OCR Text |
Show 162 TilE AJJVI~:NTURES OF 1IUCI1:LEBERRY I~7NJ.Y. wa~ gon ' ana the t \\0 young \VOln 11. They all mokccl <llHl t alkul, and I at and talked. The young \vom n ha<l quilts around th m, and their hair down th ir backs. Th y all a.·k<\d n1r qu stion., and I told them how pap and me and all tht\ fi:nnily was living on a little farn1 down at the·bottom of Arkansaw ·, and my i ter l\1ary Ann run off and got 1narrie<l and 11(\ver was heard of no more, and 13ill went to hunt th 1n and h warn't heard of n more, and Tom and l\1ort died, and t lwn there warn't n body but just 111 and pap left, and he wa · ju ·t tri1nn1ed down to nothing, on account of hi trouble· ; . o when h died I took what there was l ft, b cause the farm didn 'l hel ng to u , and started up th riv r, deck pa . age, an<l fl'll OYerboard; and that w·as how I co1ne to be here. So th y sn i<l I could have a home there as long a. I wanted it. Then it w;t. ' 1nost daylight, antl very body w nt to bed, and I went to bed with Buck, and when I waked up in the morning, drat iL all, I had forgot what n1y nan1e \vas. o I laid there about nn hour trying to think, and when Buck waked up, I say : " Can you sp 11, Buck ? ., "Yes," he ays. " I bet you can't spell 1ny name," says I. "I bet you what you dare I can," says he. "All right," says I, "go ahead." "G-o-r-g-e J-a-x-o-n-there now," he ay . "\\r ell,'' say · I, " you clone it, but I didn't think you could. It ain't no louch of a na1ne to sp 11-right off ·without tudying ." I set it down, private, because somebody might want rne to spell it, next, and so I wanted to be handy with it and rattle it off like I was used to it. It was a mighty nice family, and a mighty nice hou e, too. I hadn •t seen no hous out in the country before that was so nice and had so much tyle. It didn't have an iron latch on the I.NTERIOil DEC ORA TI0.1Y. i '. fl'ont doo~·, nor a wo d n on with a buck:kin . iring, bul a bra s knob to turn, th a1n a hou cs in a town. Ther warn't no b d in th parlour, n t a ign of a bel; hut h np~ f parlour: in to\vns ha b d in thcn1. Th r wa a hig fir place t.hat was bricked on th b tlo1n, and th brick wa: k pt clean and r d by pouring water on the1n antl , crubhing thcnl with anoth r brick; so1ncti1nes they wa. ·hcd t hPm over \vith n'< l wat r-paint that they call pani h-brown, sarne a. they <lo in town. Th y had big bra : dog-irons that c ul<l hol<l up a awlog. Ther wa a clock n th . middl' f the 1nantcl-piee , \Yith a picture of a town paint don the boUo1n half of the g1as.· front, and a round place in th Initld] of it for the . un and you c uld · e the p ndnlum wing behind it. It was beautiful to hear that clock tick; and ometi1n s when one of th ,"'C p ddl 'r · had been along and scoure l h r up and got h r in g·ood hap , .·h \Vould tart in and tril\: a hundrecl ancl fifty befor she got tucker d out. They woul<ln't took any 1n0,1 ~y for h r. W 11 there was a big ontlandi h narrot on raclt . id of th ' L cl ck, made out of · m thing like chalk, anti paintc<l up gaudy. By on of the parrots was a cat rna le of ·rock0ry, and a crock ry clog by the other ; and when you pr eel <lown on th 111 th0y :-;qu a] ~ed, but didn't op )n t 1t ir mouth nor look <liff 'r nt nor intere tecl. Th y squ ak 'd through und \rn ath. 'l'h r ' wa:· a coupl f big wild-turk y-wing fan :pr a<l out behind t.h · things. On a table in th' 1ni<l<lle of th ro01n wa a kind of a. lovely cro ·kery basket that had apple and ora11aes an l pea h : ancl grapes piled up in it., which was 1nuch r tld 'r and yellow r a1Hl pr ttier than real on s i:-;, but they warn't real b can. you could s e \vhere piece had g t chipp d ff and how cl t lt \vhite chalk or what ver it wa. , und rneath. Thi tabl had a cover made out of b autiful oil-cloth with a r ·<1 and bln pread- agl painted on it, ancl a paint d borcl r |