The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-23
TABE HEMINWAY'S
- MORAL AWAKENING.
Old Nan Greenhut Shows the Re-
generating Effects Of
Draw Poker.

laeIS 10 JneInt bdlu Olu uAH oIbcuuut
one rainy afternoon when only his few init
mate friends were in his saloon, there ID
them as takes comfort outen what's
wrote in the Good Book 'thouten havin'
no ~realizin' sense o. what's meant.
There was Jabe Heminway t useter say
The Lord II pervide' when there want
nothin' in the house ftr his family Z eat.
Then, sometimes, sooner n to see a woman
an her kids a-su9erin' the neighbors d
help 'em out an Jabe d say Bless the
Lord. I knowed He'd pervide.'
Some on us got some tired O. this kind O.
talk I'm a zap like him, an one day 1
reasoned with him. l says, It's all very
well TO have faith, but it's up 10 you to
hustle. It's gettin' 80 your own wife hain't
nothin' but contempt for you
AN he says, I know it, an / realize what
the Good Book says about a contin1 drop
pin on a rainy day, an a contemptuous
woman 6ein' similar. But Greenhut,
somehow or other the Lord does pervide,
an it's a heap easier FIR me nor it is to
TO hustle
We'll that sort o. thing went on f'ra spell
an the neighbors got plumb wore out, so
t was made up to give Jabe a lesson, an
they knocked a box together, some like a
coffin, an called for him late one night
an told him they'd came to bury him. He
put up a argument an said he want dead,
but they told him the general sense o. the
c'munity was Z he was dead, on'y he didn't
know it, an anyhow everybody else d. be
better of, il he was buried an they put him
in the, box.
'He seen there want no use in kickin'
so he offered to comp'mise. Said he'd
light out fr good Z they'd let him go, an
when that was agreed to he struck EN- fr
railroad fare. But some on 'em told him
walkin' was good enough fr him, an il
'twa'n't, mebbe the Lord d p'vide transp'-
tation. An that was tol'able nigh about
the last that was knowed o. Jabe Hemin-
way round G~reenville fr a number o.
year.
Right there was where a chain o. cir
cumstants be gin what led up to the maxim
of a man. Bein' as they wouldn't put UP
railroad fare fr him, an ho were onwillin'
10 walk, count o. tn exertion, he stole a
mule. The mule were missed, almost
immediate. an there bein' some suspicion
O. Jabe on gen1 principles, that same party
O. neighbors put out alter him, hotfoot.
II they'd caught him, more'n likely that
box d "a been used, but they didn't.
@Jabe heer'd 'em comm an rode that
mule fhr dear life. Comm to a tol'able
sized creek, ne didn't stop to look fr a ford,
but rode right in, an the mule bein' ZONE
fractions throwed him in the water. Bein'
as he couldn't swim, an the mule could, he
got left, an hoated down stream half a mile
afore a niger pulled him out half dead.
Pears the niger we're a sort of outlaw t
didn't belong to nobody, an lived alone in a
swamp.
H took Jabe in an nussed him up, an
took constable notion 10 him, both on 'em
bein' as nigh wuthless as anybody they is.
An right there was where the wonderful
workin's O. Providence begin. When the
niger heer'd o. the trouble Jabe had been
in, he says, 'Marse Jabe. why don't you
play poker?' An Jabe hadn't no reel good
answer. only to say t he hadn't no money
to play with. an be didn't rightly onder-
stand the game.
$50 the niger, he says he's got a deck o
cards, an nothin' to do. an he don't mind
giT1n Jabe some lessons. an bein' there
wasn't no special work required Jabe says
he don't mind.
@Ive al'ays said as how draw poker
we're the most powerful means OF eddica-
liH lldl' hluu, Oh puNbll bOuIu llOTdlb
into the worthless. and | hain't never
knowed O. no more strikir' 'xample nor
Jabe Heminway turned out to be. Draw
poker was the savin' influence Z proved
to be the maxim Of him.
THE niger was consid'able Of a player
his own self. an cd do some few stunts
with the cards as'd be a credit to any player.
An havin' took SUCH Il notion TO JADE he
taaohad him III he could An Iaho hoHrini |
found somepin' useful at last, what he
cd work at 'thouten trim hlsself, he paid
strict attention TO what the niger told him,
an after a month or 30 he begin to see into
it.. /
They KEEP at it steady all that winter,
till finally Jabe felt strong enough to play
fr real, actual assets, an bein' as he hadn't
nothin' to lose, a n the niger had two or
three hundred dollars hid away. just mach
ully Jabe had it all in the course OF a month
or so more.
Well. that three hundred dollars was
Jabe's start in life. When he'd win IL
an found the niger hadn't no more to lose
he said ne reckoned he'd be movin' ON,
short o, DIVISIONS. an it was up to some
body TO buy some more hog an hominy.
They do say the niger begged marc for
to keep that deck o cards, bein' as he was
fond o playin' solitaire, but Jabe told him
he reckoned them cards d be a sort o. VOC
"' SNNt . Nic bcAJ
Kind o played it low down on the niger,
don't you reckon7" said Jake Winterbottom,
rather scornfully.
well. he had nc business TO be a Niger"
old man Greenhut. AN the reel
pint o. this story is I the moral 'wak'nin'
O. Jabe Heminway lone begin right there.
1t were the first time in his life { he seen
as it was needful fr a man to look out fr
hisself. An I'm that time on he proepered
but draw poker could have did
was did 10 Jabe HeminwBy I'm the
he got down To rock bottom till the
time he were rich an respected.
"Havin' a small wad. like ! said, Jabe
Heminway were able TO get hisself some
clo'e6 In the next town he struck, an then,
over to the nearest river town, he
the fust packet t come along. He
no fool. Jabe want. an he lowed I
Ter to be picked up fr a jay as soon az he
got abo'd. There want no doubt o. him
oein' a jay, right enough. an he sensed the
o'fessionals right enough fer TO reckon
hey wouldn't make no mistake about that.
he was reck' min on was I they'd make
some error In slzin' up his game o. poker.
ANS he had TO do was 70 act nachual,
IN they took him fr a zap on sight, an
.wo on EN- p'posed a game O. draw. Gale