The Wedding Boots of Eli’s Sam

Waikato Independent, Volume V, Issue 324, 15 January 1907, Page 3

The Wedding Boots of Eli’s Sam

or not,” said the I ST man from Knob country. "Eli’s Bam got his weddin’ boots; but if they don’t-give him corns, then Cyrus is the forgivin’est feller-citizen that ever disapp’inted his ownself to ’commodate a neighbor, "Now, I like to fish, myself, and I’d go fishin’ now and then if I didn’t know so many feller-citizens, most of ’em keepin’ two or three yaller dogs, at that, who spend seven days in the week settin’ on a stump vexin’ the water in the stream with a worm on a hook, while their wives is to home vexin’ the water in the washtub so as to keep the house a-goin’. That sort o’ spiles flshin’ for me. “But this here case o’ Cyrus’ was different, and Eli’s Sam ought to be ashamed o’ his inconsiderateness and selfishness in settin’ that day for his weddin’ when that was the day that Cyrus had laid out to go to the pond for two or three days’ flshin’, and cornin’ to Cyrus the day before and sayin’ that them boots o’ his’n that Cyrus had had on the last for a couple o’ weeks back was to be his widdin’ boots, and that he must have ’em next day. : "Eli’s Sam was so one-sided and tinneighborly that he wouldn’t oblige Cyrus and put the weddin’ off till he got back from flshin’, and so Cyrus couldn’t see no way out of it but to finish the boots, though he was outrageous put out and dlsapp’inted. "Them boots o’ Eli’s Sam was all done hut solein’, but Cyrus had to foot it in to the tannery to get the sole leather for finishin’ of ’em. He took his fishpole along, thinkin’ that he mowt leastways ketch a mess o’ trout for supper, and on his walk back, when he come to the deep hole in the creek, jest below the alders, he stopped and put in his hook, baited .With a live minny. "His bait run along till it got down lo the lower end o’ the hole, and Cyrus was gittin’ ready to give the trout that Was on the p'int of bitin' it a chance to try whether he was the best feller or Whether Cyrus was, when Cyrus heerd - a splash in the water up the creek. Without lookin’ round, Cyrus says to hisself: i " 'Now who can the unmannerly fellercitizen be as’ll jump in the water to rile it up on me, when I’m flshin’, and spile my gittin’ a bite?’

"With that he turned and looked round to see who the unmannerly neighbor Could be, and he seen that It was a great fclg don’t-give-a-contlnental bear! ■ “Now, Cyrus Is a law-abiding citizen, ,but when he see that unmannerly bear standin there and rilyin’ up the water on him and sp’ilin’ his gittin’ that bite, he pulled his pistol and p’lnted it straight at the bear and fired. The bear kind o’ give a hump as if he felt somethin’ eat'in’ him worse than a woodtick; and he squealed a little, and snorted. He seemed e’prised, but he give a few more kicks in the water, rilyin’ it up more than ever, and didn’t move a step. “ ‘See here!’ said Cyrus. ‘This pistol is a six-shooter!’ he says, ‘and I want to ketch some trout! You better move on! ’ he says. But that bear never moved a step. He jest stamped and stamped his feet in the water and kept rilyin’ of it up. Then Cyrus pulled up and give him another shot.. “The bear humped hisself ag’ln and squealed and snorted, but didn’t move on. Then Cyrus did get mad! And he plunked into him every one o’ them shots he had left. The bear headed for him them and seemed as if he was goin’ to show Cyrus that he didn t approve o’ bein’ peppered in the way that Cyrus had been pepperin’ of him. Then Cyrus was moved to say, sort o’ positive-like: ‘Tf Providence or somethin’ don’t take S, hand in this here, he says, ‘somebody else will have to finish them weddln’ boots for Eli’s Sam!’ he says. "Whatever changed the bear’s mind Cyrus says he won’t swear to. Providence maybe, he says. Anyhow the bear’s mind was changed, and he turned around short, clum the bank, and trotted away into the woods. "While Cyrus stood staring after him the water the bear had made rlly cleared up and Cyrus got his bit. He didn’t only get his bite. He ketched the trout that done it, and a slammer it was. Three pounds, Cyrus says they told him afterward that it weighed. ■ "But he couldn’t get over being made bo mad—so mad, and unlawful like. “ ‘That bear,’ says Cyrus, ‘done somethin’ that mowt a-sp’iledOby gettin’ that bite,’ he says. And mebbe he mowt do it again. That bear must be settled,’ he says, and over he goes to Joe’s lumber camp, borries Joe’s rifle, and comes back to the creek. “It was his belief not knpwin’ much .about bear, that this aggravatin’ old feller had headed for the swamp up the creek a mile or so, and so Cyrus took a short cut through the down timber for the swamp. When he got there he didn’t see no sign ’o bear, but pretty soon he heerd a snort and a grunt, and lookin’ toward where they came from, he see a bear’s head stickin’ up out of amuck

hole i the edge of an old log road.. "When the bear see that Cyrus see him too he stuck his head a little further out of the hole, and snorted a louder snort. " ‘Rily up the creek on me when I'm flshin’ will you?' says Cyrus, ’n he whanged away. "The bear sunk back In the muck hole, and Cyrus had a sweatin’ time gittin’ him out on hard ground. He was lookin’ the dead bear over when he heerd a noise In the bushes on t’other side ’o the road. "Cyrus looked that way, and If Eli’s Sam could a-see him then he’d a-been sorry, I bet you, that he hadn’t put his weddin’ off till Cyrus got back from the pond a-fishin’, for Cyrus’s eyes was bulgin’ at the great big head of another bear that was stickln’ out o’ the bushes with a look on its face that said as plain as could be that It was lookin’ for somethin’ to clutch and claw, and didn’t calc’late to look no further than Cyrus. But there was another load in Joe’s rifle, and havin’ gone as fur as he had in burnin’ powder and scatterin’ lead, Cyrus throwed conscience to the winds and banged away. T'other bear come tumplin’ down, and Cyrus says: “ T’m sorry for you,’ he say, ‘but you’re Jest as dead as the unmannerly bear yender that made the creek rily on me,’ he says. "But the bear wasn’t. Not jest then. It riz on its hind feet and started fer Cyrus and Cyrus didn’t have no more lead to scatter. " ‘Providence,’ says he, ‘lt looks to me now that if you don’t take care o’ them boots of Eli’s Sam he'll have to go barefoot to his weddin’!’ he says. < "But Cyriis was wrong. The bear only come a few steps. Then he fell over backward and was deader than a June shad. “ ‘Two bears,’ says Cyrus, “and I only started out to git sole leather to finish them weddin’ boots, and mebbe some trout for supper,’ he says. : “And then what do you think? Cyrus discovered that the first bear he killed, and the one that ought to had six pistol bullets in it for rilying’ up the creek, didn’t have nothin' but a rifle bullet right betwixt the eyes, and the bear that stuck his head out o’ the bushes, and that Cyrus wasn’t expectin’, had six pistol bullets right scattered around in him, besides a rifle bullet betwixt the eyes! “ ‘Ding it,’ says Cyrus, lookin’ at the first bear. ‘I didn’t have nothin’ ag’in you! What did you go and raise your :onk up out o’ that muckhole for, and snort?’

But it was too late then. And, Providence or not, Eli’s Sam got his weddin’ boots; but if they don’t give him corns then Cyrus is the fergivin’est feller-cit- ■ izen that ever disapp’inted his ownself to ’commodate a neighbor.”— N. Y. Sun.