The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1907-10-16
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES,
ANK OF YARN. ;
~ Try H. X. AIKEN
" rAYLoR-faorwooD MAGAZINE. i;

49, III n. N Aih6EN
IN TAYLoR-fRoTwooD MAGAZINE. s
sKEIN /.
The year 1881 was one of Pharaoh's
seven lean ones throughout this Sec
7 tion. No rain fell during July or Au-
gust, and the stunted crops were burn
ed up by the blistering drought. Bill
Davis had, as usual, given his lien to a
merchant here in town, but the dry
asyeather, plus Bill's fondness for fish
ing and hunting squirrels up and down
Saluda River, gave him the poorest
prospects for wen a third of a crop.
When he came down about July Is for
another load Of "rations," the supply
IAN informed him that the amount
which he had mortgaged his crop
{eady more than taken up, and
80 ne could get no more advances un-
fdess the rains came and the outlook i'm
proved. Bill drove home that after
noon with al empty wagon, vowing
that he intended to ''plow up every
furrow of cotton on the place"
but by next morning he realized that it
n a take some real work to do this,
$e reconsidered, dug some bait, got
fishing line, and went down the
Ger. AS he waited for bites, he
worked out an easy way of carrying
his point. Before starting to town
some days later, he went down to his
spring and made up the wash-pot full
of red clay mush. With this he painted
the wheels and bespotted the wagon
body, finishing up with a coat on his
mules legs. When he drove up in
front of the store later in the day, Bill
was a subject of hearty congratula-
tions.
Had a good rain, eh?"
"Well, q middlin' fair season. Little
old cloud bout big as a sheepskin come
over late Yesterday evenin'-nuver
reached nobody but me and Sam What
ley's place-he got a trash-mover and
gully-washer."
Bills lien was extended literally. . .
When the sheriff's deputy went up that
way in November to levy on the crop
all was desolate and silence about Bills
former abode. Even the garden pal
ings had been burned for stove-wood.
/ saw Bill among the holiday crowd
of Christmas shoppers in town and in
quired if he had not moved out rather
hurriedly.
mo, no." he laughed; "tuck my
time didn't have nuthin' ter do but
outen the fire and call my dog. I'm
gwine live next year nearer town-on
Major Watts place. l need q man
what's got money huff to run me-"
sKEIN II.
Miss Jane Ess, aged II, farmer
and spinster, through long years Of
industry and managing for herself, has
acquired good property and is regarded
as one of the best citizens of our coun-
try. She is a good friend of mine, and
n day, l was teasing her about never
having married, when she came back
at me with; "Well, I'd have you to
know it wasn't because / didn't have
my share of chances. When / was a
young gal | moved about a lots-lived
"a while at Union, then to Greenville
and awhile at ~Spartanburg, and fact
is, I got my oonrtin' so scattered it
never come to nuthin'-that's why.
sKE1N Ill.
Money is scarce in this part of the
country all the year, but from Septem-
Der to January times are easier. Dur
ing this period the fleecy staple is be-
ing marketed. When a negro has paid
up his lien and then sells a few bales
MORE, all of which goes to him without
division, he is the best customer a mer-
chant can find. He parts with the coin
easily. Last fall a clothing salesman
had sold a patriarchallooking old darby
whom he did not know a nice bill of
wearing apparel. Thinking to say
something pleasant, he commended him
with thanks for his patronage, and ad-
ded:
know you are one Of the good old
kind-good church member and all that,
in fact, I'll bet that at home you are
n of these good old Baptist niggers,
amt your"
mo, sir" as he shouldered his bun
dies and went out of the door, ''you're
wrong dar; l b'longs to de white
foxes church myself. I'se a Presby-
terrain" The clerk is a member of
the First Baptist.
SKEIN Nv.
One of the many things a mule pre-
tends to be mortally afraid of is a COLA
teral relative of his, namely, a donkey.
The ordinary cottonfield mule will
throw a fit at the sight of one of these
quiet creatures, without notice to the
engineer or passengers. My friend
Dial, down our street, had purchased a
donkey for his children. The seller put
off on him a labor union donkey. He
must have been a walking delegate, at
least he was violently opposed to work,
being so obstinate, hard-headed
and tough-hided that the aforesaid
children could do nothing with him. He
walked about the neighborhood most of
the time, serenely enjoying an elephant
leisure, grazing on open church lots and
other unfenced places about town.
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