biggest masheen I'd ever seen before
wuz Si Pettingill's new thrashin' masheen. Wall, I jist stood thar
a-watchin' them printin' presses a-runnin'; paper goin' in to one end
and cumin' out at t'other all printed and full of picters and folded up
ready to sell; it jist beat all the way they done it. Wall, we never
had but one paper down home at Punkin Centre; we called it "The Punkin
Centre Weakly Bugle;" old Jim Lawson he wuz editor of it. You see Jim
he wuz sort of a triflin' no 'count old cuss, so to keep him out of
mischief we made him editor. Wall, Jim he had his place up over
Ezra Hoskins' grossery store. He never got any money for the
noospaper--always got paid in produce, and Ezra's store wuz a mighty
good place fer him to take in his subskriptions. Wall, things went along
pretty smooth fer quite a spell 'til one day a feller he cum in and give
Jim a keg of hard cider fer a year's subskription to the noospaper, and
we all calculated right then that somethin' wuz a-goin' to happen;
and sure enough it did. You see 'bout that time Jim had got two
advertisements; one wuz fer Ruben Jackson's resterant and the other wuz
the time table of the Punkin Centre and Paw Paw Valley Railroad. Wall,
Jim he got to drinkin' the hard cider and settin' type at the same time,
and when the paper cum out on Thursday it wuz wuth goin' miles to see.
Neer as I kin remember it sed that: "Ruben Jackson's resterant would
leave the depo every mornin' at eight o'clock fer beefstake and mutton
stews, and would change cars at White River Junkshen for mins and punkin
pise, and cottage puddin' would be a flag stashen fer coffy and do nuts
like mother used to make, and the train wouldn't run on Sundays cos the
stashun agint what done the cookin' would have to run en extra on that
day over the chicken and ham sandwitch divishion."

I believe that wuz the last issu of the Punkin Centre Weakly Bugle.

Enthusiasm--Sometimes inspired, sometimes acquired,
sometimes the result of immediate surroundings, and
sometimes the result of hard cider.--Punkin Centre
Philosophy.

Uncle Josh at a Camp Meeting

WALL, we've jist bin havin' a camp meeting at Punkin Centre. Yes, fer
several days we wuz purty busy bakin' and cookin and makin' preparations
fer the camp meetin', and some of the committee alowed we ought to have
lemonade fer the Sunday school children. Wall, as we wanted to git it
jist as cheap as possible, we damed up the cr