The Baltimore County union, the Towson news., 1909-09-04
hear the spokes rattle and s'picion
bout how felt.

near the SpOKeS rattle ana plClOn
bout how / felt.
"It was consid' able hilly-up and
downs, mostly ups, to the top O. the
mountain-and / couldn't hol' my
gait long, butts soon's 1 crossed the
ridge, / let Sal out agin, and we
bowled on purity lively. We was
maxim good time down, where the
road cuts katterin' through Jim Slat.
er's woodlot, and l reckoned on bein'
better half home, when--who--oop!
the mare stopped so sudden at I
mighty near went kerhop over the
dashboard. 1t riled me some-her
pullin' up that way-and / wa MT in
no frame O mind t inquire into the
why's and wherefores. Fore I'd fair
ly picked myself off my knees and
got pumped onto the seat agin, I
gripped the OF lash-whip and give
Sal side winder at made the woods
jingle.
"Jee-roo salem Somethin' was
doin' right there, and the worst part
of it was, / couldn't fer the life O.
me make out what twas. I looked
to goin for ards on the jump-Sal
never'd bear much switchin' from a
colt-but l hadn't reckoned on her,
or somethin' else, pickin' up the buck
board on her back and h'istin' me
bout twenty seven feet into clump
O. blackberry bushes. Course, I
hadn't no foot-rule fer measurin' but
l callated how far it was from the
time it took me to light. If I'd "a
counted the tears in my new Sunday
pants, and the tears In me myself,
where there want no pants, I'd "a
called it two hundred an twenty
seven.
'All the while l could hear Sal a.
rippin' it off down the mountain s
though or Nick was arter her, but
what d come 'twixt her and me and the
blackboard was more'n could make
out. Nothin'd blowed up, leastways
there hadn't been no 'splosion at I'd
heered, and it couldn't a been an
airthquake, or the thing'd KEEP up
longer. 1 begun to think It was jus
a Judgment on me fer larrapin' oil Sal
stead O. putin it onto Walt Burden,
where 1t b'longed, when -whish,
swish, crack went somethiu' in the
bushes so close up TO me at I dou-
bled together like jack knife, expect
in ev'ry minnit to feel claws grippin'
Of me under the short hair and fin
ishin' up what the tarnation briars
hadn't made a slick job of. The
boys'd been talkin' wild cat all win
ter, and things like that pop int
feller's head when he JUS s soon
not know he knowed anythin' bout
'em. 1 thought strong O. runnin' fer
it, but 1 want quite sure whether
I'd hit out on solid bottom or bring
up in Jim Slater's blackberry planta-
tion agin. More'n that, the critter
could likely run faster'n l could, and
If I JUS laid low he might take to
thinkin' / was an OF stump at he
could scratch up ag'inst any time and
90 on bout his bizness.
"Tain't what you might call easy,
stan'in' on your feet and keepin'
your head from bumpin' on the toes
o. your boots, with nothin' but one
hand aud your backbone; but KEEP
hearin' the critter switchin' round
ev'ry now and then, and dassant
move fer fear he'd think the stump
was comm to life and inquire within
fer fu 'ther pa tic'lars. 1t was all O.
six weeks, and three extry Sundays
throwed in, fore it begun to light up
SOS could peek round under my
elbows and see at the coast was clear
at close quarters. That let me out
some on the stan'in summerset fash
ion, but my back'd kind O. growed to
It, so it want much nse any other
way fer quite SPELL"
Jules filled his pipe deliberately
from leather pouch, and lighted 1t
with carefully pine splinter,
ignoring the offers of matches. With
literary training, Jules would be a
master of serial fiction.
"Most o. the blackboard was on the
side o. the road, close up to the
bushes" he went on, extinguishing
the splinter and depositing 1t on the
hearth for further service. "It was
upside down, and headed fer Robbins.
The four wheels went home with Sal.
Long front o. where the mare he'll
up there was marks where critter'd
laid down in the road. Not four
rods in the bush was Slater's OF
brindle COW. Sal must a. jumped
right over 'er, and she, gittin' excited
like, heaved up sudden right under
the blackboard and ripped out the
king-bolt. Gawsh p Jules examined
the whitening ashes in his pipe bowl
critically, while the shanty rang with
laughter. "T said some things bout
then, uncompliment'ry things bout
myself and the COW and Kate and
Walt Burden and oil Sal. 1t kind O.
eased my mind fer the time, but 1t
| didn't take none O. the kinks out O.
my back. It's mostly that way with
cussin'. 1t don't hit 'xac'ly the spot
at needs hittin' !"
"And you didn't go back to Rob-
bins many times after thatl" put In
one of the men inquiringly.
Jules shook his head gravely.
"Jus once" There was volume
of pathos in his words.
A MODERN CONVERSION.
Gipsy Smith tells of Yorkshire
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