The Glenwood post., 1923-10-04

VI " 4o
Old Man Simms Started for His Gun.
pearance, but the Lincolnian smile and
the low slow speech, so much like his
own in some respects, ended that
Stranger" said Mr.. Simms, after
greetings had been exchanged, you're
right welcome, but in my kentry you'd
find it dangersome to walk in thisa-
way"
"How SOP" queried Jim Irwin.
you'd moren likely git shot up
some" replied Mr.. Simms, confess
you whooped from the big road"
81 didn't know that" replied Jim.
I'm ignorant of the customs of other
countries. Would you rather I'd
whoop from the big road-nobody
else will"
Il reckon" replied Mr.. Simms,
that we-all will have to accommodate
ourselves to the ways hyeh."
Evidently Jim was the Simms' first
caller since they had settled on the
l.,le brushy tract whose hills and
.'-as reminded them of their noun
i--.s. Low hills, to be sure with only
8 footing of rocks where the creek
lad cut through, and not many trees,
,@- down in the creek bed, with the
e.Ss. elms and box-elders arching
1s..Aead, the Slmmses could imagine
t.glselves beside some run falling
-,o the French Broad, or the Holston.
The creek bed was a Withdrawing
room in which to retire from the
eternal black soil and level cornfields
ut Iowa.
The soil was so poor, in compari-
son with those black uplands, that the
owner of the old wood-lot could find
no renter but it was better than the
soil in the mountains, and suited the
lonesome Simmses much more than a
better farm would have done. They
We're not of the Iowa people anyhow.
not understood, not their equals-they
were pore" and expected to stay
"pore"-whlle the Iowa people all
seemed to be either well-to-do, or ex-
pecting to become so.
Jim Irwin asked Old Man Simms
about the fishing in the creek, and
whether there was any duck shooting
spring and fall.
1--WE git right smart of these little
panfsh," said Mr.. Simms, IAN Calista
done shot two butterball ducks about
'tater- -plantin' time"
Calsta blushed-but this stranger,
so much like themselves. could not see
the rosy sufrusion. The alluson gave
him a chance to look about him at the
family. There was boy of sixteen,
girl-the duck-shOoting Calista-
younger than Raymond-a girl of
eleven, named Virginia, but called
Jlnnie-and smaller lad who re
joiced in the name of McGeehee, but
was mercifully called Buddy.
Calista squlrmed for something to
say. Raymond runs line o. traps
when the furs prime she volun.
teered.
Then came a long talk on traps and
trapping shooting, hunting and the
joys of the ountlngs-durlng which
Jim noted the ignorance and poverty
or the Simmses. The clothing of the
girls was not decent according to local
standards; for while Calista wore Il
skirt hurrledly slipped on, Jim was
quite sure-and not without evidence
to support his views-that she had
been wearing when lie arrived the
same regimentals now displayed by
Jinnie-a pair Of ragged blue overalls
Evidently the Simmses We're wearing
what they had and not what they de
sired. The father was faded, patched
gray and earthly, and the boys looked
better than the rest solely because we
expect boys to be torn and patched.
Mrs. Slmms was invisible except as II
gray blur beyond the rnln-barrel, in
the midst of which her pipe glowed
with a regular ebb and flow of embers
On the next rainy day Jim called
again and secured the services of Ray
mond to help him select seed corn. He
was going to teach the school next
winter, and he wanted to have Il seed
corn frollc the first day, instead of
waiting until the last-and you had to
get seed corn while ii was on the stalk,
If you got the best.
No Simms could refuse a favor to
the fellow who was so much like them
selves, and who was so greatly inter-
ested In trapping, hunting and the
Tennessee mountalns-so Raymond
went with jim, and with Newt Bron-
son and five more they selected Colo
mel Woodruff's seed corn for the next
year, under the colonel's personal
superintendent.
In the evening they looked the grain
over on the Woodruff lawn, and the