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Show 65 Relief Society meeting one day in the summer and found him drunk, with us children lined up on the front lawn. He was singing little, dirty songs, the meaning of which were incomprehensible to us, and probably to him. She took a stick to him and paddled him all the way across the road, where he went on hands and feet, like a huge spider. Papa was gone on the range, as usual, so Mama sent Eldon up to Uncle Joe's with a message for him to come and get Ase. She'd had him long enough. Uncle Joe sent his son, Jim, a big fellow. He threw Uncle Ase over his shoulder like a sack of bran and took him home. Mother had barely breathed a sigh of relief when Ase was back, sullen, but more sober. After that Papa paid him in cattle, not cash, a commodity not so easily converted into liquid refreshments. Mama bought his clothes, as he didn't seem to care what he wore, and kept them clean. Papa cut his hair. He never went to church, of course, nor read a book, but when he dressed up he wore a red necktie he seemed to favor. Whenever things went wrong for him, like the spanking from Mama, he swore he'd dig a hole, cut his throat and fall into it, pull the hole in after him. This plan was well known to all the townsfolk, so as sure as he wore his beloved red necktie some smart Alec would say: "Ase, you've cut your throat. " Now all was changed. He stopped telling himself jokes about old maids and repeated his conversations with Nettie night after night. Jim Moore was one of her suitors and this alarmed him. "Nettie, you hadn't ought to tease that foolish old man. He takes you seriously, and no telling what he'll do, " Jim told Nettie. |