Beadle's Dime Novels No. 126: Old Jupe — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“WHE THEX’,” 83 Jupe, if ’twas me, ’stid o’ you, dat led in meetin’, ’'d make twice as many feel bad, as yowdo. I’d git ’em to howlin’ and hollerin’ and singin’ all to wonst. But you're jist as lazy about preachin’ as you is about workin’. I spose it’s yer na- tur’, as de hymn says: | | ‘Let dogs delight to bark and bite, For ’tis der natur’ to.” “Wat's dat got to do wid bein’ lazy, Clar’? Jig’ ’splain dat !” “Laws, W’at a stupid nigger you is! Quit dat growlin’ or Pil clap a muzzle on yer nose. Wi’at’s it got to do wid it? None ob yer bizness w’at'! It’s bof about dogs and natur’, I reckon! Better ask w’at you're tex’ had to do wid your ser- mon, las’ Sunday was a week. I was mos’ shamed I was dar, you’s made sich a fool ob yourself. “Did I, Clar’? W’at about?” The face of Jupe wore an anxious expression. | “Why de tex’, de tea’, you wolf in sheep’s clothing! — It didn’t have no more to do wid de sermon dan one ob dem tugs hes wid a raft o’ timber up anudder stream. Dar goes de little tug’ puff-puffing, half a mile ahead, wid de line un- der water, and dar follers de great, ugly raft, arter it, but no- body can’t see de rope w’at keeps de boat a-pullin’ at de lum- ber. Dat’s jis so wid your texes, only yer raft Was clear up ‘nudder stream, when yer tug—which war de tex’—were a chug-chuggin’ up de big ribber.” “ But its de tugs makes de raft go, wedder you sees de ropes or not,” humbly suggested Jupe. “ Wat was de tex’, any how ?” sING “ «Better late dan nebber, dat’s wat it was. I reckoned you was goin’ to tell de bredren dat if dey couldn’t get through wid der chores in time to get dar before de singin’, dey’d better come arter preachin’ had begun dan to stay to hum entirely. But, you didn’t say nuffin’ bout it, nor I could n’t- make head nor tail of wat yer did say—in fac’ yer raft were up anudder stream dan yer tex’. Now, about dem ban- daners, dar dey are! You kin use’m a8 a meang ob: grace ef you handle ’em right. As for me, I don’t want em... Dat woman’s a snake in de grass—a raal massasauga, w’at bites Widout rattlin’, and she’ll bite somebody ’fore long—de most \ comicbooks.conm —