WAR
"Who's cutting down other people's trees?"
"No one, yet, as I know," says I. "I'll cut down my own as often as I please," says Ben.
"No, only once," says I.
"You re an ignorant fool!" says Ben.
"But that's so—ain't it—that you can't cut a tree down more than once?"
"Fool!" says Ben.
"Ben," I says on, "if it's fire-wood, why don't you cut it into cord sticks—instead of laying whole on the ground?"
Ben was a bit puzzled for a minute.
"Ain't had no time?" asks I.
He grabs on that.
"You bet not! This dam war's a mighty busy business—night and day—especially night!"
"What's in the war to keep a lonely country tavern busy," says I, "especially at night? That's funny."
"Well, you try keeping one. First a company of Confederates comes and eats me out of
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