Folklore, Franklin County.
Folder contains 18 pages of Alabama folklore compiled for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the late 1930s.-2- Thfff gassed about this thing and that thi~, and this feller dared this'n and that'n to go look in that holler tree. He said ~ they was t fraid, and he didn't see ho...
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Alabama Department of Archives and History |
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WPA Alabama Writers' Project |
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WPA Alabama Writers' Project Folklore, Franklin County. |
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WPA Alabama Writers' Project Folklore--Alabama; Alabama Writers' Project; Franklin County (Ala.); United States. Works Progress Administration |
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Folder contains 18 pages of Alabama folklore compiled for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the late 1930s.-2-
Thfff gassed about this thing and that thi~, and this feller
dared this'n and that'n to go look in that holler tree. He
said ~ they was t fraid, and he didn't see how
like them could be 'fraid of a little thing like a
wasn't no men if they didn't go.
grown men
I
hant. They
Two fellers listened, and they was drinki~ right amart.
They said: , "J:elle~ close yore trap. e air go~." They
took .... another drink fran the jug they kept in the store 1ha- e.
" e air going right now. Just to prove it; we air goin ."
"That's fine."
ell, them two fellers set out down to the Old Rollin's
Place. They was drunk, and it J • It was a good thing; frrr
they would have shore turned back. Fer the bull frogs was
croking down in the pasture branch, and there was all kinds of
them little ~ noises you hear in branch bottoms and in
low places.
"\
They tried to talk big and eve~thing to keep up the irits
in them. One 'lowed as how h wished he'~aken ;nother drink
'\
from that there jug. The other llowed there wasn't no uee thinking
'bout that.
The feller in the store that had sicked them on waited
til than two fellers had done gone, and he took him a~ drink,
•
and tole them there
wife s plumb mean
Saturday night.
in the store to go ahead gassing, but his
(
rout anting him to come home early thb
He told them fellers there to tell him how the
ghost huntere made out. He went out, and cut thrOUgh ahead
of them fellers; fer he knew a short-cut.
He run ahead, and jumped in that holler stump, crowded
back there, and he aited fer them fellers to come along. Tm
-3-
hollow stump g1ve him sort of jitters as he it - was fatten and full of spider webs and things. It was sort of
~yng bad to;
~ was oozy at
/'
fer the plaoe was damp and all, and the
his feet. But he 'lowed he'd have to stay
now.
"Fore long than fellers oome 'long. He could see them
in the light of the moon, huddling close togetllr. He knew
they couldn't see him, but he took out his big white handkerchief
and tied hit over his face just below the eyes. Thqt would
make him more soary, he f iggered.
Them d-unks oome up, and one of 'em leaned against the
,..., hollow tree, and the ~
shoulders. They was a long time
t'other looked over his
a-looking. Pretty soon
one of them fellers said softly and 'fraid like; "I see
one of them h~ts."
The t'other drunk looked in there, end he said softly
and 'fraid like: "I ses, too."
That feller in ths stump he froze up, and he said: ..,
"My Go~," and runned out there, but them two drunks _s
outting out ahead of him
oowtraoks dry and leaped
already. They was knooki!:@; the
y(l"
them rotten logs wors~ anything.
So they kept on a knooking
no ghost have one of them.
nothing ".,.
one of you~"
The feller yelled: "I'm one of you'" but that didn't mean
I> nJfI#J.:r.
to them drunks tearing out ahead ,-..at..", I want
/I.
And they was plm;b busted 'fore they'd let
the cow traoks dry and leaping stumps. They run sO fast
their ooats rose up, end their hair dragsa d behind in the
wind.
That feller kept ohasing them, and pretty soon them
two fellers
fell to the ground, paI1-t!. ng like hOund-dogs,
-2-
a-telling him:
"Yore gonne have a hard time, and it I wuf.'you 'A I oall hit
off and go when the sun oomes out. 7hem oows ain't worth all
0' that oold."
But Big Bob 'lowed it was warm enough, and he figgered
-/;. .. ""t-he
was man enough to~ anything. So he got his pipe and his
tobaooo, and a hand.fu~ of mato.es. He lit that big oornoob
th hit stuf~th tobaooo, and he puffed away as he out
out through the bottom.
He w&ked and he walked, his ears a-listening fer the
oowbells. But there weren't no bells, and he had to light
up his pipe again. d it ain't no telling how many pipes of
tobaooo he smoked all that day. ADd he WaS gittin' into them
there bottome deeper and deeper. The trees was thiok, the ground
miry. And he got to feeling hit growing oolder fer it waa
'bout dark. He smoked him another pipe, and he deoided he'd
better build him a fire; so he knooked out his pipe, and got
to gathering sioh dry stuff ~s he oould fine: twigs, stuff
tha tiver washed in on overflows. He had, a right smart time with
the ohill a biting at hie bones, and numbing his fingers, and
making hie ears hart.
Big Bob got it all piled up, and he stuok one of them stiff
hands in his jeans, and he nearly dropped puore dead. "There ain't - no matohes ,a~all,,, he eaid and knowed hit were true. He 1001<B'd
some more.
"I' got to git out'n here, and that right now." He
begin 10' king, and the oold, well hit turned fran oold to freezing.
Hit was so oold that the limbs of the trees begin popping in agony.
• •
-:3-
•
Hit waw SO cold be didn't like to braathe; fer hit hurt his throat,
that air cold did.
Big Bob Qegin to git . cered and all; fer he shore didn't
know how to gi t out' n that bottom. He couldn't set
down; fer he would sh~e freeze to death. So he picked him
out a little tree, and he cleared the bresh from 'round hit, am
he made him a little runway. He got to running, and 'round and 'round
that tree Big Bob got to going. He wasn't goin' slow neither. He
just run fast and fast and fast. He run 'til his bones aches and
his legs say ouch, but he run rome more. Fer he share didn't
want to freeze plumb to death. It was puore cold, and Big Bob,
he was puore tired •••
He runred and runned, and the river hit free zed over
whole he run. The ground was hard like rock with freezing. His
ears done froze and quit hurfting , and he wasn't about to touch
them. •
•
BiS Bob he runned 'round that tree till he had a race-track,
and he had a path, and he wored his shoes through.
But Big Bob he runned some more; he couldn't pay no 'tention; fer
he llidn't nt to die. mat would happen to that ole wanan or
his'n if he stopped and went to sleep? No, he had to run, and
he runned. His side hurt, his legs hurt; and his feet hut.
But he runned.
The stars caned out, thell!!o~rose and hit set, and he
runLed. '~out norning, the sky begin t break. He runned on, but
he eort of lagged 'nough to lieten. He thought he heared a bell.
Shore it was a bell. Hit was a cow, and nig Bob he run ed that
•
way, and he seen that ole brindle, a walking in with a bag full of
milk.
•
,
I - -4-
Bob runned up and she oomed up. Big Bob he got down am he
milked hiC'self
,.....
a mouth fUl~ of milk, and he felt better. But
J
lit s shore oold and he got up, and runr.ed 'round and 'round
that ole brindle. She sort of +ooked at him and mooed
low like she didn't understand.
"Hi t has tuh be," ha aaid to the bossy.
She switohed that~ of her'n, and Bob he saw that
tail all fUll of them Tombigbee Bottom oookle burrs. He runned
and loo~ed at that there~ and Big Bob he latohed on to
that~~ He oaught it ti t and firm, and ole Bossy looked
at him, and kioked at him, but Big Bob was a-holl and he was
a-gpin' tuh a-holl. Big Bossy she moved up, and Big Bob
he followe~ up. Boss~ she trotted and Big Bob trotted. Bossy,
she 'lowed she'd run the legs of him, and Big Bob 'lowe4
that was fine too.
Bossy got dogmad and she begin to run like she mean hit.
She runned through briars and
bres. h; she leaped them logs and
stumps, but Big Bob he hung on. Bossy got madder and madder;
She morted and she buoked, but Big Bob hung right on.
He hung on 'til Bossy oarried him right to that lot fenoe •
Ain't no reason in the world fer Big Bob not taking that
ole brind(~ out to graze on olover, air there?
\ , ......... •
•
• •
LA'1IYERS AIR SMART
Folklore
source: Krs. R.V. ·aldrep
•
LA'TYERS AIR SMART
R. V. aldrep, Jr.
Editorial Department
•
Ole Jake had heared-tell of them lawyer fellers all his
~"1s, but he ain't never put no etock in 'em ";til one day he
-t ..
went up"that there Countyseat. He allus stayed out there in
his farm an' raised his hay ~. his corn an' his cotton. !Je jsst
minded his business. He figgered he wus gittin' 'long'bout
•
•
as good as anybody, lawyer air no lawyer. But one day Ole
Jake fetehed his old lady 'fore him, and he tolt her some of his
•
thinkings:
"Sally," he 'lows, "I'm dog-tired hear in' 'bout lawyers.
Turner Bonds over there on the crick was a-tellin' as how a
lawyer did something fer him. Jim Fites says as how one of them
lawyer-fellers got his estate figgsrsd out. All my life I've haared
sich-liks 'bout them dad-dratted lawyer-fellers. ay psople
talk the Lord's done gone and 'nointed thsm air something. I ain't
one to stay in th' dark 'bout nothing, and I ain't a-goin'
to now.... An' if these lawyer-fellers air as good as Jesus Christ I
•
•
•
• -2-
want to know."
"Jake, you air plumb right there. -Them lawyer-fellers
~
must be as good as Moses air Elijah, 'cordin' to how I 'heared-tell
of. ow, you git yoreself down to th' Countyseat, and
you take a look fer yoreself. You air got a field Of~
hay waitin' fer the rake, but this here is mighty important too.
Tomorrow~ you kin put in a rale day of work in that hay •••
Now, don't let none of them there smart fellers hookwink you.
You watch, d'here?"
So Jake, he put them there boys of his'n a-working in th'
corn, and tole 'em he'd help with th' hay tomorrow. He got odt
that buggy of his'n, and that mare of his'n, and Sally, she stood
at th' door and seen to hit that he got his fried fat-belly and
his biscuits and fr~ed eggs all right. She watched her man aDd
hi. r'sky little mare go 'round th' bend 0' th' road, and top
Co n Hill on the t'other side.
Jake, he went to th' Countyseat. If them lswyer-fellers
-.us prophets and better he wus a-goin' to'find out. So he driv
in by dinner, an' hitched his mare to tqe t'other side of town
at th' waterin' trough, an' foote hitto th' Courthouse Square •
•
He saen all them politicians sett ' 'round gasin', but he didn't
pay them no mind. He was a-lookin':
THCMAS BROWN3, Lawyer, -.us what he seen, and he pushed
•
open that there door, and waited 'til he could see the~lawyer-felle~.
Purty soon a lady p\nted to a chair, and he got in it. 'Course 1B
took off that old hat of his'n, and smoothed out that there hair
of his'n.
The lawyer feller all git-out, a-smiling,
and a-sticking out his hand. Jake, he figgered that was all right, an'
he shook hands right hearty.
•
• • -3-
"What's yer name? Ain't I seed yer some'r's, ha'n't I?"
Jake he wasn't aimin' to be led out no sich way ae that. He
jest chewed his 'bacco, end spit in th' Can. ihet
him ter? He knowed everything, didn't he?
"Wale, m'good man, what air yer business?"
Jake didn't min' a-tell. Hit tiokled "hie gizzard t'see
the lawyer a-working, but Jake---he wasn't doin' no talkin'.
The lawyer-feller .us a-goin' to do th' talkin'. Jake, he
s,uirted a a yellow stream towerd the can, end he fetched his eyes
out'n the window, thinkin' 'bout hie hay and his corn and hie
wite end boys.
~be lawyer-teller looked at Jake, end he narrowed his eyes.
"Wale, m'good man, I see as how you ain't goin' to'talk." By
now that lawyer-feller had tiggered out what was ailin' ole
Jake. He squinted up his eyes, and stood up, end hooked his thumbs
in the vest of his'n. He b~in a-walkin' 'round th' room, lookin'
at Jake out'n the corner of his eyes.
Ole Jake chewed on. !lit was up,.. to th' lawyer.
Sud4en-like, the lawyer-feller unhooked the thumb ot hls 'n,
end boomed like he was 'dressing a picnic crowd: "Don't never put
otf 'til tomorrow what yer can do today ••• That there's two
dollare, misterl" Ole Jake peeled ott th' two-dollars, his eyes
poppin', an' juice a-runnin' down hie chin. "Good day,~ m'good
men," said the lawyer-teller, and ole Jake went out'n the
Courthouse, unhitehed his mare, and driv home.
He thought and he thought: "Don't never put ott 'til tomorrow
hat yer can do todey." Ole Jake driv on, thinkin' that.
en he topped Coon Hill, and could see the house and lot, an'
lady stendin' in th' door, a-shad in' her eyes, he thought
•
• •
-2-
•
serious char'ge you have just gone and made ••••~~
willing to swear to it?"
• Ilis s Petlmi.~ eyes poppsd: "Swear?"
"Yes, Miss Petunia it is the custom to sweat to
the truth••• "
Miss Petunia was a Christian woman, but ehe looked
at the preacher and thought how ecounderly it wae to steal a
preachsr's cow, and she bit her lip, and decIded shs'd do
it tor him.
The Police said all right, and it looked like he
wasn't going; so iee Petunia said: "It I was at your house
as you are at my house, I'd journe ay home ••• " She
elemmed the door, and thought the matter over.
Miss Petunia had never swore and it bothered her a
lot: She sSt and reed her bible, dlt and looked out the
ndowe. She even qui t her canning and her frui t-SUDD ing.
Since she had to swear, she decided to make a good job of
it • .md she thought along these lines until Court day came.
~he got her best bonnet, her big-check calico, and
buttomd her shoee to the top. She eet out with her
umbrella.
¥eople were pouring,.." in trom everywhwre. Miss
Petunia had never seen so many people before. It frightened
her to think she was going to have to swear before ell these
people. But it wae for the preachsr's sake that shs was
going to it.
She went around to thepolice's place, and she told
him she was ready, and he told her everything was fine, just
get over there with the rest of the witnesses. Miss |
| title |
Folklore, Franklin County. |
| titleStr |
Folklore, Franklin County. |
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http://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/wpa/id/893 |
| id |
ADAHwpa893 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/wpa/id/893 |
| _version_ |
1743797183934627840 |
| spelling |
GSU# SG022775_01103-01121SG022775_01103_01121Folklore, Franklin County.Folder contains 18 pages of Alabama folklore compiled for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the late 1930s.1939 circa1930-1939Folklore--Alabama; Alabama Writers' Project; Franklin County (Ala.); United States. Works Progress AdministrationTextDocumentsAlabama. Dept. of Archives and HistoryWorks Progress Administration filesSG022775WPA Alabama Writers' Project, Folklore, Franklin County, #1Alabama Dept. of Archives and History, 624 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36130EnglishThis material may be protected under U. S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S. Code) which governs the making of photocopies or reproductions of copyrighted materials. You may use the digitized material for private study, scholarship, or research. Though ADAH has physical ownership of the material in its collections, in some cases we may not own the copyright to the material. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in our collections.96 dpi tiff-2-
Thfff gassed about this thing and that thi~, and this feller
dared this'n and that'n to go look in that holler tree. He
said ~ they was t fraid, and he didn't see how
like them could be 'fraid of a little thing like a
wasn't no men if they didn't go.
grown men
I
hant. They
Two fellers listened, and they was drinki~ right amart.
They said: , "J:elle~ close yore trap. e air go~." They
took .... another drink fran the jug they kept in the store 1ha- e.
" e air going right now. Just to prove it; we air goin ."
"That's fine."
ell, them two fellers set out down to the Old Rollin's
Place. They was drunk, and it J • It was a good thing; frrr
they would have shore turned back. Fer the bull frogs was
croking down in the pasture branch, and there was all kinds of
them little ~ noises you hear in branch bottoms and in
low places.
"\
They tried to talk big and eve~thing to keep up the irits
in them. One 'lowed as how h wished he'~aken ;nother drink
'\
from that there jug. The other llowed there wasn't no uee thinking
'bout that.
The feller in the store that had sicked them on waited
til than two fellers had done gone, and he took him a~ drink,
•
and tole them there
wife s plumb mean
Saturday night.
in the store to go ahead gassing, but his
(
rout anting him to come home early thb
He told them fellers there to tell him how the
ghost huntere made out. He went out, and cut thrOUgh ahead
of them fellers; fer he knew a short-cut.
He run ahead, and jumped in that holler stump, crowded
back there, and he aited fer them fellers to come along. Tm
-3-
hollow stump g1ve him sort of jitters as he it - was fatten and full of spider webs and things. It was sort of
~yng bad to;
~ was oozy at
/'
fer the plaoe was damp and all, and the
his feet. But he 'lowed he'd have to stay
now.
"Fore long than fellers oome 'long. He could see them
in the light of the moon, huddling close togetllr. He knew
they couldn't see him, but he took out his big white handkerchief
and tied hit over his face just below the eyes. Thqt would
make him more soary, he f iggered.
Them d-unks oome up, and one of 'em leaned against the
,..., hollow tree, and the ~
shoulders. They was a long time
t'other looked over his
a-looking. Pretty soon
one of them fellers said softly and 'fraid like; "I see
one of them h~ts."
The t'other drunk looked in there, end he said softly
and 'fraid like: "I ses, too."
That feller in ths stump he froze up, and he said: ..,
"My Go~," and runned out there, but them two drunks _s
outting out ahead of him
oowtraoks dry and leaped
already. They was knooki!:@; the
y(l"
them rotten logs wors~ anything.
So they kept on a knooking
no ghost have one of them.
nothing ".,.
one of you~"
The feller yelled: "I'm one of you'" but that didn't mean
I> nJfI#J.:r.
to them drunks tearing out ahead ,-..at..", I want
/I.
And they was plm;b busted 'fore they'd let
the cow traoks dry and leaping stumps. They run sO fast
their ooats rose up, end their hair dragsa d behind in the
wind.
That feller kept ohasing them, and pretty soon them
two fellers
fell to the ground, paI1-t!. ng like hOund-dogs,
-2-
a-telling him:
"Yore gonne have a hard time, and it I wuf.'you 'A I oall hit
off and go when the sun oomes out. 7hem oows ain't worth all
0' that oold."
But Big Bob 'lowed it was warm enough, and he figgered
-/;. .. ""t-he
was man enough to~ anything. So he got his pipe and his
tobaooo, and a hand.fu~ of mato.es. He lit that big oornoob
th hit stuf~th tobaooo, and he puffed away as he out
out through the bottom.
He w&ked and he walked, his ears a-listening fer the
oowbells. But there weren't no bells, and he had to light
up his pipe again. d it ain't no telling how many pipes of
tobaooo he smoked all that day. ADd he WaS gittin' into them
there bottome deeper and deeper. The trees was thiok, the ground
miry. And he got to feeling hit growing oolder fer it waa
'bout dark. He smoked him another pipe, and he deoided he'd
better build him a fire; so he knooked out his pipe, and got
to gathering sioh dry stuff ~s he oould fine: twigs, stuff
tha tiver washed in on overflows. He had, a right smart time with
the ohill a biting at hie bones, and numbing his fingers, and
making hie ears hart.
Big Bob got it all piled up, and he stuok one of them stiff
hands in his jeans, and he nearly dropped puore dead. "There ain't - no matohes ,a~all,,, he eaid and knowed hit were true. He 1001<B'd
some more.
"I' got to git out'n here, and that right now." He
begin 10' king, and the oold, well hit turned fran oold to freezing.
Hit was so oold that the limbs of the trees begin popping in agony.
• •
-:3-
•
Hit waw SO cold be didn't like to braathe; fer hit hurt his throat,
that air cold did.
Big Bob Qegin to git . cered and all; fer he shore didn't
know how to gi t out' n that bottom. He couldn't set
down; fer he would sh~e freeze to death. So he picked him
out a little tree, and he cleared the bresh from 'round hit, am
he made him a little runway. He got to running, and 'round and 'round
that tree Big Bob got to going. He wasn't goin' slow neither. He
just run fast and fast and fast. He run 'til his bones aches and
his legs say ouch, but he run rome more. Fer he share didn't
want to freeze plumb to death. It was puore cold, and Big Bob,
he was puore tired •••
He runred and runned, and the river hit free zed over
whole he run. The ground was hard like rock with freezing. His
ears done froze and quit hurfting , and he wasn't about to touch
them. •
•
BiS Bob he runned 'round that tree till he had a race-track,
and he had a path, and he wored his shoes through.
But Big Bob he runned some more; he couldn't pay no 'tention; fer
he llidn't nt to die. mat would happen to that ole wanan or
his'n if he stopped and went to sleep? No, he had to run, and
he runned. His side hurt, his legs hurt; and his feet hut.
But he runned.
The stars caned out, thell!!o~rose and hit set, and he
runLed. '~out norning, the sky begin t break. He runned on, but
he eort of lagged 'nough to lieten. He thought he heared a bell.
Shore it was a bell. Hit was a cow, and nig Bob he run ed that
•
way, and he seen that ole brindle, a walking in with a bag full of
milk.
•
,
I - -4-
Bob runned up and she oomed up. Big Bob he got down am he
milked hiC'self
,.....
a mouth fUl~ of milk, and he felt better. But
J
lit s shore oold and he got up, and runr.ed 'round and 'round
that ole brindle. She sort of +ooked at him and mooed
low like she didn't understand.
"Hi t has tuh be," ha aaid to the bossy.
She switohed that~ of her'n, and Bob he saw that
tail all fUll of them Tombigbee Bottom oookle burrs. He runned
and loo~ed at that there~ and Big Bob he latohed on to
that~~ He oaught it ti t and firm, and ole Bossy looked
at him, and kioked at him, but Big Bob was a-holl and he was
a-gpin' tuh a-holl. Big Bossy she moved up, and Big Bob
he followe~ up. Boss~ she trotted and Big Bob trotted. Bossy,
she 'lowed she'd run the legs of him, and Big Bob 'lowe4
that was fine too.
Bossy got dogmad and she begin to run like she mean hit.
She runned through briars and
bres. h; she leaped them logs and
stumps, but Big Bob he hung on. Bossy got madder and madder;
She morted and she buoked, but Big Bob hung right on.
He hung on 'til Bossy oarried him right to that lot fenoe •
Ain't no reason in the world fer Big Bob not taking that
ole brind(~ out to graze on olover, air there?
\ , ......... •
•
• •
LA'1IYERS AIR SMART
Folklore
source: Krs. R.V. ·aldrep
•
LA'TYERS AIR SMART
R. V. aldrep, Jr.
Editorial Department
•
Ole Jake had heared-tell of them lawyer fellers all his
~"1s, but he ain't never put no etock in 'em ";til one day he
-t ..
went up"that there Countyseat. He allus stayed out there in
his farm an' raised his hay ~. his corn an' his cotton. !Je jsst
minded his business. He figgered he wus gittin' 'long'bout
•
•
as good as anybody, lawyer air no lawyer. But one day Ole
Jake fetehed his old lady 'fore him, and he tolt her some of his
•
thinkings:
"Sally," he 'lows, "I'm dog-tired hear in' 'bout lawyers.
Turner Bonds over there on the crick was a-tellin' as how a
lawyer did something fer him. Jim Fites says as how one of them
lawyer-fellers got his estate figgsrsd out. All my life I've haared
sich-liks 'bout them dad-dratted lawyer-fellers. ay psople
talk the Lord's done gone and 'nointed thsm air something. I ain't
one to stay in th' dark 'bout nothing, and I ain't a-goin'
to now.... An' if these lawyer-fellers air as good as Jesus Christ I
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want to know."
"Jake, you air plumb right there. -Them lawyer-fellers
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must be as good as Moses air Elijah, 'cordin' to how I 'heared-tell
of. ow, you git yoreself down to th' Countyseat, and
you take a look fer yoreself. You air got a field Of~
hay waitin' fer the rake, but this here is mighty important too.
Tomorrow~ you kin put in a rale day of work in that hay •••
Now, don't let none of them there smart fellers hookwink you.
You watch, d'here?"
So Jake, he put them there boys of his'n a-working in th'
corn, and tole 'em he'd help with th' hay tomorrow. He got odt
that buggy of his'n, and that mare of his'n, and Sally, she stood
at th' door and seen to hit that he got his fried fat-belly and
his biscuits and fr~ed eggs all right. She watched her man aDd
hi. r'sky little mare go 'round th' bend 0' th' road, and top
Co n Hill on the t'other side.
Jake, he went to th' Countyseat. If them lswyer-fellers
-.us prophets and better he wus a-goin' to'find out. So he driv
in by dinner, an' hitched his mare to tqe t'other side of town
at th' waterin' trough, an' foote hitto th' Courthouse Square •
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He saen all them politicians sett ' 'round gasin', but he didn't
pay them no mind. He was a-lookin':
THCMAS BROWN3, Lawyer, -.us what he seen, and he pushed
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open that there door, and waited 'til he could see the~lawyer-felle~.
Purty soon a lady p\nted to a chair, and he got in it. 'Course 1B
took off that old hat of his'n, and smoothed out that there hair
of his'n.
The lawyer feller all git-out, a-smiling,
and a-sticking out his hand. Jake, he figgered that was all right, an'
he shook hands right hearty.
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"What's yer name? Ain't I seed yer some'r's, ha'n't I?"
Jake he wasn't aimin' to be led out no sich way ae that. He
jest chewed his 'bacco, end spit in th' Can. ihet
him ter? He knowed everything, didn't he?
"Wale, m'good man, what air yer business?"
Jake didn't min' a-tell. Hit tiokled "hie gizzard t'see
the lawyer a-working, but Jake---he wasn't doin' no talkin'.
The lawyer-feller .us a-goin' to do th' talkin'. Jake, he
s,uirted a a yellow stream towerd the can, end he fetched his eyes
out'n the window, thinkin' 'bout hie hay and his corn and hie
wite end boys.
~be lawyer-teller looked at Jake, end he narrowed his eyes.
"Wale, m'good man, I see as how you ain't goin' to'talk." By
now that lawyer-feller had tiggered out what was ailin' ole
Jake. He squinted up his eyes, and stood up, end hooked his thumbs
in the vest of his'n. He b~in a-walkin' 'round th' room, lookin'
at Jake out'n the corner of his eyes.
Ole Jake chewed on. !lit was up,.. to th' lawyer.
Sud4en-like, the lawyer-feller unhooked the thumb ot hls 'n,
end boomed like he was 'dressing a picnic crowd: "Don't never put
otf 'til tomorrow what yer can do today ••• That there's two
dollare, misterl" Ole Jake peeled ott th' two-dollars, his eyes
poppin', an' juice a-runnin' down hie chin. "Good day,~ m'good
men," said the lawyer-teller, and ole Jake went out'n the
Courthouse, unhitehed his mare, and driv home.
He thought and he thought: "Don't never put ott 'til tomorrow
hat yer can do todey." Ole Jake driv on, thinkin' that.
en he topped Coon Hill, and could see the house and lot, an'
lady stendin' in th' door, a-shad in' her eyes, he thought
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serious char'ge you have just gone and made ••••~~
willing to swear to it?"
• Ilis s Petlmi.~ eyes poppsd: "Swear?"
"Yes, Miss Petunia it is the custom to sweat to
the truth••• "
Miss Petunia was a Christian woman, but ehe looked
at the preacher and thought how ecounderly it wae to steal a
preachsr's cow, and she bit her lip, and decIded shs'd do
it tor him.
The Police said all right, and it looked like he
wasn't going; so iee Petunia said: "It I was at your house
as you are at my house, I'd journe ay home ••• " She
elemmed the door, and thought the matter over.
Miss Petunia had never swore and it bothered her a
lot: She sSt and reed her bible, dlt and looked out the
ndowe. She even qui t her canning and her frui t-SUDD ing.
Since she had to swear, she decided to make a good job of
it • .md she thought along these lines until Court day came.
~he got her best bonnet, her big-check calico, and
buttomd her shoee to the top. She eet out with her
umbrella.
¥eople were pouring,.." in trom everywhwre. Miss
Petunia had never seen so many people before. It frightened
her to think she was going to have to swear before ell these
people. But it wae for the preachsr's sake that shs was
going to it.
She went around to thepolice's place, and she told
him she was ready, and he told her everything was fine, just
get over there with the rest of the witnesses. Misshttp://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/wpa/id/893 |