answered
back that 1 had seen q chipmunk
make her turn pale and tremble, and
that a half-grown coon could run her
out O. the cabin any day.
''Just then what should show up
down there by the hog-pen but a
shutdown and dark, and L could see |
every hair on her body. 1 reckon |
she'd been hunted off the mountain, |
for she looked mad all over. She |
alone, but she wasn't to be left alone. |
"'Befo' the Lawd, but look at that |
cat, and my rife not loaded and not a |
grain of powder in the house!' I /
groaned.
Eyes, pretty fair sized cat, as cats |
co. says the old woman as keerless as |
you please.
Her pelt is wuth two dollars, and
cxf@
we mought if there was man |
around the house.
'Hain't I yere?'
"'Reckon so, but you hain't tacklin' |
cats, you know
land mebbe you are!' 1 shouts, |
mad huff to box her ears.
Eyes. mebbe 1 are. Zeb White, you |
was sayin' that I turned pale at the |
show you that it takes a heap bigger
thing to skeer Tilda White. You kin |
light up your pipe and look on
What you gwine to do, Tflda?' I
Cit that cats petit she says as
she rises up and walks over that way.
81 stands up and calls to her to
come back. but she laughs and keeps
knife, and while I was gittin' it she
picks UP a club and walks straight for
that cat. Lawd, stranger, but / was
nigh skeered to death. I wouldn't
the best knife in all Tennessee, for
thousand dollars. I'd
heap sooner tackled a bar with a cab
bage stock.
1.-THE perversity of woman was
mighty plain yere. Because I had
twitted the old woman of bein' afraid
Of coons and chiDmunks she was
gwine to tackle the wickedest varmint
Upon my honah. sab. she
walks right up and gives the cat
whack with the club, and next instant
the fout was on. 1t was club agin
teeth and claws. OF co'se started to
mix in, but when Tflda saw me there
she says:
"'zeb White, this hain't any of
your fuss and you keep out
:. Keep away and give me fair show
There was the durndest mix-u3 you
sorter rat,'ed. the cat, but she wasn't
ru1 a away by any means; She clawed ]
[ tried my hardest to get my knife into
her I couldn't do it. She and the old
V w0m AN W RS too mi ike up I'm a-telin.
ever took place in this we're state. A wo- {
nan with only club was fightin' thir-
up to her work. Her clothes was bein'
torn to fragments. and she was bein'
Folks have said that I ought to have
helped her mo, but every time mixed in
How did it end? Wall, sab, that fout !
asted fifteen minits and then of a sud {
len the cat rolled over and lay still
ran and put my knife into her, KNOWN !
she was only stunned and then 1 looked !
round for the old woman. She stood there
with the club drawn back over her shout
der and her eyes blazin 1t was not till I
took the club out o. her hands and told !
her that the cat was dead that she faint
I'd away. Lawd, but she was a sight to | {
see. She hadn't skeercely a rag left on | I
her. and she was all bite and claw marks
Them four marks on her face was made |
by claws, and they haint only about four
out of a hundred. The cat used her teeth
eighteen times.
.sWhen I come to look for damages IN !