Page:Hugh Pendexter--Tiberius Smith.djvu/40

 "One physical trait I noticed they all had in common. Where the bump of observation should be, there were hollows. Yes, sir, their brows had a scooped-out effect and their foreheads were ingrowing. The men worked all day in the fields, and the women spun and knit. They had sheep and cows and plenty to eat in a rough-and-ready sort of a way. Their government was patriarchal, I reckon, as Deacon Durgin seemed to be the boss Injun. We boarded with him.

"The head of each family was responsible for his children's education, and all could read and write. Although they looked down on their neighbors as an inferior race, their brains panned out far below the average. They had stagnated and intermarried so long that to deceive 'em was as easy as stealing things off a Christmas-tree. Tib greatly relished creating sensations, and one week he sprung an extra in which incredible feats of valor were accorded to both armies. The North and South were clinched, hitting with one arm free.

"His description of the battle-field was the fiercest thing I ever saw outside a gilded ten-cent novel. He invented names of men and even States, and at the wind-up proclaimed in circus type that England was about to declare war against the North. "‘My boy,' he explained, with enthusiasm, 'what