Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-01-28

muslin. \ pair Of No. IL brogan
shoes, the tops Of which lacked several
inches of meeting the fringed ends Of
his pants-and he unfortunately not
having been brought up to the luxury
of Observation-Disclosures exposed
strip Of bare flesh about six inches
wide intervening between pants and
shoes. y cheap dirty brown wool hat
which had been worn until every par
ticle of its original shape was gone,
decorated the conical head.
Alas, l am thrOugh-nothing else to
describe Shirt, pants, shoes and hat
were all the young man possessed as
yet, but he was soon to possess q low
ing wife, SO what cared he?
l lent him a collar; but, as l wear
1712 and he Is inch one, by pin
ming his ears back he could slip it on
over his head buttoned. y hat was
the next thing needed, which l will.
ingly gave him. Seven three-eighths
is nay size, G$ his, which, although not
perfect fit, harmoniZed nicely with
the collar. His ears kept it from going
tilt it back a little in order to see.
He drew the line at wearing a forty
two inch coat and vest which l offered
him, saying, I'm afeard folks II no.
tice that it don't fit, and Id ruther go
in my shirt sleeves anyhow"
He had his long, single barrel, muz-
zle loading shotgun with homemade
etr T,ic i-,C
twenty years previous in a fight with
wounded panther in which he had
to use his dubbed gun to save his life,
which he proposed to take along to pro
tect his bride and to shoot any wild
turkeys or squirrels he might see while
going through the swamp. After Dor
rowing some powder and shot of me
and loading his gun they at last start
ed on their tramp.
They left my place at Z o'clock and
got back again d happy man and wife
at 2 p. III. after walking ten miles, a
large part of the way through miry
sloughs and water half leg deep.
The bride was carrying three gray
squirrels by their tails, killed by her
new husband on their way back through
the swamp, which made her feel quite
proud of his skill as a hunter.
They related to me an occurrence
that came very near destroying the
sweetness OF their honeymoon, for our
hero had nearly killed a negro.
Near the office where they went was
turpentine still, the owner of which
came from Quitman, Ga, and he had a
family of three or four boys from ten
to fifteen years old.
In some way they got wind that there
was something doing at the post
office and were not far off when our
newly married couple came out to start
for home One Of them yelled High
water pants.' another "Sh0Ot the
hatr' another put on your sOcks!'
still another Let out your suspend
ersr all of which was borne meekly
by our hero, but when a negro came
along who asked him how long he
had had the cholera and did it hurt
him much, referring to his collar, which
bounced up and hit his ears every step
he took. it was too much for him to
stand. He IeveIed his gun and swore
he would kill him if he was the last
Niger in the world and was about to
fire as lis wife knocked the gun up,
and it was discharged in the air.
The negro and the boys were not
long in getting out of sight, and the
bride succeeded in half dragging her
youthful husband away from the scene
of conflict and into the swamp on their
homeWard way.
After telling this thrilling adventure
they went at once to get their wedding
dinner without stopping to change
their wet shoes. In fact, the only
change the groom could have made
would have been to take off his shoes
and go barefoot.
In q comparatively short time the
repast was ready. 1t consisted Of
pone Of corn bread baked in a spider,
a hoecake of -four bread baked in a
frying pan, some salt razOrback bacon,
fried, pot Of cabbage-the bud of the
cabbage palm tree-bOiled and a pot
of black coffee served without milk or
sugar.
1 was the only guest and as they
had only two table knives the bride
was obliged to use the butcher knife.
Their ten mile walk had given them
good appetites, and they certainly en-
joyed their wedding dinner-no cake,
no pie. no butter, no sugar, no milk,
but happiness supreme.
The bride brought all her husbands
effects home from his mothers house
that afternoon in her apron. She could
have tied them all, except his brogan
shoes, in q pocket handkerchief and
have had good long ends to tie with.
BLESSED be nothing"