The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1909-07-01
Hesitating Sim
He Never Knew Exactly What
He Wanted.
Rv KENNETH HARRIS
Bv KENNETH HARRIS.

mere udu Dc6u al uiluCSiuCo va"
toner in the store who had way
cred for ten minutes between TWO
grades of draw shaves and had ended
by saying that he would look around
while and see if there wasn't some
thing over at the hardware store Whlch
would suit him better.
Hes like Sim Hoisington,' remarked
Wash Hancock when he had gone Sim
was that kind of a teller. He'd start to
build fence around hawg lot an
use up the best part of week hggerln
whether to go to the sawmill an get
him a load O. eight-inch stuff or to
split rails. He'd start in with the rail
idea an then a neighbor nd come
along an allow that by the time he'd
got all the rails split he'll wish he'd
jest hitched up his team an got boards.
"'You get a board fence an you've
got suthin' that's hawgtight,' the
neighbor'd say. Put up rail fence
an mebbe you'll keep your haWgs IN
side of it an mebbe you won't, an
you'll waste more time chasin' 'em
than the lumber'll cost you
Then Sim 'ud scratch his haid an
he'd say, BY jucks. l reckon you're
right. I'll hitch up the team this after
| noon. I've ben needin' bunch o
shingles, anyway
'Erlong about noon Sans hired
man nd come along up from the field
an Sim 'ud tell him he'd changed his
mind about them rails, an he'd fence
with boards.
1T don't make no difference to me-
the hired man 'ud say, but hearn
tell they're askin' SO a thousand for
rough boards now an you'll need
couple O. thousand foot. The rail
amt goin' to cost you nothin,' but the
work O. gettin' 'em an the roads is
bad betwixt this an the mill
Sim 'ud scratch his haid again an
study. Then he'd say, I dunno but
you're right, Bill. If l don't use up
that there white oak for rails there
amt nothin' l can use it for, less n
it's firewood. I'd halter buy nails, too.
| never thought O. that. Well grind
them axes an put new handle in the
maui first thing after dinner
Then while they was grindin' the
axes the schoolmaster d stop to gas as
he went by an he'd nachally asst 'em
where they was goin' to chop an what
they wanted the rails for.
WELL he'd say, course | hain't no
farmer, but seems like to me that
rail fence is the wastefulest kind Of a
fence. You take a 12-foot rail and lay
it at an angle O. As degrees an then
count in the lay an you're wastin
about three foot of it. Three foot
morn If you were building a straight
fence If you stake and rider it you've
wasted "A foot O. rail on each panel
Then you count your land Tuth soth-
in don't your"
"1 cert'nly do Sim 'ud say.
"'Then you've got the jog on each
side O. the fence to fgger~ i'll That'll
make strip O. land four foot wide
O. your fence an see how much that
comes to at $50 an acre.
Sim nd stop right there an send
Bill off to harrer or suthin' while he'd
go into the house an put in the rest O.
the day figgerin'.
That's how Sim was about every
thin-politics, religion, temp'runce
horse tradin, food for his stock an
food for himself, an gals an curing
hams, an hail insurance an the race
problum an bone fertilizer. Sometimes
somebuddy nd come erlong an talk
to him an he'd change right over an
take the op'sit views. Finerly he got
married"
How did he make out to settle or
the woman that he wanted?" asked
Hank Tulliver.
well, that's suthin' Teller dom
allus settle on himself" replied Han
cock. Seems like Sims woman done
the settlin'. Sim was kind O. sochuble
an one night he was calm on her an
he allowed that he wasn't right sur,
whether Teller wasn't better off sin
gle than he was married.
"'Well, you take my word for it thi
time she says There's some that
better married an you're one O. tina
kind
= "'Mebbe you're right says Sim, blu
who'd l marry? I've thought of it, bu
i l dunno as there's any woman aroun
h.sre that nd suit me-
. "'You don't need to go no furthe
o taaa this place. she says, I'd suit yo
k:st rate, an l willin' too, SO as you
susgy's outside an the preacher i
:, .ser to his house we'll jest hop RICH
E "a an drive over there
= "Well, she put on her bonnet Will
he was studyin' on it an the mex
;, ching he knowed he was in the bugg
- with her. After while he says t
: her, How do you know I'd suit?'
- GIVE thought of that, Sim,' sh
. says, an I've come to the conclusio
+ that it's because your idees is jest til
same as mine. You're harGshell Ba
It's now an forevermore an nothi
=, won't never stir you the, width of
rats whsker, an so am l. You're
rock-ribbed dyed-in-thewool dimercr;
with no leanin's lords them popyerlis
or republican mugwumpses an will |
- till the day you die, an me an m
- - folks have alius been the same Yc
hold with a man maxim up his mir
~ an a-stickin' to it, whether or n
- 'ceptin' when his wife might objec, a
=, that's me. Amt that all so:'
: 81 guess it is says Sim.
"'You bet it is she says, No,
you get out an hitch en- then hep n
ID. out. An want to tell you that if "
ever have any doubts about anythi
he from this time on, you come to me a