The Texas Countryman. (Bellville, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, July 5, 1867 Page: 1 of 4
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C|t Cmrairptan.
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•y advertí e e t«.
iie—IMM |ii Wwtli tr Toar.
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gf A Card,'not exceeding tJw «pure
by tea linea, brevier, per yea..
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at.T. tecal aad traaaieot advertisements
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Advertisement banded in by the Cmin-
i y Clerk will be inserted at ibe pnc* bxed
bylaw, via: Two dolían for eacli horse
r work ox eat rayed.
Professional Cards.
CHAS. T. KAVANAUGH,
XPQ9AAM-
BELLV1LLE,
▲satin Coenty, Texas.
Agree MeaU, Contracts, Deeds, Deeds ot
Trust, Mortgages, Wills, &c , &e., neatly
executed. Depositions properly tab®,,
aad mnptly returned. Affldavits, ac-
knowledgements of Married Women, Pro-
testo, and all other Notarial acts.
Ían.l5-g34f
chas. T. kavahalgh. b. F. elliott
Karuiaiigh St Elliott,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW,
BELLVILLE,
Austin County, Texas.
jaalS §3-ly
. CHE8LBV. bbo. W. johnson.
Chetley A Johnson,
ATTORNEY S AT LAW,
BELLVILLE,
Austin County, Texas,
CrOfltoe in tbe Court House JEk
decaí v *J__
A. P. & E. W. THOMPSON,
atUw.
Dkllville. ...... 4NOHouston,
Austin Co. Harris Co.
TEXAS.
Will practice in the 1st, 3d &. 7th District.
A. P. THOMPSON
brief cases in the Supreme
Court at Austin, Ty* * ^ -
Will
Co
aprSO
rler and Galveston.
tf
B. T. & C. A. HARRIS,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW.
BELLVILLE,
Austin County, Texas.
aprlS y
1. G. Skarcy, H. H. Boone.
SEARCY & BOONE,
*A TTjORNE ys at LA IT,
-4- ANDERSON,
Grimes County, Texas.
feb3.«-ly.
J. P. OSTERHOUT
ATTORNEY AT LA W,
BELLVILLE,
Am- > County, Texas.
Z Hunt N. Holland.
HUNT A-BOLLAND,
attorneys at law,
BELLVILLE,
Austin County, Texas.
ieb2-M4 .
W . 1. COCKE, M. D. E. T. nONNEY, H. D.
DRS. COCKE & BONNE Y,
PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS,
BELLTILLE,
AUSTIN COUNTY, TEXAS,
—so:—
HAVING had great experience in
Surgery, are prepared to operate
upon and treat all surgical diseases.
oetl9-H0 tf
If «tic to Teachers.
THE board of School Examiners for
Austin eounty will meet at Bellville
on the 16th February., 16th March, 13th
Aaril and 18th of May for the examination
uf teachers.
L. L. PROUTY, V
EMIL KOCH, Board of
GEO. W.FOSTER, Examin-
E. G. MAETZE, era.
A. CHESLEY.
February 7th, 1867.
g6-4m.
DE8T Loaf and Crusbet Sugar, cheap for
13 cash, at MILLER & LUHN'S.
g5 'y
11RIME Rio Coffee, for sale at
A g5-ly MILLER * LUHN'S.
ie and Extra St. Louis
sale at
MILLER & LUHN'S.
BEST Superita
Flour, for sal
*5-iy
Tl/INDOW-Gli and Wooden
VT for sale by MILLER & LUI
A iff,
*
A",
ware,
LUHN.
assortment ofLadiee', Children's
Gent's Shoes, cheap for cash, at
«5-ly MILLER & LUHN'S.
extensive sioek of Trimmings and
Ribbons, for sale at
g5-ly MILLER & LUHN'S.
U AMES, Traces and Hardware, of
XX every kind, forsale by
4My MILLER A LUHN.
Cheese and Crackers, fresh ar-
Tifal, forsale at
y 1LIXR A LUHN'S.
rl. BLUM 3o
IMPORTERS &, JOBBERS
Foreign and Domestic
i
* ¿K
■ ' . y
£ &
J. P. OSTERHOUT,
"INDEPENDENT IN AT.T. THINaS—NEUTRAL IN NOTHING."
ENT'S FURNISHING f
Boots A Shoes, Hats, Notio#
Strand Strebt^PISIETOR.
>Blnm&Co.) GAL VES*
iTtn Street, ) =
BELLVILLE, FRIDAY, JULY 5.
1867.
VOL. VIL!
THE MAN WHO STOLE A
MEETING HOUSE.
(Continued from last week.)
"That's all a sheer fabrication,"
say* the Deacon. This land was
it. ver a part cf what's now your farm
iuiy uiore lliau it was a part of mine."
••Wsl," aavs Jedwort. *'I look at it
in my way, and you've a perfect
right to look at it in your way. But
I 'm goin' to make sure o' my way
by puttin' a fence round the hull
concern."
•«And your'e usin' some of my
rails to do it with!" says the deacon.
"Cau you swear if they be your
rails?"
"Yes, I can; they're rails the
freshet carried off from TQy farm iaBt
spring, and landed Onto yomm."
«'So I've heard ye eay. But can
you swear \o the p&rtic'lar rails? Can
you SYvear, foi instance, that this ere
'.<j yonr rail, or this 'ere one?"
•'No, I can't swear to precisely
ihem two, but—"
"Can you swear t< these two? or
to any one or two?" says Jedwort.
♦•No, ye can't. Ye can Bwear to the
lot in general, but you can't swear to
any partie'lar rail, and that kind o*
swearin' won't stand law, Deacon
Talcott. I don't boast of bein' an
edicated man but I know suthin' o*
what law is, and when I know it, I
dror a line there, and I toe that line,
and 1 make my neighbors toe that
line, Deacon Talcott. Nine p'ints of
the law is possession, and I'll have
possession o' this 'ere house and land
by fenciu' on it in; and tho' every
man that comes along should say
these 'ere rails belong to them, I'll
fence it in with these 'ere very rails."
"Jedwort said thia, waggiug his
obstinate old head, and grinning with
his face turned up pugnaciously at
the deacon ; then weul to w oik again
as it he bad settled the question, and
didu't wish to discuss it any further.
"As for Talcott, he was too full ot
wrath and boiling indignation to an-
swer such a speech, lie knew that
Jedwort had managed to get the
start of him with regard to the rails,
hy mixing a few of his own with
those he had stolen, so that nobody
could tell them apart, and he saw at
once that the meeting house was in
danger of going the same way just
for want of an owner to swear out a
clear title to the property. He did
just the wisest thing when he swal-
lowed his vexation, and hurried off to
alarm the hading men of the two so-
cieties and to consalt a lawyer.
•«H e'll stir up the old town like a
bumble-bees' nest," says Jedwort.
"Hurry up, boys, or there'll be a
bnzzin' round our ears 'for 1 we git
through!"
"I wish ye wouldn't pa!" says
Dave, "Why don't we tend to our
own busint-ss, and be decent, like
other folks? I'm sick of this kind of
life."
"Quit it. then,' says Jedwort.
"Do you tell me to quit it?" says
Dave, dropping the end of a rail he
was handling.
"Yes, I do; and do it dumbed quick
if ye can't show a proper respect to
your father!"
% "Dave turned white as a Bheet, and
he trembled as he answered back, 'I
should be glad to show you res| ect if
you was a man I could feel any re-
spect for.'
"At that Jedwort canght hold of
the iron bar that was sticking in the
ground, where he had been making a
hole for a stake, and pulled away at
it. 'I'll make a stake hole in you!'
says he. "It's enough to have a
sassy hired man round, without bein'
jawed by one's own children!'
«'Dave was out of reach by t ie
time the bár came out of the ground.
«•Come here, you villain!" says the
old man.
••I'd rather be excused," says
Dave, backing off. "I don't want
any stake-holes made in me to-day.
You told me to quit, and I'm
going to. You may steal yoiir own
meeting-houses in future; I won't
help."
'•There was a short race. Dave's
young legs proved altogether too
smart for the old waddler's, and he
£?t 3ff, Th. n Jedwort, coming back,
wheezing and sweating, with his iron
bar, turned savagely on me.
•«I've a good notion to tell you to
go too!"
"Very well, why don't ye ?" says
I. «'I*n( ready."
'•There's no livin' with ve, ye're
git tin' sit dumbed sassy ! What I
keep ye for is a mystery to me."
•tío, it ain't; you keep ine be-
cause you caa't get another man to
fill my place You put up with my
sass for thtf money I bring ve in."
"Hold your yawp," says he, "and
go and git another load of rails. If
ye svt- Dave, tell Lim to come back to
work."
1 did see Dave, but instead of tell-
ing him to go back, I advised him to
put out from the old home and get
his living somewhere else. His
mother and Maria agreed-with me;
and when the old man came home
that night, Dave was gone.
When I got back with my second
load I found the neighbors assembling
to witness the stealing of the old
meeting-house, and Jedwort was an-
swering their remonstrances.
"A meetin'-house is a respectable
kind o' prop'ty to have round," says
he. "The steeple '11 make a good
show behind my house. When
folks ride by, they'll stop and look,
and say, 'There's a man keeps a pri-
vate meetin'-house of his own." I
can have preachin' in't, too, if I
want. I'm able to hire a preacher of
my own; or I can preach myself and
save the expense."
Of course neither sarcasm nor ar-
gument conld have effect on such a
man. As the neighbors were going
away, Jedwort shouted after 'em:
"Call ag'n. Glad to see ye. There '11
be more sport in a few days, when I
take the dumbed thing away." (The
dumbed thing was the meeting-
house.) "I invite v e to call and see
the show. Fiee gratis. It '11 be as
good as a circus, and a 'tarnal sight
cheaper. The women can bring
their kuittin', and the gals their ever-
lastin' tattlin'. As it "11 be a pious
kind o' show, bein' it's a meetin'-
house, guess I'll have notices gi'n
out from the pulpits the Sunday
afore."
The common was fenced in by
sundown ; and the next day Jedwort
had over a house-mover from the
North Village to look and see what
couiu be done with the building
"Can ye snake it over and drop it
back of my house?" says he.
"It'll be a hard job," said old Bob,
without you tear down the steeple
fust."
But Jedwort said, "What's a meet-
in'-house 'thout a steeple? I've got
my heart kind o' set on that steeple ;
md I'm bouud to go the hull hog on
tilts 'ere coueeru, now I've begun."
"I vow,'.' says Bob, «xamiuing the
timbers, "I won't warrant but what
the old thing '11 all tumble down."
"I'll resk it."
"Yes; but who'll resk the lives of
me and my men ?"
"O, you'll see if it's re'ly goin' to
tumble, and look out. I'll engage it
me aud my boys '11 do the most dan-
gerous part of the work. Dumbed if
I won't agree to ride in the steeple
and ring the bell, if there was oae."
I've never heard that the promised
notices were read from the pulpits;
but it wasn't many days before Bob
came over again, bringing with him
this time his screws and ropes and
rollers, his men and timbers, horse
and capstan; and at last the old
house might have been seen on its
travels.
It was an exciting time all around.
The societies found that Jedwort's
fence gave him the first claim to house
and land, unless a regular siege of the
law was gone through to beat bim
off, and then it might tara out Cat
he would beat them". Some said
fight him; some said let him be; the
thing air.'t worth going f law for;
and so, as the leading men couldn't
agree as to what should be done, noth-
ing was done. That wr just what
Jedwort had expect^ a 'd ho laugh-
ed iu his sleeve while A b and his
boys screwed up the t Id meeting-
house, and got their bea.fls under it,
and set it on rollers, and slued it
ciound, and slid it on the timbers laid
for it across into Jedwort's field
steeple foremost, like a locomotive on
«track, '
It was a trying time for the wo-
men folks at home- Maria bad de-
clared that if her father did persist in
stealing the meeting-house, she
would not stay a single day uflter it¡
but would follow Dave.
That touched me pretty close, for
to tell the truth, it was rather more'
Maria than her mother that kept me
at work for the old man. "If you
go," says I, ''theu there is no object
for me to stay; I 6ball go too.'"
"That's what I supposed,'" for
there is no reason in ihe world why
you should stay. But then Dan will
go; and who'll be left to take sides
with mother ? That's wba troubles
me. O, if she could only go too !
But she won't; and she couidu't it
she would, with the other children
depending on her. Dear, dear! what
shall we do ?"
The poor girl put her head on my
shoulder and cried; and if I sh. u!d
own up to the truth, I suppose I
cried a little too. For where's the
man that can hold a sweet woman's
head on his shoulder, while she soba
out her trouble, and he hasn't any
power to help ber; who, I say, can
do any less, under such circumstan-
ces, than drop a tear or two for com-
panv ?
"Never mind; don't hurry," says
Mrs. Jedwort. "Be patient, and wait
awhile, and it'll all turn out right,
I'm sure."
"Yes, you always say be patient
and wait!" says Maria, brushing
back her hi ir. "But for my part, I'm
tired of waiting, and my patience has
given out long ag'). We can't always
live in this way, and we may as well
make a change now as ever. But I
can't bear the thought of going and
leaving you."
Here the two younger girls came
in, and seeing that crying was the
order of the day, they began to cry;
and when they heard Maria talk of
go<ng, they declared they would go y
and even little Willie, the four-year
old, began to howl.
«'There, there, Maria! Lottie! Su-
sie !" said Mrs. Jedwort, in her calm
way; ''Willie, hush up; I don't
know what we are to do; but I feel
that something is going to happen
that will show us the right way, and
we are to wait. Now go and wash
the dishes and set the cheese.''
That was just after bieakfast, the
second day of the moving; and sure
enough, something like what she pro-
phesied did happen before another
sun.
The old frame held together pretty
well till along toward night, when the
steeple showed siprns of seceding.
"There she gofe! she's falling now!"
sung out the boys, who had been
hanging around all day in hopes of
seeing tho thing tumble.
The house was then within a few
rods of where Jedwort wanted it;
but Bob stopped right there, and said
it wasn't sate to haul it another inch.
"That steeple's bouud to come down
if we do," says he.
"Not by a dumbed sight it ain't,
says Jedwort. Thein cracks ain't
nothin'; the jints is all firm yit." lie
wanted Bob to go up and examine ;
but Bob shook his head, the concern
looked too shakj. Then he told me
to go up ; but 1 said I hadn't lived
quite long enough, aud had a little
ra her be smoking my pipe on terra
firma Then the boys began to hoot.
"Dumbed if ye ain't all a set ot cow-
ards," says lie. "I'll go up myself."
We waited outride while he climb-
ed up inside. The boys jumped on
tbe ground to jar the steeple, and
make it fall. One of them blew a
horn, as he said, to bring down the
old Jericho, and another thought he'd
help things along by starting up the
horse and giving tbe building a little
wrench. But Bob put a stop to that,
and finally out came a head from tbe
belfry window. It was .Jedwort,
who shouted down to us: "There
ain't a j'int or brace gin out. Start
the horse, and 1*11 ride. Pass me up
that 'ere horn, and—
Just then there came a cracking
and loosening of timbers, and we
that stood nearest had only time to
jump out of the way, when down
came the steeple crashing to the
ground, with Jedwort in it.
I hope it kiL'e I the cuss, said one
of the village story tellers.
Worse than that, my friend, it
just cracked his skull, not enough to
put an end to his miserable life, but
only to take away what little sense
he had. We got the doctors to him,
and they patched up his broken head;
and by George, it made me mad to
see the fuss the women folks made
over him. It would have been my
way to let him die; but they were
as anxious and attentive to him as if
he had been the kindest husband and
most indulgent father that ever lived;
for that is womeuVs style; they are
unreasoning creatures.
Along towards morning we per-
suaded Mrs. Jedwort, who bad bean
up all night, to lie down a spell and
catch a little rest, while Maria aud I
sat up aud watched with the old man
All was still except our whispers and
his heavy breathing; there was
lamp burning iu the next room, w hen
all of a sudden a light shone into the
windows, and about the same time
we heard a roaring and a crackling
sound. We looked out, and saw the
night all lighted up as if by some
great fire. As it appeared to be on
the other side of the house, we ran
to the door, and there what did we
see but tbe old meeting house all in
flames. Some fellows had set fire to
it in spite of Jedwort. It must have
been burning some time inside; for
when we looked out, the flames had
burst through the roof.
'• As the night was perfectly still
except a light wind blowing away
from the other buildings on the place,
we raised no alarm, but just stood iu
the door and Paw it bum. And a
glad sight it was to us, you may be
sure. I just held Maria close to my
side, and told her that all was well,—
it was the best thing that could hap-
pen. ' O yes,' says she, 'it seems to
me as though a kind Providence was
burning up his sin and shame out of
our sight.'
" I had never yet said anything to
her about marriage,—for the time to
come at that had never hardly seemed
to arrive; but there's nothing like a
little excitement to bring things to a
focus. You've seen water in a tumb
ler just at the freezing point, but not
exactly able to make up its mind to
freeze, when a little jar will set the
crystals forming, and in a minute what
was liquid is ice. It was the shock
of events that night that touched my
life into ciystals,—not of ice, gentle-
men, by any manner of means.
" After the fire had got along so
far that the meeting-house was a gone
case, an alarm was given, probably
by the very fellows that set it, and a
hundred people were on the spot be-
fore the thing bad done burning.
" Of course the circumstances put
an end to the breaking up of the
family. Dave was sent for, and came
home. Then, as soon as we saw that
the old man's brain was injured so
that he wasn't likely to recover his
mind, ihe boys and I went to work
and put that farm through a course
of improvement it would have done
your eyes good to see. The children
were sent to school, and Mrs. Jed-
wort had all the money she wanted
now to clothe them, and to provide
the house with comforts, without
stealing her otfn butter. Jedwort
was a burden ; but, in spite of him,
that was just about the happiest
amily, for the next four years, that
ever lived on this planet.
'•Jedwort soon got his bodily
health, but I don't think he knew one
of us again after his hurt. As near
as I could get at his state of mind, he
thought he had been changed into
ome sort of animal, lie seemed in-
clined to take me for a master, ami
for four years he followed me around
like a dog. During that time he
never spoke, but only whined and
growled. WLeu I said, ' Lie down,'
he'd lie down ; and when 1 whisTled,
he'd come.
I used sometimes to make him
work ; and certain simple things he
would do very well, as long as I was
by. One diy I had a jag of hay to
get in ; and, as the boys were away,
1 thought I'd have him to load it. ]
pitched it on to the wagon about
where it ought to lie, and looked to
him only to p ick it down. There
turned out to be a bigger load
than I had expected, and the higher
it got, tho worse the shape of it, till
finally, as I was starting it towards
the barn, off it rolled, and the old man
with it, head foremost
" He struck a stone heap, and foi
a moment I thought he was killed.
Hut he jumped up and spoke for the
first time. ' I'll How it,' says he,
finishing tbe sentence he had begun
four years ago, when he called for the
horn to be passed to him.
" I couldn't have been much more
astonished if one of the horses had
spoken. But I saw at once that there
was an expression in Jedwort's face
that hadn't been there since his tum-
ble in the belfry; ánd I knew that"
as his wits had been knocked out of
him by one blow on the head, so
another blow bad knocked 'em in
COmVTRYMAlY
JOB "OFFICE.
We are prepared to execute in the mo
approved iuo<leru shies, upon the shorten
notice aud at city prices, aii kinds of
PÍAIN AZ6S FANCY
such as
Cards, ITa-id Bills, rosters. Cirri
Legal Ulr.ulis, Bill H:aJs FainpfaZs,
¿fe., ice., Sfc.
again,
««Where's Bab V says he, looking
all around.
"' Bob 1' says I, not thinking at
first who he meant. ' O, Bob is dead,
—he hag been dead these three years.'
" Without noticing my reply, he
exclaimed : ' Where did all that hay
come from ? Where's the old meetin'-
house?'
"' Don't you know ?' says I,
' Some rogues set fire to it the night
after you got hurt, and burnt it up.'
"He seemed theu just beginning
to realize that something extraordin-
ary had happened.
"' Stark,' says he, ' what's the
matter with ye ? You're changed.'
"' Yea,' says I,' I wear my beaid
now. and I've grown older
" ' Dumbeo if 'taint odd !' says he.
Stark, what in thunder's the matter
with me ?'
«' You've had meeting-bouse on the
brain for the past four years,' says I;
' that's what's the matter.'
" It was some time before I could
make bim understand that he had
been out of his head, and that so long
a time had been a blank to bim.
"'Then,' he said, 'Is this my
farm?'
"' Don't you know it ?' says I.
•"It lojks more slicked up than
ever it usi'd to,' says he.
{ NO. 23.
Yes,' sa^-ll; ' and you'll find
everything else Ob the place slicked
up in in about the same way.
" « Where's Dave ? ' says he.
" • Dave has gone to town to see
about selling the wool.'
«. Where's Dan ? *
" ' Dan's in college. He takes a
great notion to medicine ; aud we're
going to make a doctor of him.'
"' Whose house is that ?' says he,
sis I was taking him home.
" ' No wonder you don't know it,'
says I. ' It has been painted, and
shingled, and had new blinds put on ;
the gates and fences are all in prime
condition ; and that's a new barn we
put up a couple of years ago.'
" ' Where does all the money come
from, to make all these improve
ment? ?'
" ' It comes off tbe place,' says I.
' We haven't run in debt the first cent
for anything, but we've made the farm
more profitable than it ever was before.'
"' That my house ?' he repeated
wonderingly, as we approached it
' What sound is that ? '
"' That's Lottie practising her les-
son on the piano.'
" ' A pianer in my house !' he mut-
tered. ' I can't stand that!' He lis-
tened. ' It sounds pooty, though !'
"' Yes, it does sound pretty, and 1
guess you'll iike it. How does the
place suit you ?'
"' It looks pooty.' He started.
' What young lady is that ?'
*' It was Lottie, who had left her
music, and stood by the window.
«My Dahter! ye don't say so!
Dumbed if she ain't a mighty nice
gal.'
' Yes,' gays I; ' she take3 after
her mother.'
"Just then Susie, who heard talk-
ing, ran to tbe door.
' Who's that ag'in ?' says Jed-
wort.
" I told bim.
" Wal, she's a mighty nice-lookin'
gaü'
" ' Yes,' says I, • takes after her
mother.'
" Little Willie, now eight yeare
old, came out of the wood-shed with
a bow-aud-arjow in his hand, and
stared like an owl, hearing his father
talk.
" ' What boy is that ?' says Jed-
wort. And when I told him, he
muttered, "He's an uglv-lookin brat!'
" 'He's more like his father,' says I-
'• The truth is. Willie was such a
fine boy the old man was afraid to
praise him, for fear I'd say of him, as
1 'd said of the girls, that he iavored
his mother.
Susie ran back and gave the
alarm; and then out came mother,
and Maria with her baby in her
arms,—for I forgot to tell you that we
had been married now nigh on to two
years. ¡
Well, tbe women folks were as
much astonished as I had been when
Jedwort first spoke, and a good deal
more delighted. They drew him into
the house; and I am bound to say he
behaved remarkably well. He kept
looking at his wife, and his children,
and his grandchild, and the new
paper on the walls, and the new fur-
niture, and now and then asking a
question or making a remark.
It all comes back to me now,'
says lie at last. ' I thought I was
living iu the moon, and with a su-
perior race of human bein's; and this
is the place, and you are the people.'
It wasn't more than a couple of
days before he began to pry aronnd,
and find fault, and grumble at the ex-
pense ; and I saw there was danger
of things relapsing into something
lik«j their former condition. So I
took him one side, and talked to him
"'Jedwort,' says I, 'you are like
a man raised from the grave.. You
was the same as buried to your
neighbors, and now they come and
look at you as they would at a dead
man come to life. To you, it's like
coming into a new worldf and I'll
leave it to you now, if yon don't
rather like the change from the old
a ate of things to what you see around
you to-day. You've seen how the
family affairs go on,—how pleasant
everything is, and how we all enjoy
ourselves. You hear the piano, and
like it; you see your children sought
after and respected,—your wife in
finer health aud spirits than you'vb
ever known her since the day she was
married; you see industry and neat-
ness everywhere on the premises;
and you're a beast if you don't like
all that. In short, you see that our
management is a great deal better
than yours; and that we beat you,
even in the matter of economy. Now
what I want to know is this : whether
you think you'd like to fall iuto our
way of living, or Return like a hog to
your wallow.
• I don't say but what I like your
way of livin' very well,' he grumbled.
«•'Then,' says I,'you must just
let us go ahead, as we have been
going ahead. Now's the time for
you to turn about and be a respect
able man, like your neighbors, J us
own up, and say you've not only been
out of your bead the past four years,
but that you've been more or less out
of your head the last four-and-tweuty
CASH INVARIABLY ON DELIVERY
years. But say you're in your right
id
mind now, and prove it by
like a man iu his right mind. Do
that and I'm with yoa; we're all
with you. But go back to your old
dirty wayB, and you go alone. Now,
I sha' n't let you off, till you tell me
what you mean to do.'
" He hesitated some time, then said,
' May be you 're about right, Stark;
you and Dave and the old woman
seem to be doin' pooty well, and I
guess Pll let you go on.'"
Here my friend paused, as if his
story was done; when one of tbe vil-
agers asked, " About the land where
the old meetin'-house stood,—what
ever was done with that 1"
That was appropriated for a new
school-house; and there my little shav-
ers go to school.'-'
"And old Jedwort, is ho alive yet?"
' Both Jedwort and his wife have
gone to that country where me^suaess
and dishonesty have a mighty
chance,—where the only investments
worth much are those recorded in the
iook of Life. Mrs. J ed wort was rich
in that kind of stock ; and Jedwort's
account, I guess, will compare favor-
ably with that of some respectable
>eople, such as we all know. I tell
re, my friends," continqed my fellow-
traveller, "there's many a man, both
in the higher and lower ranks of life,
that't would do a deal of good, say
nothing of the mercy't would be to
their families, just to knock 'em on
the head, and make Nebuchadnezzars
of 'em,—then, after they'd been turn-
ed out to grass a few years, let 'em
come back again, aud see how happy
J oiks have been, and how well they
have got along without 'em.
"I carry on the old place now," ho
added. "The younger girls are mar-
ried off; Dan's a doctor in the North
Village; and as for Dave, he and I
lave struck ile. I'm going out to look
at our property now.''
Fred. Douglass, Beast Butler knd
host of other negro orators are soon
to make a canvass of the-South.
Many of the Virginia papers al-
ege that within the past week a
great deal of the growing wheat has
rusted. This is particularly the case
in Spottsylvania, Campbell and ad-
jacent counties.
A woman in Jones county, Iowa,
who was supposed by the doctors to
have a live lizard in her stomach,
died a few days since after having
been quacked and ¿rugged for
mouths, and a post mortem examina-
tion showed that she was the victim
of consumption.
A poor citizen of Berlin was re-
cently left some $50,000. Being
very old and feeble, he was puzzled
to whom he should leave bis
money. Thinking none of his
Vientls worthy of it, he at last deter-
mined to leave it to a bitter enemy,
who had a large family and no mon-
ey except his daily earnings. He
made bis will to that effect, he made
it a condition, however, that the heir
hould always wear thin white linen
clothes, and no extra under clothing.
Should that condition be violated
even once the money goes to the exu-
cutors.
G E NERA'L LAW S .
An Act authorizing the Conrt of
Police to Distri< t the Counties of
the State in Commissioners' Dis
tricts.
Section 1. Be it enactcd ly the
Legislature of the State of Texas^
That the Police Court of each county
this State may, at some regular
session thereof, before tbe next gen-
eral electiou, divide their respective
countio* into four Districts, as nearly
equal as possible in territory as may
>e, by allotting to each District entire
voting precincts; and at the next
general -election, and every four years
thereafter, one County Commissioner
ihall be elected for and reside in
each of said Districts, by tbe quali-
fied voters of the county, who shall
lold their office until their successors-
are elected and qualified; f
Sec. 2. 'That this act Bháll not be
so construsd as to-compel any Court
of Police to divide the county into.
Commissioners' Districts, as conten- -
plated in the first section of this ad.
Sec. That this Act be in force
from and after its passage.
Approved October 24,1S66. ;
An Act to discharge Firemen from
s.erring on Juries..
Section 1. Be it enacted by the
Legislature of the State of Texas,
That each and every fireman belong-
ing to any regularly organized Fire
Company, who are provided with
engints and necessary appliances,
doing duty in any incorporated city,
who shall have seived as an active
fireman for a period of seven years
after the passage of this act, shall,
upon receiving from the Mayor of
such city a written certificate that
snch service has been performed, be
exempt from jury duty thereafter in
the county where such service waa
rendered.
Approved October 24th, 1866.
7.
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Osterhout, J. P. The Texas Countryman. (Bellville, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, July 5, 1867, newspaper, July 5, 1867; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth180268/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.