Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1910-03-10
Flesitating Sim
Fis Never Knew Exactly What
lie Wanted.
b. KENNETH HARRIS.

| 6iaucS Vi ulaW SnaNeS and had ended
by saying that he would look around a
while and see If there wasn't some.
thing over at the hardware store which
would suit him better.
He's like Sim Hoisington,' remarked
wash Hancock when he had gone "Sim
was that kind of feller. He'd start to
build a fence around a hawg lot an
use up the best part of week flggerin'
whether to go to the sawmill an get
him a load o eightiHch stuff or to
split rails. He'd start in with the rail
idea an then a neighbor ud 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 a 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' EN-
than the lumberll cost you.
Then Sim 'ud scratch his haid an
he'd say, BY jucks, | reckon you're
right. I'll hitch up the team this after
noon. I've ben needin a bunch o.
shin giles, 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
II don't make no difference TO me-
the hired man ud say. but | hearn
tell they're askin $40 thousand for
rough boards now an you'll need a
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, dunno but
you're right Bill. If | don't use up
that there white oak for rails there
amt nothin' | can use it for, less'n
it's firewood I'd halter buy nails. too.
| never thought o that. Wen 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
"'Wen, he'd say, course hain't no
farmer, but seems like to me that a
rail fence is the wastefulest kind of a
fence. You take a 12-foot rail and lay |
il 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 q foot o. rail on each panel. |
Then you count your land wuth soth- !
in don't your"
- cert'nly do, Sim 'ud say.
Then you've got the jog on each |
side o. the fence to figger in Thatll |
make a strip o land four foot wide
that you can't use. You take the len'th
O your fence an see how much that
comes to at $50 an acre.
Sim 'ud stop right there an send /
Bill off to harreT or suthin' while he'd |
so 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 'ud 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 on
the woman that he wanted?" asked
Hank Tulliyer.
well that's suthin' a feller don't
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 sure
whether a feller wasn't better off sin
gle than he was married.
Well, You take my word for II this
time, she says. There's some that's
better married an you're one O. that
kind
"'Mebbe you're right, says Sim, but
who'd | marry? I've thought of it, but
l dunno as there's any woman around
here that 'ud suit me-
"'You don't need to go no further
than this place she says, I'd suit you
first rate, an | willin', too, so as your
buggy's outside an the preacher is
over to his house wen jest hop right .
in an drive over there
well, she put on her bonnet while .
he was studyin on it an the next .
thing he knowed he was in the buggy
with her. After a while he says to
her, How do you know I'd suit?'
"Tye thought of that Sim, she +,
says, am I've come to the conclusion
that it's because your idees is jest the
same as mine. You're a hardshell Bap-
tbs now an forevermore an nothin
won't never stir you the width of a