The Law of the Land | Page 7

heap better cow than you'll
ever git ag'in. Why, she give two quo'ts o' melk the very mawnin' she
was kilt--two quo'ts. I reckon we didn't have to walk no three mile that
mawnin', did we? An' she that kin' and gentle-like--oh, we ain't goin' to
git no new cow like Muley, no time right soon, I want to tell you that,
Jim Bowles."

"Well, well, I know all that," said her husband, conciliatingly, a trifle
easier now that the sunbonnet was for the moment turned aside. "That's
all true, mighty true. But what kin you _do_?"
"Do? Why, do _somethin_'! Somebody sho' ought to suffer for this
heah. This new fangled railroad a-comin' through heah, a-killin' things,
an' a-killin' folks! Why, Bud Sowers said just the other week he heard
of three darkies gittin' kilt in one bunch down to Allenville. They
standin' on the track, jes' talkin' an' visitin' like. Didn't notice nuthin'.
Didn't notice the train a-comin'. 'Biff!' says Bud; an' thah was them
darkies."
"Yes," said Mr. Bowles, "that's the way it was with Muley. She just
walk up out'n the cane, an' stan' thah in the sun on the track, to sort o'
look aroun' whah she could see free fer a little ways. Then, 'long comes
the railroad train, an' biff! Thah's Muley!"
"Plumb daid!"
"Plumb daid!"
"An' she a good cow for us for fo'teen yeahs! It don't look exactly right,
now, does it? It sho' don't"
"It's a outrage, that's whut it is," said Sar' Ann Bowles.
"Well, we got the railroad," said her husband, tentatively.
"Yes, we got the railroad," said Sar' Ann Bowles, savagely, "an' whut
yearthly good is it? Who wants any railroad? Whut use have we-all got
fer it? It comes through ouah farm, an' scares ouah mewel, an' it kills
ouah cow; an' it's got me so's I'm afeared to set foot outsid'n ouah do',
lessen it's goin' to kill me, too. Why, all the way up heah this mawnin', I
was skeered every foot of the way, a-fear-in' that there ingine was goin'
to come along an' kill us both!"
"Sho'! Sar' Ann," said her husband, with superiority. "It ain't time fer
the train yit--leastwise I don't think it is." He looked about uneasily.

"That's all right, Jim Bowles. One of them ingines might come along
'most any time. It might creep up behin' you, then, biff! Thah's Jim
Bowles! Whut use is the railroad, I'd like to know? I wouldn't be caught
a-climbin' in one o' them thah kyars, not fer big money. Supposin' it run
off the track?"
"Oh, well, now," said her husband, "maybe it don't, always."
"But supposin' it _did_?" The front of the telescope turned toward him
suddenly, and so perfect was the focus this time that Mr. Bowles
shifted his seat and took refuge upon another board at the other end of
the board-pile, out of range, albeit directly in the ardent sunlight, which,
warm as it was, did not seem to him so burning as the black eyes in the
bonnet, or so troublous as the tongue which went on with its questions.
"Whut made you vote fer this heah railroad?" said Sarah Ann,
following him mercilessly with the bonnet tube. "We didn't want no
railroad. We never did have one, an' we never ought to a-had one. You
listen to me, that railroad is goin' to ruin this country. Thah ain't a
woman in these heah bottoms but would be skeered to have a baby
grow up in her house. Supposin' you got a baby; nice little baby, never
did harm no one. You a-cookin' or somethin'--out to the smoke- house
like enough; baby alone fer about two minutes. Baby crawls out on to
the railroad track. Along comes the ingine, an' biff! Thah's yo' baby!"
Mrs. Bowles shed tears at this picture which she had conjured up, and
even her less imaginative consort became visibly affected, so that for a
moment he half straightened up.
"Hit don't look quite right," said he, once more. "But, then, whut you
goin' to do? Whut kin we do, woman?" he asked fiercely.
"Why, if the men in these heah parts was half men," said his wife, "I
tell you whut they'd do. They'd git out and tear up every foot of this
heah cussed railroad track, an' throw it back into the cane. That's whut
they'd do."
"Sho' now, would you?" said Jim Bowles.

"Shore I would. You got to do it if things keeps on this-away."
"Well, we couldn't, lessen Cunnel Blount said it was all right, you
know. The Cunnel was the friend of the road through these heah
bottoms. He 'lowed it would help us all."
"Help? Help us? Huh! Like to know how it helps us, killin' ouah cow