Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1912-08-02
A HUSTLING
TIME
By M. QUAD
By NJ. QUAD
Copyright. 1911. by Associated Lit
erary Press.

Five men sat around a supper table
In a farmers kitchen after a hard
days work in the cornfeld.
There was Moses Bright. the father.
nfty-Hve years old and a widower:
there was Abraham. aged thirty;
there was Leviticus. aged twenty.
seven: there was Philetus. aged TWEEN
ty-fve; there was Aaron. aged twenty.
two. Not son had left home yet.
abraham" said the father as the
meal was finished, there's a wilder
woman named Parsons bought the
Taylor place. She brought with her a
span of bosses. four cows. sixty sheep,
eight hogs and fifty hens She's
hustler. She can NOW and plow and
chop wood"
"What Of it3" asked Abraham.
"You wash up. grease your boots and
hair and 60 down and ask her to mar
~ you. You are thirty years old. and
it's time you were married"
Abraham got ready and departed.
Moses Bright was boss around that
house, The young man arrived as the
widow was straining the last pail Of
milk. He sat down on the doorsteps
with his back toward her and said
never a word. He was in greater fear
than Is II bull had been chasing him
across the meadow. The widow took
notice of him at once and then ignored
him for a long ten minutes. Then she
stopped singing to say to him:
'Get outr'
Those were blessed words to Abra-
ham. He got. He fairly few for the
first forty rods. When he reached
home he found his father sitting in
the door, pipe in mouth. and sat down
on the nearby wash bench. His broth
ers had gone to bed. 1t WINS i've min
utes before the father took the pipe
from his mouth to query:
"What'd she say7"
s'Get outr"
That was all. There was more corn
planting next day. but half an hour be-
fore quitting time the father said to
Leviticus. who was working next to
him:
abraham don't know enough to
crawl under q haystack when it's rain.
ing pitchforks. You so over there to-
night and spark that widder."
After supper Leviticus went It was
either suicide or GO He found the
widow milking the last OF her four
cows. She looked up a. he entered the
barnyard. but neither spoke. The
young man stood with his back to the
fence and chewed on straw, and she
hummed the air Of q hymn as she milk
ed When she had finished she rose up
and, asked:
"Any more idiots in this neighbor.
hoodr'
'Yes-no-yes!s stammered the young
man a. he made for the highway and
home.
It was potato planting next day. At
the supper table the father reached foE
. third slice Of fried pork and said: .
"Philetus. flo up and grease up. Four
cows. sixty sheep. eight hogs"
Philetus turned pale and lost his ap-
petite. but he obeyed. He found the
widow uprooting burdocks In the front
yard, and before he could say anything
she asked:
Amt there another kid named
Aaronr'
*Yes."
Then run home and send him along
and I'll start an infant asylum with
hinw
Aaron went and came back to shake
his head and hear his father call him
. dinged idiot That night the four
sons entered into conspiracy, and II
Was at the breakfast table that Abra.
ham said:
.Father, the Widder Parsons n hus.
tiing wilder woman. Two bosses, -four
cows, sixty sheep. eight hogs and nifty
hens"
''Waal, what Of itr' was askedA
"lt's your turn to 60 sparkling,
boy. don't gimme any sass!'
mo use to bluff, father. You either
60 sparkling or we quit the farm"
The old man was given the day to
consider the matter. When supper was
over and without . word to any one he
slicked up q bit and took the highway.
The widow rat on her doorsteps. smok-
ing her pipe. She bowed and made
- 80. ~. 1880. r.. VI" 49,. 49,
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~,Sov Sr.ving sw.v : III .i.m
.,cr. :, ~. vor,S hrt .ssr, - he
having purity good time"
but them fool sons o mine.
"YeA. know. It's dreadful to have
. lot o idiots around. You don't say
it's love at nfst sight, do your
"N-o-o. not skassly, but I'm . hus-