The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1913-11-06
D. GEORGE ABE.

mates were sitting near the windows
reading . morning Newspaper. They
had torn the paper into sheets and
divided It. The man who had drawn
the small ads" was discontented.
He could ind nothing on his sheet
except Help Wanted" He lowered
his paper and before him sat Con.
dola" Wilson, seemingly yellow in the
Uttered light.
where's the committee." asked
-Gondola." where's the triumphal
arch, Welcome Homer"
"You're alive. then?"
"Alive and kicking"
III you're alive. It follows that
you're kicking. How long has 1t been?"
"A year, next month"
you had to 60 crooked at last did
you!"
"well. that's what they called It.
I'm lucky they didn't hang me. Some
, Of EN- va tied to"
"Teh me what you done. I amt the
sourt."
Say. listen. an sss II you ever
heard the likes before. It was In Oc.
tober, . year ago last October. I'd
walked from Loueyville to Terry Hut
With niger that played the mouth.
harp. We hid in the yards at Terry
Hut an got into an empty stock car
that We thot We thought was bouno
for Danville. Some time In the night
. brakeman seen 10 an fired 10 ont
I'd been asleep an the first thing 70
member was fallin' out O. the car an
lightin' hard. with the coon comm
after me. We didn't know where We
Was, but We could make out . side
track and chute for loadin' hogs.
About . mile OF We could see some
lights an We Judged ~ We was near
purity good-sized town. Me an the
coon started to walk toward town an
then stopped him an ses:
Here, II we 90 to drillin' around
town at this time Of night an one Of
them country coppers catches Q peep
ct us. he'll shoot 10 first and then ask
% our names after. Let's crawl In
somewheres an sleep till morniu' an
then we'll 90 In town an try to round
up handout.'
well. Just 40 was sayin' this, W
happened to be walkin' along past tail
fence. looked through the cracks
an could see one or two lights quite
. distance OF an right near 10 was
long buildin' that looked something
like barn. It was gettin' chilly an
ses to this pardner Of mine:
Coon. gimme boost over the fence
an think we can find q warm place
here \
80 We skinned over the fence an.
come to the building. It was = lons
one. still thought 1t was barn. We
walked around lookin' for . door OF
window. 30 we could crawl in. AZ
last this pardner Of mine-his name 10
Jen an I'll kill him II ever I lay eyes
on him again-Jeff found . little door
that wasn't locked An we went in,
feelin' our way along. thinkin'. you
know, that we might find some hay
or straw to sleep on Purity soon JET
fell over somethin' an I landed on top
I Of him. We felt around US an dis
covered that we'd run into q lot Of
watermelons layin' on the floor. I
s'pose the coon was sorry to meet
them melons. huh? The first thing
knew he'd split one of 'em open an
could hear him chompin' in the dark.
Well. I got up an felt my way along
an purity soon ! reached out, an
what do you suppose took hold of
there in the pitch dark? This amt no
dream I'm tellin' you What do you
think took holt Of? A plate with
about dozen biscuits ON 1t. Now, /
amt no crook an never broke into
q house to steal anything. but I'll
leave this to you. II you hadn't had
anything to eat for eighteen hours an
should happen to crawl into barn at
night an reach out into the dark an
ind dozen light biscuit would you
eat 'em or throw 'em away"
"I'd prob'ly eat EN-" was the 70
ply
That's what l. done. except what !
give to Je6. He found match in his
close an struck It. and we saw in
frUnt Of 10 wooden shelf covered
with pies and cakes an all kinds O.
cooked stun. The match only burned
for minute, but We made out that
much. JEFF found q plate Of butter,
an We ct the biscuit with butter an
amt tasted anything like II since
run away from home in Lowell thirty
years ago. Then JeB broke cake
in half an give me part Of It. It was
kind Of dry eatin. but we put lots OF
butter on 1t s'pose ought to have