The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1919-05-14
Copyright. 1917. Irving Bachelor,


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i remember how they felt the cloth
on my back and how proudly they sur
veyed 1t.
Couldn't buy them goods round
these parts" said Uncle Peabody.
''Nor nothin' like em-no, sir"
"Feels leetle bit like the butternut
trousers" said Aunt Deel as she felt
my coat.
"Ayes. but them butternut trousers
amt what they used to be when they
was young and limber," Uncle Peabody
remarked. "Seems so they was get
! tin kind o. wrinlxled an baldheaded-
| like, specially where set down."
"Ayesl Wal 1 guess a man can't
grow old without his pants CROWN
old, too-ayes r. said Aunt Deel.
"If yer legs are in 'em ev'ry Sunday
they ketch it of ye," my uncle an
swered. 'Long sermons are hard on
pants, seems to me-"
"An' the longer the legs the harder
the sermons-in them little seats over
t the schoolhouse-ayesr ~ Aunt Deel
added by way of justifying his COM
plant. "There wouldn't be so much
wear in ten-mile walk-nor
| The chicken pie was baking and the
strawberries were ready for the short
| cake.
! "I've been wallerin since the dew
was off gittin' them berries an VII
lets-ayes !" said Aunt Deel, now busy
| n ot ctD
"Aunt, you look as young as ever" I
remarked.
She slapped my arm and said with
mock severity:
"Stop thati w'yi You know better
ayes !"
How vigorously she stirred the fire
then.
Il can't return the complimentary
soul how you've changed-ayes ~ she
remarked.
II hope you amt fit no more, Bart.
can't bear to think o. you flynn at
folks an poundin' of 'em. Don't seem
right-no, IL don't 7"
"Why, Aunt Deel. what In the world
do you mean?' asked.
''It's Purvis' brain that does the
poundin', 1 guess" said my uncle.
TITS kind o. got the habit. It's a reg
lar beetle brain. To hear him talk
ye'd think he an you could clean out
the hull Mexican nation-barrin' acct
dents. Why, anybody would suppose
that yer enemies go to climbin' trees
as soon as they see We comm an that
you pull the trees up by the roots to
| git at EN-"
"A certain amount OF such deviltry
Is necessary to the comfort of Mr..
Purvis," / remarked. eff there is no
body else to take the responsibility
for it he assumes 1t himself. His imag-
ination has an intense craving for
blood and violence. It's that type of
/ American who, egged on by the slave
power, is hurrying us into trouble
with Mexico"
! Purvis came In presently with a
look In his face which betrayed his
knowledge of the fact that all the cob
webs spun by his fancy were now to
be brushed away. Still he enjoyed
them while they lasted and there was
a kind of tacit claim in his manner
that they were subjects regarding
which no honest man could be expect
ed to tell the truth.
AS we ate our dinner they told me
that an escaped slave had come into
a neighboriing county and excited the
people with stories of the auction
block and Of negroes driven like yoked
oxen on plantations In South Carolina,
whence he had escaped on a steam
boat.
Il b'lieve I'm goin' to vote for abo-
lition," said Uncle Peabody. 81 won
der what Sile Wright will say to that"
Hell probably advise against 1t: the
time isn't ripe for so great a change"
was my answer. HE thinks that the
whole matter should be left to the gla.
cial action Of times forces"
Indeed 1 had spoken the view of
the sounder men of the North. The
subject filed them with dread alarm.
But the attitude of Uncle Peabody
was significant. The sentiment I'm Ia
vor of change was growing. 1t was
now to be reckoned with, for the abo-
lition party was said to hold the bal.
ance Of power In New York and New
England and was behaving itself like
a bull In a china shop.
After dinner tried to put on some
OF my old clothes. but found that my
nakedness had SO expanded that they
would not cover II, so / hitched my
white mare on the spring wagon and
drove to the village for my trunk.
Every week day after that 1 worked
In the fields until the senator arrived
in Canton about the middle Of August.
On one Of those happy days received
q letter from old Kate, dated. to my
surprise. In Saratoga. II said: