22 



RECREATION. 



em an' pulled out fer camp, an' we killed 

 ii poterges in 3 shots, on the way back. 



Uncle Dick an' Mr. Sam had a lot of 

 fried pertaters an' about 40 perch a keepin' 

 hot fer us in the skillet, an' I'm here ter 

 tell you they was shore good. After dinner 

 pa stretched the otter hides on some boards 

 he had fixed fer the business an' I tended 

 ter the coon hides. When it come dark 

 we cooked up our birds an' made some 

 biscuit an' had another fine mess. Livin' 

 in camp's the best livin' in the world. While 

 we was eatin' the curlews, pa said to Uncle 

 Dick : 



"Do you remember when we was 

 boys, an' slipped up ter that big bunch 

 of curlews in the hammock perairer, an' 

 never got none of 'em." 



Uncle Dick laughed an' said : 



"I cert'ny do." 



When they was boys, they was a marsh 

 pond with a fringe of hammock round it, 

 clost ter their home, an' it was called the 

 hammock perairer. One day they was a ter- 

 rible big bunch of curlews a feedin' along 

 one side, clost ter the bushes, an' they took 

 their guns an' went after 'em. Right next 

 to where the curlews was a feedin' they 

 was 2 trails went through the bushes, 'bout 

 50 yards apart, an' one of 'em slipped up 

 ter one openin' an' on to the other ter see 

 where they was the thickest. Where pa 

 was they was thick as they could stand 

 an' he motions to Uncle Dick to come 

 there, but they was jest as thick where he 

 was an' he motions pa to come ter him. 

 Each one thought he seen 'em the thickest, 

 an' they got to whisperin' an' then to callin' 

 ter one 'nother. 



"Come 'ere, dad burn it. They's a heap 

 the thickest here." 



"No they ain't. They're the most here." 



Directly they made such a fuss till the 



curlews got scared an' flew off an' left 'em 

 a disputin' 'bout it, an' they got mad an' 

 fought, an' their pa frailed the dirt outen 

 'em fer it. 



They got ter tellin' 'bout fire huntin' an' 

 how the deer used ter tear up the pertater 

 patch of a night, an' Mr. Sam said one 

 time they was 2 fellers went a fire huntin' 

 an' they shone a pair of eyes an' the man 

 with the gun shot down a big ole buck. 

 The feller that was totein' the fire pan sez : 



"We done well that time." 



"We, the dickens," sez the other man. 

 "I killed 'im, you didn't have nothin' ter 

 do with it." 



They hung up their deer an' went on a 

 piece, an' direckly they shone another pair 

 of eyes, an' the fellers pulled down again, 

 an', bless the Lord, he'd massycreed a 

 man's horse that was grazin' in the woods. 



"Now we've played the devil," say the 

 feller. 



"We nothin," sez the one with the fire 

 pan, "you killed 'im, I didn't have nothin' 

 ter do with it." 



Pa said it was a mighty sorry hunter 

 couldn't tell a deer's eyes from a horse. 

 We laid there by the fire a while, an' I'd 

 a been plum satisfied only I couldn't help 

 a thinkin' before long we'd have ter pull 

 out fer home, fer our time was comin' to an 

 end an' the flour an' pertaters a gittin' low.. 

 Test as we rolled up in our blankets we 

 hearn the old varmint holler, off acrost the 

 branch toward the big cypress, an' Old 

 Ring got up and howled the lonesomest I 

 ever seen. I wouldn't a been by myself for 

 a 100 dollars. Mr. Sam sez : 



"If it'll come a rain before we leave ter 

 make trailin' good, we'd ought ter take a 

 day and seef we kaint run 'im down with 

 Old Ring." 



Pa an' Uncle Dick said they was willin', 

 an' that's the last I heard that night. 



Witness — Yis, Oi had 3 more whiskies 

 at Casey's place. 



Lawyer — And that made you drunk. You 

 admit that, of course. 



Witness — Oi'll not swear to it. Oi dunno 

 was Oi drunk or sober, fur Oi don't ray- 

 mimber anything after thot. — Philadelphia 

 Record, 



