Will a Southern Man Lie?

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2093, 5 December 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

Will a Southern Man Lie?

J"ii\ Lookkr lives in Fayotte county, Indiana, at prosont. but hn was rtispd in North Carolina whore he Bpunt mo3t of his lifo. He i« about sixty yeura of ngo and i? bearded like a Russian bear, with bcarceJy a silver thread discernible. Hi" ejes ure small and black, and wh°n he talks to you he gives you the imprei»ion that he eiiepects you. are doubting hU word, and wants to bent the liver out of you for it. His storicn of experience in ''-the Caroline, bowivcr ftio not all as tough a* the following one, whioh, by the way, he swears is true M the BjHo. 11 We farmorp," laid he, " used to hey rough timow down in Caroline. Everything's improved nowerdays. That ar set o1o 1 gears on the hoH<«" — pointing to n harnessed animal hitohod 16 a waggon—" ain't wrought on a hait by weather — Specially ef you keep 'em well gTrased. I've seed the tima when a hull let o* gearH wn« made up of a big wooden collar an' a piir o' raw hide traoea that wm ai stretchy in wet weather cr. the Seventh Commandment. " I r<3collro' one time wo run out o' wood an' I drnv to a piece o1o 1 timber fer a load. Tha best I could afford in the way of a team in them days was a male an' a four-wheeled cirt— with ra-7-hide traces 'eted o' ihalvei. W?l, I hr.dn't morc'n got to the wootfs when it bi^nn to rain like fory, an' hit jeg' kep ponring down the hull time I wus loadia'. Wh«n I got through I mounted the mule an' itarted home. I noticed on the way that the load 'peared to ba gettin' heavier an' heavier tell we fetched up at the wood* shed, which was a pull o' about a quarter mild. When we got tbir' tho mule was well nigh fagged out, an' ho hud to brace hisself to keep from droppin' back on bi<? hanches. " When we pulled up at the oabin it hed quit rainin' an' the sun was out bright an' >varm. I jumped off, an' stepped back to unload. Now you may guess how amazin' sup* griped I was to fi')d no wood or waggon behind us, but 1 seed the traces was pulled ont tight as fiddle-strings, and reached back along tbi track to the timber line, what' I lost sight o' the durn things. " While I stud thar lookin' like a fool — jet a<3 you're lookin' now— l aot'ally iced thtt wa;;on with the wood on it come oreepin' outen the timber, follenn' the raw hide trecei •» thpy drawed up in the nun. You see, the rain had Blackened 'em, an' sure cc I'm here, they had stretched an' stretched, an' I b'lieve in my soul the load didn't start tell the male got to thp cabin an' braced hisself." " Did the Wdgßon oomeup all right? "Oh yes ; but the work o' dryin' an' oontractin' the traces was slow, an' ef I hadn't hpltered the mule to a stump I reckon he'd a* give back. Ez it was, the load pulled up in about fifteen minutes an' stopped in a couple o' yard 1 ? o' the mule's heels. When I ontied tho bp&sfc he staggered round tell I thought hoY) faint— but he didn't. " Now, ef you don't credit this story, I kia tako jon back to Caroline an' show you th« very identical pieoeo' timber— tho' the oabia'tf been tore down twenty year or more, an* tb# mule turned up bis huff a a short time after I lef the state."— The Watp.