The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-20
Dra w p o. er's
Moral Influence
((Chicago Inter Ocean.A

ferrous" said old man Greenhut, some
what mournfully. There's some gets
what they don't want. an there's more
wants what they don't get.
" Pears like a spring food shows up
feyy year for to keep us in mind of it,
Some'res UP moth they get extry sup
ply o. water Oncet in so often, an ii
just rolls off, bein as tn amt no place
for it. Then US down here in the val
ley goes lookin' FIR dry land an can't
find enough on it to get acrost tn street
| 'thout wadin'
Nov, | reckon it is't good Lord
pears 10 be so busy chuckin' blessins
down onto ongrateful world t he don't
| have no time to watch out where
| they're gOin' TO hit Just shovels 'em
| out in bulk an lets 'em fall any old
| place, like he does the rain. what the
good book says some of it falls on the
dust an some don't.
| 20 course, there's some pvision made
FIR sortin things out when they get
here If they want 1 reckon we'd all
choke flood times, f we hadn't done
starved already when there was a
| drought. Levees helps some. when it's
| question o. water. but when it comes
! to tn distribution O. wealth pears like
providence seen t sOmepin' extry had
| to be did. am that must "a been how
| come draw poker.
| There was old Pegleg Higginstover,
| t found that out-late in life. L be
i sure-but there want no SIMMER ex-
! ample o the beneficatory effects O. po-
| ker II he was when he done seen il
f'r the first time.
''Pegleg was a po' white t lived into
a cabin nigh hand to the notheast cor
ner O. Zebulon Stra wbridge's planta-
| ton, just out O. Greenvillc. fwhen
,fr.gt ha1
nOthin p'tckIer ag'in Pegleg Higgin-
slower. On'y t he was Ongodly shifless
Feared like he done been horned that
away, an, not havin nothin' of his
own, he just naturally married a wO-
man t didn't have nothin' neither n
was a sight more shif'less N he was.
when l first knowed him he had
twelve dogs an a slew o. chickens, no
body knOwed how many O. them there
was, 'thOuten twas Marin Higginstover.
an she couldn't count above six,
'thouten mistakes. . They just lived,
like the po' whites does. but why they
did, r what they got Outen it. nobody
cd tell, On'y they 'peared to be tOl'able
happy, dogs an all, like the po' white
gently is.
cor Zebulon Strawbridge was con-
sid'able difrent FIN Pegleg Higgin-
slower, in heap o. ways. First off, he
was richer n mud. Had a plantation
o three or four thousand acres, an
more niggers n anybody else an no
body knOwed how many there was.
That was afOre the Wah, when mig
gers was with reel money. An he had
horses an cattle an no end o. money
in the bank, till he had to hire a law
yer's clerk to help him keep count o.
what he had. Made him stoop Shout
dered, thin an haggard like, thinkin'
over il.
There was sOmethin', though, I Zeb-
ulOn Strawbridge didn't have, what
Pegleg HigginstOver had. F"r one thing,
he hadn't a child. bein' 8 he was too
mean TO keep a wife. an s fur s any
body knowed there want none o. his
kin to leave his money to, an him get
tin old.
They said that worried him heap
but not as much as it did to study how
TO get richer. He was hell bent on that
Come a night when a Teller rid up
to Pegleg Higginstover's cabin, tol'able
late. an asst if he cd stay till daylight.
bein' as twas powerful stormy. Pegleg
took him in, give him a corn pOne an
told him he cd bunk i'm with the dogs
an the children, bein as tn want no
other place.
Then they got talkin' an the Teller
asst who lived in the big house beyond.
Pegleg told him an the Teller sort O.
sighed, an he says:
I wish I cd get the old pirate into
a game o. poker
An Pegleg says 'Why?'
Pears he'd growed up monstrous ig-
norant, an while he knowed in a genI
sort O. way what draw poker was, he
hadn't never been dedicated to see the
greet moral advantages o. the game, so
no oil he n nj
with Zebulon Strawbridge, all I Pegleg
cd say was Why?
We'll, the Teller looked at him a
spell, sort o s'prised like, an then he
said.
"'So's't I cd take some o. that on
healthy mass O. riches away FIN him, /
o. course. If 1 cd get him TO play long
enough I'll bet mule I'd have the hull
on it.
"Pegleg Higginstover he studied over |
this f'r spell. 'Peared he had sort I
of a thinkin' machine inside of his nut, /
On'y it didn't get wound up frequent an /
the Teller d gave it a jog. like.
when the Teller went away next I
Pegleg he KEEP on studyin. 1
Pears he was havin' pleasant dreams I
with hisself O. what he'd do f he On'y /
owned all O. Zebulon Strawbridge's mig !
gers. that bein' the ptickler form o
wealth that pc white aFays wanted Z
the most when niggers was pTop'ty,
Lord knows how he ever learned, I
bein' as he hadn't no greet Oppertuni- /
ties, an he hadn't never studied nothin' /
afore; but he KEEP at il, perseverin 4
five or six years, an they do say he 4
come TO be a tOrable fair poker player. 4
on'y he didn't never get a chanel o /
benefitin' much, bein' as them t he
knowed was as poor as him, an there F.
want no considerable game round what
he cd get into.
He stuck at it, though till he felt
some confidence o. what he mOughr do
f he cd ony get a chanst, an then he
set about studyin' how he ed rope
Zebulin Strawbridge into a freezeou5.
" IF l On'y had one niger f'r a
starter he useter say to hisself, i
cd double up on him few times an
'cumulate a consid able slew on 'em
alter a spell
"All this time his family d been
CROWN older an more numeI ous
every year. dogs an young uns both.
till he got so : t he didn't hardly
know one FIN another, on'y the dogs.
An one day another bright thought
hit him an he seen q gre't white light
"Pickin' out one D. the likeliest boys
he had, nigh about IS years old. Peg