The Boy with the U.S. Census | Page 6

her tongue, an' she lashed an' abused them till the day she died,
an' never once, in all those years, did any one o' the Beaupoints
reproach her in return."
"And the youngster?"
"They took the boy, too, an' reared him the bes' they knew how, jes' the
same as one o' their own. One o' the Beaupoint boys went an' lived on
the Calvern place, an' worked it,--worked it fair an' squar', an' put aside
every cent that come out o' the farm. For thirteen years the Beaupoints
looked after the farm an' reared the boy. On the day he was fourteen
year old, Jed Beaupoint--that was the father--called the lad, told him the
whole story, give him a new rifle an' a powder horn, an' handed over
the little bag o' coin that represented thirteen years o' work on the
Calvern holdin'."

"There certainly couldn't be anything squarer than that!" exclaimed
Hamilton. "And he gave the boy the farm, too?"
"Every inch of it. Jed Beaupoint was a squar' man, cl'ar through. An' he
said to the boy--he tol' me the story himself--'Johnny Calvern, thar's yo'
farm an' yo' rifle. Now, if yo're willin', I'll see that thar's no trouble until
yo're twenty-one, an' then yo' c'n go huntin' revenge if yo've a mind to,
or, if you're willin', we'll call the trouble off now, an' thar won't be any
need o' rakin' it up again.'"
"He made it up on the spot, of course?" questioned Hamilton.
The Kentuckian shook his head.
"He did not," he replied. "The boy thought a minute or two an' then said
he'd wait until he was grown up, an' let him know then."
"Although he had been brought up by the Beaupoints!" exclaimed the
boy in surprise. "But surely it never came up again."
"Well, not exac'ly. When Johnny Calvern was about nineteen he got
married, an' a few days befo' the time when he would be twenty-one, he
rode up to the Beaupoint place, an' tol' the ol' man that he was willin' to
let the feud rest another ten years, because of his wife an' little baby,
but that he would be ready to resume shootin' at that time."
"But he had no real grudge against the Beaupoints had he, Uncle Eli?
They had always been kind to him, you said."
"Not a bit o' grudge," the mountaineer answered, "they were good
friends. An' I reckon it wasn't Johnny that wanted the trouble to begin
again, but thar's always a lot o' hotheads pryin' into other folks'
business. However, ol' Jed Beaupoint didn't mind; he agreed to another
ten years' truce, an' all went on peacefully as befo'. Durin' those ten
years, however, Johnny's wife died, an' he got married again, this time
to the sister o' a wanderin' preacher, a girl who had once lived in cities,
an' she soon showed him that the ol' feud business must be forgotten.
But it is a mite unusual, even hyeh, to farm a man's land an' bring up

his child fo' thirteen years, an' then give him everythin' yo' can with the
privilege o' shootin' yo' at sight for all the favors done."
"It doesn't sound a bit like the usual feud story," said Hamilton, "one
always thinks of those as being cold-blooded and cruel."
"Thar an't a mite o' intentional cruelty in them; it's jes' that life is held
cheap. Most o' them begun over some small thing like an election."
"There were quite a number of them, Uncle Eli, weren't there?"
"One ran into the other so easily that one feud would often look like
half a dozen, an' trouble would be goin' on in various places. But there
were really seven of them, all big ones."
[Illustration: KENTUCKY MOUNTAINEER FAMILY. In the heart of
the feud district, where the rifle is never out of reach. (_Courtesy of the
Spirit of Missions._)]
"What were they, Uncle Eli?"
"Wa'al, thar was the McCoy-Hatfield feud in Pike County, that started
over the ownership o' two plain razorback hogs, but afterwards got very
bitter, owin' to the friendship o' one o' the McCoy girls with the son o'
Bad Anse Hatfield. Then thar was the Howard-Turner feud in Harlan
County. An' then--"
"What started the Howard-Turner feud?" interrupted the boy.
"That was over a game o' cards. One o' the Howards had been winnin',
an' Jim Turner, with a pistol, forced him to give back the money he had
won. That affair raged a long time. The Logan-Tolliver feud in Rowan
County was over an election fo' sheriff. The Logans elected their
candidate, an' so the Tollivers killed one o' the Logans at the polls and
wounded three others."
"That's expressing dissatisfaction with an election with some spirit,"
Hamilton remarked.

"Then thar was the French-Eversole