The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-02-01

Me AND HER WAS TWO AIRS.
mOonShinc as any other critter fur ten
miles around, and / was fool huff to
feel proud of the fact.
"Wbcn | WIS married. fifteen years
ago, my wife thought she could reform
me. Mebbe | went Il leetle light fur Il
year or so. but the rcformin' didn't re
form. Ia promise and promise, but
as soon as | got out with q crowd Id
fill up. The only good thing about my
gettin' drunk was the fact that |
never raised a row at home. l sim
ply wanted to cit home and to bed,
and if left alone Ia sleep it off Icy
next day. / had been sober fur three
months when town meetin' day come
along. Wien l got ready to leave
home the old woman said:
".Xeb, you've been livin' like a de-
cent human bcin' fur some time past.
Are you comm home drunk or sober
tonight:'
sober as Il stump I replied, not
fearin' myself at all.
"'Why not let town meetin' slide?
al couldn't. I've promised to be
thar to vote
""Thar'l be heaps and heaps of
whisky thar, won't they| she asked.
eur shore. But don't you be afeared
FUR me. l give you my word that l
won't drink nuthin' stronger'n lemon
ade.'
THAT was a lively own meetin', with
whisky f1oWin' like water, and, though
l held out agin it fur an hour or, So, l
had to take a drink at last. Then fol
Tered a second and q third, and by
night l was roarin' drunk and fghtin'
everybody. They started to take me
home in Il cart, but when a mile from
my cabin l got out and wouldn't go
any further and was left there. 1t
was a bright and beautiful moonlight
night. I could jest remember that.
How l got home after leayin' the cart
I never could recall. l didn't know,
when l reached here and fell down in
front Of the house. The fust thing /
knOwed was that somebody was pullin'
me around in 4 mighty rough way. l
opened my eye and sot up, and thar
was the old woman on the doahstep.
n between me and her was two
bars. They would look at her and then
at me, and it was their haulin' me
around that had reused me up. /
wasn't sober yit, you understand, but
could reason things out after a fashion.
"'Why don't you git the gun and
shoot the b'arsE' I called to the old wo-
man, but h never 'peared to notice
me. The bars did, however. They
turned from her to me and begun q
sort o hOssplay. One of them fetched
me a sort of cuff on the ear that
stretched me out and made my head
ring fur a week arter, and then they
begun playin' ball with my body. |
knowed them fur bars. and | knowed
that it would be all play until I tried
to cit away from them or fit back.
well. sub. | can't begin to tell you
what them thar bars put me through
that night. They rolled me over and
over; they dragged me about feet first
and head first; they pulled me down to
the pigpen and then pulled me back;
they used their teeth and claws only
IN play, but they left marks behind
that didn't go away fur two months,
Every time they rested | called out to
the old woman. but she wouldn't an
sWer. Sometimes she looked at me in
a pityin' way. and sometimes she was
iaughin' at the way | was tossed
about. The rifle was on its hooks in
the house and loaded. and in that
moonlight she could have shot one OF
the yarmirts through the heart, but
she wouldn't move to do it.
II reckon them bars sported with
ssxr*