116 THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 



was the paradise of horse jockeys, loafers, gamblers, and 

 drunkards. The people lived partly by farming, partly 

 by burning charcoal, and partly by their wits. They 

 were always ready to swap horses and oxen, when they 

 had any, and the juvenility of the breed of cattle raised in 

 these parts was always a marvel. A horse was never 

 owned among the Whiteoakers, acknowledged to be over 

 eight years of age, but always sound and well broken to 

 both harness and saddle, whether he had ever been inside 

 of thills or not. In this interesting region, where law and 

 morals take care of themselves, lived, a year since, Theo- 

 philus Fagins and his wife Jerusha, with about a fair aver 

 age of the happiness allotted to the Whiteoak community. 

 Between coaling, horse trading, and drinking in the neigh 

 boring village, Theophilus came to an untimely end last 

 winter, leaving a disconsolate widow and six children. 

 She had reached the mature age of fifty, but had not out 

 lived the tender passion, as the sequel shows. 



While her love lay a bleeding, in the susceptible days 

 of spring, Kier Frink was introduced to her by one of the 

 coal-men returning from Ilookertown. Kier was charmed 

 with Whiteoak society, and particularly with the blandish 

 ments of the widow, who did everything to make his visits 

 agreeable. There was no rigid Sabbath keeping, and not 

 much going to meeting, but plenty of tobacco and cheap 

 rum, with an occasional shooting match, or horse race, in 

 the neighborhood. The widow had a house and small farm 

 left her, and it seemed to Kier that his fortune would be 

 easily made, if he could step into the shoes of the departed 

 Theophilus. 



This he essayed to do, and notwithstanding his youth 

 and bashfulness, he was accepted by the widow, and the 

 nuptials were appointed at an early day. I learned from 

 John Bunker, who took me over to the Whiteoaks, that 

 Jake Frink had no objections to the match, though the 

 woman was old enough to be Kier s mother. Jake was 



