Page:War; or, What happens when one loves one's enemy, John Luther Long, 1913.djvu/76

WAR "Who's cutting down other people's trees?"

"No one, yet, as I know," says I. "I'll cut down my own as often as I please," says Ben.

"No, only once," says I.

"You re an ignorant fool!" says Ben.

"But that's so—ain't it—that you can't cut a tree down more than once?"

"Fool!" says Ben.

"Ben," I says on, "if it's fire-wood, why don't you cut it into cord sticks—instead of laying whole on the ground?"

Ben was a bit puzzled for a minute.

"Ain't had no time?" asks I.

He grabs on that.

"You bet not! This dam war's a mighty busy business—night and day—especially night!"

"What's in the war to keep a lonely country tavern busy," says I, "especially at night? That's funny."

"Well, you try keeping one. First a company of Confederates comes and eats me out of 60