show that's live and, as fer the dead, I kin handle easy all the sperits I ever seen. But it's sumpin' else a-pesterin' me. You recollec' I tol' you about what war lef' o' a gal I had once. Well that very evenin', day befo' yestiddy it war, I got a letter. It begun with one o' them healths repo'ts. 'I hev gained ten pounds since I saw you, Bill, and I'm eatin' my heart out fer you'. Says I , when I reads that, ef it agree with er that good, she better keep on a-eatin' and thar ain't no tellin' to what dimensions she'll swell to. Then come the bombshell, lads, when she continue, 'I'm a-comin' down to a picnic in the fishwagon next Saturday week, just me and a basket, and me and you can set on the sand and eat fried chicken and pull the wishbone and talk old times together. Ef my head is gray, my heart is evergreen.'
"Lads, the way I feel when Bill Perkins knot me up warn't nothin' to the aggravated feelin' I has when I sets eyes on them words. But no fried chicken ner broiled nuther, with or without wishbones, ain't a-goin' to tear me from this hyuh light. It's my duty, this hyuh light is, and, blister my boots, duty is the almighti-
