The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-02-26

JUL tA1NaC
peccadillo as the habit of man
Slaughter says [, what have you ae-
complished in the way of Indirect
brigandage or nonactionable thrift
ness that yon could point to. with OIL
without pride. as an evidence of your
qua lifications for the position?'
why says he in his kind of south
ern system of proerastinated accents
'hain't you heard tell? There amt any
black or white. in the Blue Ridge
that can tote off "A shoat as easy as
can without bein' heard. seen or cOtrh
ed. | can lift a shoat. he goes on. 'oui
of a pen. from under a piazza. ut the
trough, in the woods. day or night. any
where or anyhow. and | guarantee no
body won't hear a squeal. Its all il
the way you grab hold of 'em and ear
ry EN- atterward. Some day goes OF
this gentle despoiler of pigpens. 4 hope
TO become reckerniZed as the champion
shoat stealer of the world
"'It's proper to be ambitious says
l. and hog stealing will do very well
for Mount Nebo. but in the outside
world, Mr.. Tatum. it would be consid-
cred as crude a piece of business as a
bear raid on Bay State Gas. However.
it will do as a guarantee of good faith.
Well go into partnership. I've got
$1,000 cash capital, and with that
homeward plods atmosphere of yours
we ought to be able to win out a few
shares of Soon Parted preferred in the
money market
$50 | attaches Rufe, and we go away
from Mount Nebo down into the low
lands. And all the way | coach him
for his part in the CRAFTS l had in mind.
| had idled away two months on the
Florida coast and was feeling all to
the Ponce de Leon. besides having so
many new schemes up my sleeve that
| had to wear kimonos to hold EN-.
81 intended to assume a funnel shape
and NOW a path nine miles wide
through the farming belt of the mid
die west, so we headed in that direc-
ton. But when we got as far as Lex
ington we found Binkley Bros circus
there and the blue grass p%easantry
romping into town and pounding the
Belgian blocks with their hand pegged
sabots as artless and arbitrary as an
extra session of q Datto Bryan duma.
| never pass a circus without pulling
the valve cord and coming down for Il
little Key West money, so | engaged
a couple of rooms and board for Rufe
and me at a house near the circus
grounds run by a widow lady named
Peevy. Then l took Rufe to a cloth
ing store and gents QUILTED him. He
showed up stf@hg. as l knew he would.
after he was rugged up in the ready
made rutabaga regalia. Me and old
Misfitzky stuffed him into a bright blue
suit with a Nile green visible plaid eff
feet and riveted on a fancy vest of a
light Tuskegee normal tan color, a red
necktie and the yellowest pair of shoes
in town. They were the first clothes
Rufe had ever worn except the ging
ham layette and the butternut top
dressing of his native kraal. and he
looked as self conscious as an Igorrote
with a new nose ring.
THAT night | went down to the cir
Gus tents and opened a small shell
game. Rufe vas to be the capper. !
gave him a roll of phony currency to
bet with and kept a bunch of it in a
special pocket to pay his winnings out
of. No, l didn't mistrust him, but !
simply can't manipulate the ball to
lose when | see real money bet. My
fingers go on a strike every time |
try 1t.
81 set up my little table and began to
show them how easy it was to guess
which shell the little pea was under.
The unlettered kinds gathered in a
thick semicircle and began to nudge
elbows and banter one another to bet.
Then was when Rufe ought to have
singlefooted up and called the turn on
the little joker for a few tens and fives
to get them started. But no Rufe. I'd
seen him two or three times walking
about and looking at the sideshow pic
lures with his mouth full of peanut
candy, but he " came nigh.
1.-The crowd piked a little. but trying
to work the shells without a capper is
llhC nSAlnS lIlOu OdlI- L (IOSCu III
game with only $40 of the %unearned
increment. while l had been counting
on yanking the yeomen for 5000 at
least. l went home at II and went to
bed. | supposed that the circus had
proved too alluring for Rufe and that
he had succumbed to it. concert and
all, but l meant to give him a lecture
on general business principles in the
morning.
Just after Morpheus had got both
my shoulders to the shuck mattress
hears a houseful of unbecoming and
ribald noises, like a youngster screecb-
ing with green apple collie. | opens my
door and calls out in the hall for the
widow lady, and when she sticks her
head out | says. Mrs. Peevy. ma'am.
would you mind choking off that kid
of yours so that honest people can get
their rest?'
"'Sir.' says she. it's no child of mine