Judge, 1915-10-30 · page 5 of 28
Judge — October 30, 1915 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This story illustrates rural life in the Kentucky hills through the character Buck Poat, an itinerant farmer who constantly relocates with thin pretexts. The narrative satirizes a type of perpetually restless person who claims each new location will be permanent, only to move again within months. The opening illustration shows a soldier and rookie discussing a sinking boat—likely referencing military service or duty. The main story depicts Buck's latest excuse for relocating: he claims his current property lacks suitable conditions for farming (poor drainage, snakes, inadequate shelter for livestock). The humor derives from the transparent nature of these excuses and Buck's wife Minnie's skeptical responses, suggesting Buck's chronic inability or unwillingness to establish roots anywhere.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Corporal—"| told you to take a fine sight, y’ dub; don’t you know what a fine sight is?” BUCK’S EXCUSE By GEORGE BINGHAM Buck IS THE Kentucky hills lived Poat, who never felt at home unless he changed locations three or four times a year. He would move into a road- side cabin with the voluntary declaration that he had at last found the place he was looking for, and that there he was going to settle and pass the remainder of his days. But after he had been there for a few weeks or months, he would hear of some other place that would suit him better, and so he would move again. His four dogs never ventured far from home, and seemed to watch the wagon, with a fear that they might get left, and his chickens roosted on the tongue of the faithful old vehicle that now seemed to them so much like home. One day in early spring Buck moved into a nice, two-room house that was surrounded by a patch of ground on which he could pitch a crop. He was much pleased with the location—it was the best place he had ever found. The man who owned the place needed a tenant cropper and com- Rookie—"Sure! A boat full of Corporals sinking.” pelled Poat to sign a contract that would bind him until the first of the coming year. Now, each time Poat changed loca- tion he had found some suitable excuse for so doing. ‘If the roof did not leak, the rats were bad, or there were no grass-hoppers for his young turkeys, or his flue would not draw. But in this case there was no ground upon which he could establish a reasonable excuse for moving, had he sought one. And now he set to work with much energy, preparing his crop, and for the next few weeks was one of the most industrious men in that locality. And then came June and July, when the sun changes from warm to hot around the noon hour, and Buck’s energy began to drag the ground, so to speak. He would sit about in a deep study on the toprail of the front yard fence, or would moodily chew a sassafras twig in the shade at the edge of the field. “Minnie,” said he to his wife, “don’t our roof leak?” “No, it’s right new.” “Have you ever noticed any snakes around here? one uv the chillern is goin’ to git bit.” She replied that she had not seen even so much as a snake’s track since they had been living there. I'm afeerd comicbooks.com