Jeb and the Flying Jenny

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Snow Jeb and the Flying Jenny

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C341192 Snow

Jeb and the Flying Jenny

=UBLIC LIBRARY •ORT

WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY,

IND.

ALLEN COUNTY EXTENSION DEPT. ANTHONY 3333

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

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iili^ 3 1833 00801 4562

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Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2011

http://www.archive.org/details/jebflyingjennyOOsnow

AND THE

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HOUGHTOIT MIFFLIIT BOSTOIT

CO.

THE RIVERSIDE PRESS

CAMBRIDGE

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AND THE

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Illastrated

by

JOSHUA TOLFORD

In

1

869 a youngman named MelchiorThoni

came from Switzerland and soon

established

himself in Nashville as a woodcarver and cabi-

Among

his many sculptural enterThoni designed and carved the first wooden animals to stand upon a "Flying

netmaker. prises,

Jenny" (merry-go-round). From

WPA,

Tennessee, in the American

Guide

Series, Writers' Project,

published by Hastings House, 1946. Reprinted with

permission.

COPYRIGHT, 1954, BY J. SNOW AND JOSHUA TOLFORD ALL RIGHTS RFSF.RVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARIS THEREOF IN ANY FORM. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUE CARD NUMBER 54-9049 PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

DOROTHKA

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m

whoop and a holler up old Loneonce lived a boy named Jebediah Davis,

a dogtrot cabin, 'bout a

some Creek, there called

Jeb in

iOQ

Jeb

for short.

lived with his

mammy

and

his

pappy and

his sister

Kate

one half of the dogtrot cabin. Granny and Grandpappy Davis

lived in the other half

There was room

side of the dogtrot cabin there

for all,

because on each

were two rooms up and two

rooms down.

Granny and Grandpappy

didn't need

all

the

room on

side of the dogtrot, so both families used the big

there.

There was an empty room

Nobody used wished Uncle

it,

though Jeb and

Hank

could

upstairs,

on

Mammy

live there.

their

cookroom

their side, too.

and Kate

often

In the ashes of the hearth of the big stone fireplace in the

cookroom cake

Mammy

fitten to

there, too,

hung on

and

and Granny baked corn pone and johnny-

make salt

mouth

a body's

water.

pork and shucky beans,

a crane over the

They cooked

grits

in a big black kettle

fire.

Mammy

^

and Pappy and Granny and Grandpappy and Jeb and Kate all ate in the cookroom from a long table, which was really half a log propped up at each end with two crossed sticks.

Kinfolks that

is.

came

in right often

Uncle Hank ate there once

nearly so often as Jeb and

Uncle Hank was

The

and

Mammy

Mammy's

Davises didn't think

ate there too. Davis kin, in a great while,

but not

and Kate wished he

could.

brother, the only kinfolk she had.

much

of HIM.

Jebediah Davis, called Jeb

for short,

towheaded boy about ten years boy, too, 'ceptin'

old.

when he was being

was a spindle-shanked,

He was

a happy, skylarky

fussed at for his whittling,

which was most of the time. "Gran-boy," scolded Granny one day, "ef 'n you was worth the salt in yore corn pone, you'd be a-hoein' in the bean patch

with yore pappy 'stead

Jeb held up the squinted at

it.

Granny," he

o' settin'

fat

here in the dogtrot a-whittlin'."

pine stick he was whittling on and

"I'm a-goin'

to

hoe

said, "ef 'n I get this

With a shake

of her head

in that

bean patch tomorry.

owl whittled out by then."

Granny picked up

a bucket

and a

three-legged stool. "Jest a

no-good whittler

like

as she set off to milk the cow.

yore Uncle Hank," she clucked,

"Young

'un," scolded

Pappy one day, "I'm

a-goin' to

the livin' lard outen ye the next time ye taken the ture

and

let

her wander off and

git lost in

cow

woods

the

all

whop

to pas-

night."

Jeb's eye followed a feathery shaving sliding to the ground.

"Pappy," he said slowly, "I'm

fretted 'bout that.

But

I

had

down in the shade of a tree to finish the tail of this here fox when I looked up and that ole cow was plumb gone!" With a shake of his head Pappy picked up his hoe.

jest set

no-good whittler

"Jest a as he

like

yore Uncle Hank," he muttered

set off for the turnip patch.

And one day Grandpappy put in his two cents' worth. "A great big young 'un like you," he fussed, "a-takin' a poke of corn to the grist in the mornin'

a-bringin' hit back

The

same

as hit

and

in the

was when

hit

pink of the evenin'

was shucked!"

shining blade of Jeb's jackknife halted in mid-air.

"Hit was this-a-way, Grandpappy," he the mill

I

and cool

was hot and

tard.

I

jest set

said.

down by

"When

I

got to

the creek to rest

knowed hit I was a-whittlin' on this little ol' jenny." He held up a little wooden donkey. "By the time I had hit finished, the sun was down and the mill shet up. I had to bring back corn stead o' meal." With a shake of his head Grandpappy picked up a pail asettin'

off a mite.

Fore

I

by the back door.

"Jest a

no-good whittler

like

yore Uncle Hank," he grumbled

as he set off to slop the hawgs.

One day is

even

Mammy

said, gentle-like,

time aplenty to pick a bucket of dewberries

hangin' on the bushes so thick 4

"Sunup

hit's

to

noontime

when

they're a-

a sight to see!"

Jeb shut the blade of his jackknife and sHd it into his pocket. He held up the tree frog he had been whittling on. "Hit took hit

me

would," he

a sight longer to finish this frog than

I

aimed

said.

Mammy jumped

back and

let

out a yell fitten to

split

a tree

stump. "That's a real frog!" she shrieked.

"You

cain't fool

me!"

Jeb laughed loud and

And

tree frog.

even

if it

long.

Mammy

knew

that wasn't a real

had been she wouldn't have been

scared.

That was just her way of bragging about his whittling. For she knew how good it made him feel, deep down inside, to whittle out his animals.

Pappy and Granny and Grandpappy laughed too, but not for long. Then they went back to their frowning. They loved Jeb, but

life

was hard

in the

mountains.

A

body had

to

work

to

live.

"There jest

ain't

no use

to

boy," said Pappy one day.

them

They were

half-log table eating shucky beans

up

at the

play-pretties

you whittle

out,

around the and corn pone. Pappy looked

row of whittled-out animals

all sitting

that

marched

across the

shelf above the fireplace: a rabbit, a squirrel, a fox, a crow, a turtle,

and a donkey. "Cain't

eat 'em. Cain't

wear 'em. Cain't

swap 'em."

Pappy grinned jest a animal

in the row, the little

"Now ef 'n come

little.

alive,"

He

pointed his finger at the

you could jest make that jenny there grow up and he said, "I could see some use to yore whittlin'."

Grandpappy's hand smote the table trenchers jump.

6

last

wooden donkey.

so

hard

it

made

the

"Now

yore a-talkin'!" he cried.

"We

shore do need a hve,

workin', pulhn', totin' jenny!"

Jeb looked hard and long

wooden jenny on the shelf above the fireplace. He wished he could make it grow up and come alive! Then maybe Pappy and Granny and Grandpappy would stop fussing about his whittling. He sighed. He might as well wish for the moon to turn to a mess of chitlins! at the little

i

%

\ V

Granny looked

across the table at Jeb.

"Gran-boy," she said

sternly, yet there

was tenderness

in

her

voice too, "ef 'n you don't stop yore whittlin' you air a-goin' to

grow up and

live

from hand

to

mouth

jest like yore

Uncle

Hank!" Jeb knew what she meant. Uncle Hank lived all by himself down the road a piece in a one-room cabin that looked like a big wind had jest blowed through. His bean patch

patch were so chock

full

of weeds,

it

was a wonder Uncle Hank

didn't put weeds in his cook pot 'stead of beans

Mammy

had once

said

it

and corn

would be nice

to

and

corn.

have Uncle

Hank

empty room on Granny and Grandpappy's side of the dogtrot. But Granny and Grandpappy had thrown up their hands and hollered, "No!" jest as loud as they could. Jeb liked Uncle Hank, he liked him a heap, and so did sister live in the

Kate. So did

all

the other

young

'uns in the hills about. For

Uncle Hank could whittle out the most wonderful

anybody ever saw, with jointed pretties

whistles

legs. All

the

and

young

Uncle Hank had made.

dolls

'uns for miles

He

as often as

time he and Uncle

around had play-

could whittle a sight better

than Jeb could. But Jeb was learning tricks every

play-pretties

and cradles and animals

Hank

fast.

He

picked up a few

got together, which was

Jeb could manage.

Granny looked

Her eyes softened. "We cain't rightly blame Jeb fer his whittlin'," she said. "Hit was all the fault o' that Hank. Recollect the day Jeb was one year old and we set him on the floor so we could tell what he was going to be when he was a man growed?" at Jeb.

\

8

\

"And

in a ring

around him we

and a hoe and a piece said Grandpappy. "Cause we knowed Granny

wisely, "he'd

"And

o'

cash

laid a Bible

money and

and a hammer

a snake's tongue?"

ef'n he went toward the Bible," said

grow up

to

be a preacher man."

ef'n he crawled toward the

hammer,"

said Pappy,

"he'd be a carpenter; and ef'n toward the hoe he'd be a farmer like

me."

Granny nodded and went on, "And ef'n he crawled toward the money he'd be a banker; and ef'n he made a beeline fer the snake's tongue he'd be a lawyer feller."

Then Granny

"And

snorted angrily.

that good-fer-nothing

Hank had

to

go and drop

his

jackknife on the floor!"

"And Jeb

lit

out

fer hit jest as fast as

Granny sighed heavily. "I knowed then he'd grow up said.

to be a

he could crawl!"

no-good whittler!" she

Grandpappy and Pappy sighed too. Mammy and Jeb and Kate didn't. They smiled with dehght at the sight of a grinning face that

had just popped

back doorway.

into the

"Hit's a-pleasurin' the lad a heap, whittlin'

Hank

A

as

plump man stepped

landish figure any of

bright red jacket that

at the knees

and

He wore side,

him

fit

a word.

it.

him, the most out-

seen.

The man wore

so tight he looked like he

had

His bright blue trousers ended

were bare from there

his legs

a

to his

white

high laced shoes and a peaked cap with a feather

which he whipped

Like a hound sniffed the

in beside

them had ever

been melted and poured into

on one

said Uncle

he stepped into the cookroom.

short,

socks.

is,"

dawg on

he stepped into the room.

the scent of a 'possum, Uncle

good food smells

He just

off as

stood there

in the

Hank

cookroom. But he never said

and grinned,

shyly.

Jeb grinned too. He knew what Uncle Hank was waiting for. So did Mammy. She said, her voice warm-like, "Set down a spell and have some vittles." She waved her hand at the shucky

-^^

10

beans, the golden corn pones,

with a rose on top.

mighty welcome

to

"We

and the big round mold of butter

ain't got a thing fitten to eat

but you're

what we have."

Uncle Hank looked up

at the

smoked beams overhead.

"Ain't hongry," he said.

"Set a spell anyhow,"

Mammy

urged. She laid two wooden

trenchers on the table.

"Hmph,"

sniffed

Granny.

"Jest a bite," said sat

down. They

laid

Uncle Hank

filled their

softly.

He and

trenchers almost

full

the stranger

of beans.

They

on two corn pones apiece and a big chunk of butter

each.

They held

their

mugs while

for

Mammy filled them with cold

Then they fell to and ate like they hadn't smelled food for a month of Sundays! Two empty trencherfuls later. Uncle Hank sighed, sank back, buttermilk straight from the springhouse.

12

and wiped

his

mouth with

"This here," he

said,

the back of his hand.

waving

at the stranger, "is a

good friend

of mine."

He

leaned toward the

say yore

The he

name was?" "Mine name

said,

feller

an odd gutteral voice

stranger's blue eyes twinkled. In

Granny nodded a

plump young man. "Whut did you

as

is

Melchior Thoni."

if

to say, "Jest like

Hank

up with

to take

with a handle like that!"

But Pappy, never one

to turn a cold shoulder

stranger, said friendly enough,

"Where you

toward a

hail from,

Mr.

Thoni?"

The you

bright blue eyes twinkled again. "I hail from,

say, Svitzerland," said

Mr. Thoni. "But now

I liff

in

I

guess

Nash-

ville."

13

Jeb's eyes shone like

new

He had

pennies.

Switzerland. But he had heard of Nashville, that ful city

came both

somewhere beyond

these

hills,

never heard of far-off,

wonder-

where railroad

trains

roaring in and streets were a mile long with houses on sides,

and

streetcars ran

horses pulling them.

Jeb

on tracks

in the middle,

closed his eyes real tight

with

and sucked

in his breath. Nashville!

"I like your mountains, yess,"

them

in

often.

Mr. Thoni purred

They make me theenk

of

on. "I valk

my own

mountain

home." Uncle Hank drawled, "I met him down the road a tin'

on a rock

a-restin'

and," he added

Pappy and Granny and Grandpappy at

Uncle Hank that

said, "Jest like

you

piece, a-set-

slyly, "a-whittlin'."

snorted.

They

shot looks

to bring another no-good

whittler with ye!"

But Uncle Hank just grinned.

Mr. Thoni was looking with

interest

around the cookroom.

He saw the row of wooden animals on the shelf above the fireplace. He clapped his hands with the joy of a child given a new play-pretty. 14

"Who

carved zeze?" he cried.

Uncle Hank grinned. "Jeb did," he

said.

Mr. Thoni went over

to the fireplace.

wooden jenny. He clucked "Nice," he said. "Very

He

picked up the

little

feeling for action

and

happily. nice.

Good

form."

Jeb didn't understand a word of what he said. But it made him feel right skylarky inside to see someone look at one of his little animals and not ask the use of it. 15

Mr. Thoni motioned Jeb ing.

Mr. Thoni took a small grooved

outlandish jacket.

He

Jeb came,

to his side.

flicked

it

tool

his eyes shin-

from the pocket of

here and there over the

his

little

wooden donkey. "Hit looks better," said Jeb, forgetting, learning, the frowns of

"That

little tool

makes a

right fine line.

I

only got a jackknife."

little tool.

he said kindly. "I

ziss,"

wonder of

Pappy and Granny and Grandpappy.

Mr. Thoni handed him the

"Take

in the

giff

it

to you."

Jeb's face turned red as a pokeberry. But he

felt

skylarky in-

side.

"Thank

He

ye,

Mr. Thoni," he

said.

and the

slipped the tool

little

wooden donkey

pocket. He'd keep that jenny in his pocket

now

on, for

good luck,

like

a rabbit's

foot.

all

Maybe

into his

the time from it

would grow

up and come alive and be a real workin', pullin', totin' jenny, and Pappy and Granny and Grandpappy would see some use to his whittlin'.

He

sighed.

Might

as well wish for the

moon

to turn to a

mess

of chitlins!

Mr. Thoni turned

to

Jeb and Uncle Hank.

"I must go now," he said. "I haff far to valk. If you should

come 16

to Nashville,

come

to

my

shop to see me."

"Shop?" "I

sell

said

Pappy, right quick. "What do you

mine vood carvings,"

said

sell?"

Mr. Thoni.

Pappy's eyes popped. "You mean," he cried, "that

you cash money

"Oh,

for whittlin' play-pretties

yess," said

Mr. Thoni, and he

folks

pay

out of wood?"

left.

Pappy and Mammy and Granny and Grandpappy and Kate and Jeb and Uncle Hank stood in the dogtrot and watched the

plump

figure stride off

down

the road.

4 J

Pappy shook

head.

his

Then he

nothing but a fly-up-the-creek!" sternly,

"And you

snorted,

He

"I'll jest

bet he ain't

turned to Jeb and said

word

cain't never believe a

that a fly-up-the-

creek says!" Jeb's heart, which

had been doing nip-ups, now took a dive and landed with a plop at the soles of his feet. He thought. Pappy said Uncle Hank was a good-for-nothing because he was always a-whittlin'.

about

it,

And Jeb

felt,

Pappy might be

that

though he didn't want

Now

right.

to think

he was calling Mr.

Thoni a fly-up-the-creek because he was a whittler too. "Mr. Thoni ain't no fly-up-the-creek," he told himself stoutly. 'T jest

know he

Jeb kept pappy kept

ain't."

right

on

right

on scolding.

One morning,

whittlin'.

bright

in front of the cabin.

He

and

Pappy and Granny and Grand-

early, a

Jeb was

mule and wagon stopped

settin' in the dogtrot, whittling.

looked up. In the wagon were Mr. Hawkins, a neighbor,

and Uncle Hank.

"We

air

going to Nashville, boy," said Uncle Hank.

mammy kin you go along." Mammy said he could go. Quicker'n

"Go

ask

yore

nose,

Jeb took

off"

the tow trousers he was wearing.

his only other ones, his best ones, that

ings but hadn't

worn

Jenny! Jeb took the trousers he trousers he

he used

to

He

wear

to

put on

meet-

since the old jenny died.

his little

had taken

was wearing,

be lucky enough on 18

the twitch of a rabbit's

wooden donkey from

off.

He

just for

put

good

it

into the pocket of the

luck.

this trip to find that

the pocket of

Maybe he would

Mr. Thoni did have a

shop where he sold the things he carved out of wood, that he wasn't a fly-up-the-creek. Jeb grinned at the thought. That

would be almost and be a

as

good

as

having

it

grow up and come

alive

real workin', pullin', totin' jenny! 19

W*«vy'>rv Hours and many bumps Nashville. all right,

Down

the

main

later,

the

wagon rumbled

street they went. It

a sight longer than Jeb had thought

was a long it

would

into

street

The

be.

shops and stores were beyond his wildest imaginings. Shining buggies drawn by sleek horses whipped back and forth. Bright red horsecars ran up and street just as he'd

down

the tracks in the middle of the

heard they did. Jeb's head spun around

a weather vane in a changeable wind.

He

didn't

want

like

to miss

anything.

Above

all

he didn't want to miss Mr. Thoni's shop.

be one of these big fine ones on the main

street.

It

must

But though

Jeb looked and looked all the way down to the blacksmith shop at the other end, he saw neither hide nor hair of it. "I must have missed

it,"

he said to himself, as Mr. Hawkins

stopped in front of the blacksmith shop.

one wheel. So did Uncle Hank. 20

He

climbed down over

"We'll be here in the blacksmith shop a spell," said Uncle

Hank. His eyes twinkled. "Ef n you

find

let

me

street.

He

Mr. Thoni,

know."

Away went

Jeb.

He went

back down the main

peered into the windows and doors of

all

the stores and shops.

But he did not find Mr. Thoni. Fly-up-the-creek! Fly-up-the-creek! Cain't never believe a

word a

fly-up-the-creek

tells

you.

Oh,

no, no, no!

Jeb turned a corner. He walked down a narrow side street. It was lined with small stores and shops, a bakeshop, a cobbler's shop, a tinker's shop, a cooper's shop.

But not a sign of Mr. Thoni did he

He

turned another corner. This was a very narrow

ran downhill and

The

farther

In the

see.

last

down

it

was lined on both

street. It

sides with tiny shops.

the street Jeb went, the tinier grew the shops.

shop he found Mr. Thoni! 21

"Great day

in the

mornin'!" whooped Jeb.

And

into the

shop

he went.

Mr. Thoni was glad him.

He showed him

clocks

men

He laughed and hugged

wonderful wood carvings. There were

and canes and picture frames, and

and moldings of old

his

to see him.

for doors

altar rails

and mantels

and windows. There were quaint

men and women, and

graceful ones of ladies

and

figures

gentle-

of fashion, for setting about on tables and mantels

whatnot

shelves.

There were

Joseph and the Christ Child shepherds and Wise

And many

Men

figures of the Virgin in the

bearing

and

Mary and

manger, and the kneeling

gifts, for

Christmas creches.

people passed by the shop, but not one of them came

They stopped to look in the window. They smiled at the amusing little wooden figures. They looked over the cuckoo clock and laughed when the cuckoo popped out when it struck. But not a one of them came in. Jeb saw the anxious look on Mr. Thoni's face when someone in.

stopped to look in the window.

when

that person just looked

He saw

and went

the

shadow

cross

it

on.

Soon Mr. Thoni was pacing back and

forth across the floor

of his shop. "I cannot understand

not understand

it.

it,"

No vun

he muttered over and over. "I can-

in Nashville

seems to

like

mine carv-

ings at all."

Mr. Thoni whirled on Jeb. "Let us go for a valk," he said. "I might as veil close the shop. No vun vill stop in anyvay. Jeb's heart sank. So

nobody would pay cash money

for things

whittled out of wood, not even the things that Mr. Thoni whit22

tied.

Mr. Thoni was a fly-up-the-creek

knew he hadn't meant to be. Jeb's hand closed over the little donkey

all

right,

though Jeb

in his pocket.

He

lowed Mr. Thoni out of the shop. Play-pretty, that was

fol-

all it

was! 23

They walked over was a horsecar.

On

to the

main

the front of

street. it

Coming toward them

was the

sign,

TROLLEY

PARK. Mr. Thoni laughed. "Ve

shall

go to the park," he

said.

They mounted the car and off they went. They got off in a large wooded park. They heard music. They heard laughter. They saw many happy men and women and boys and girls. "The Trolley Park," said Mr. Thoni. "Some call it an amusement park." It

amused Jeb.

amused him a heap.

It

It

amused him

to listen

band on the bandstand, to watch grown men throw balls at clay ducks and toss rings on pegs. He laughed aloud at the wild man in a cage that stood outside a wooden building called to the

a

museum. There was

a boat trip under a waterfall, colorful

and the fly-around. The fly-around was an eight-sided platform with one bench on each side. It went around and booths,

around.

Jeb sure wished he could ride on it. "I vill buy you vun ride, mine young

fren'," said

Mr. Thoni.

Jeb mounted the platform. He sat down on one of the seats. He had to wait until all seats were full. The platform started turning. It went around and around. "Wheeeeee! This

me

"Hit pleasured Thoni, "but

I jest

wooden jennies,

He jerked "Like 24

Then he

hit'd

he

got

off.

mightily, that ride did," he told Mr.

couldn't help a-thinking ef 'n

his little

this'n,"

fun!" cried Jeb.

is

them

seats

be a heap more fun to ride 'em!"

wooden jenny out

said.

of his pocket.

was

"~-*--»«ls^.

Mr. Thoni exploded. "Mine you

giff

me! Come,

let

fren'!

Mine Jeb! Vat an

idea

us go back to the shop!" 25

Back

to the

shop they hurried.

On

the

so excitedly that people turned to listen

He

way Mr. Thoni and

smile.

talked

Jeb

listened

He

took his

jumped wooden donkey from his pocket, and kissed it. It was going to grow up and come almost alive. Once inside the shop, Jeb and Mr. Thoni fell to work. The sun was low in the west when they heard the front door open. Jeb looked up and saw Uncle Hank. "Lan' sakes!" he cried. "I plumb forgot about you and Mr. too.

But he didn't smile.

almost

for joy.

little

Hawkins." "Looks thet-a-way,' drawled Uncle Hank, "Hit always happens when

Uncle Hank didn't ever lived. Uncle

scold.

Hank

I

his eyes twinkling.

git to whittlin'."

Uncle Hank never

was.

"Long way home," said Uncle Hank. "We'd ef 'n we want to git thar by mornin'." Jeb's heart hit bottom.

didn't

want

to leave

they had started.

He and Mr. Thoni what they were going "I'll tell

He

didn't

Mr. Thoni

And

want

to

until they

best git goin'

go back home.

had

finished

He

what

that might take a couple of weeks.

talked to Uncle Hank. to do.

They

told

him

Uncle Hank's eyes shone.

yore folks you are bidin' a spell with Mr. Thoni,"

He winked. "I'll talk to yore mammy." Uncle Hank left, saying, "Me and Hawkins air come back to Nashville in a couple weeks. We'll he

man

did. Finest

said.

a-aimin' to stop by fer

you then."

Mr. Thoni and Jeb worked and worked. They forgot to eat. They forgot to sleep. But at the end of two weeks, when Uncle 26

Hank and Mr. Hawkins

returned, they were

still

only about

half done.

Uncle Hank walked into the shop.

was a wooden jenny

all right,

help from Mr. Thoni.

He

looked around. There

carved by Jeb himself, with some

He was

the size of a real jenny, a small

and he had a saddle on his back. He had a and reins. And he was painted in natural colors. one,

bridle, too,

i

"Purtiest

little

jenny

I

ever did see," grinned Uncle Hank.

Jeb beamed. He showed Uncle Hank the other three animals they had carved a pony, a cow, and a goat. They were the

—

same

size as the

jenny, and they had saddles and bridles and

reins.

Uncle Hank scratched grin

Jeb had ever

"I

made

a sight of play-pretties in

got four

"I cain't

you

do

his face

more animals

tell

my

was the biggest

time," said Uncle

purtiest play-pretties

eyes were pleading. "I cain't go this ev'nin',

On

seen.

Hank, "but them's the

"We

his head.

Mammy

hit," said

I

I

ever did see."

Uncle Hank." Jeb's

to carve,

home now. When you aim

to stay

git

home

two more weeks."

Uncle Hank.

"Why?" cried Jeb. Uncle Hank chortled, "Cause I'm

a-aimin' to stay and help

them other four animals myself!" Jeb jumped right up and down, in delight.

whittle out

"Mr. Hawkins kin

"He

tell

'em!" he crowed.

shore kin!" cried Uncle Hank.

Uncle Hank stayed. He helped carve out a goose, a

They were the same mals, and they had saddles and bridles and

bear,

and a

rooster.

were painted

pig,

a

size as the other ani-

reins.

And

they

in lifelike colors.

"Vunderful! Vunderful!" beamed Mr. Thoni.

Jeb stroked the wooden jenny. "My little oF jenny did grow up," he said. He stepped back looked at it fondly. "And hit looks almost alive."

"Now 28

for the

platform!" cried Mr. Thoni.

They

built

an eight-sided platform

seen at Trolley Park.

On

just like the one they

had

each side they put a wooden animal.

Mr. Thoni turned a big crank on a contraption at the side of the platform. Ropes moved and pulleys moved. The fly-around moved. The jenny moved, and the pony and cow and goat and the goose and pig real, live

and bear and

rooster, for all the

world

like

animals! 29

"That fly-around," really

make

said a voice from the doorway, "should

the children happy!"

Uncle Hank turned. Mr. Thoni turned. Jeb turned. There stood the man who owned Trolley Park. He had come to see the

new

"I'll

like

it

fly-around that Mr. Thoni had told

give

it

a try in the park," he said.

as well as

I

think they

him

"And

will, I'll give

about.

if

the children

you a hundred

dol-

lars for it."

Uncle Hank and Jeb gasped. 30

A

hundred

dollars, cash

money,

In^

I for a play-pretty!

cash

money

for

Mr. Thoni looked pleased.

wood

He had

been paid

carvings before, though not for animals

for fly-arounds.

After dark they

moved

the fly-around to the park.

Uncle Hank and Jeb and Mr. Thoni

slept

hardly a wink that

Would the children like the new fly-around? Would they? The children did like it. When the park opened the next day

night.

they flocked to

it.

squealed and rode

So did the grownups. They laughed and it

again and again. 31

Mr. Thoni and Jeb and Uncle Hank watched happily. So did the man who owned the park. That afternoon he paid Mr. Thoni a hundred dollars for the fly-around with animals on it. Mr. Thoni gave Jeb ten dollars and Uncle Hank

five dollars,

cash money.

money

"That's the most cash

whole

life,"

"And

I

said

earned

Jeb looked

it

I

ever seen at one time in

Uncle Hank. He shook

his

my

head, wonderingly.

a-helpin' whittle out a play-pretty."

at his cash

money. Then he stowed

it

away

in the

wooden jenny. That evening Mr. Thoni and Uncle Hank and Jeb were sitting happily in the shop. Through the door walked a stranger.

pocket of his trousers, alongside his

He

swept off

phis.

I

his

little

hat and said, "I'm Zeke

Thomas from Mem-

seen that fly-around with the animals on

it

at Trolley

Park." "Yess," said Mr. Thoni

softly.

"Well," said the stranger, "I was a-wonderin'

one

fer

our Trolley Park

pay ye a hundred dollars

fer

'em."

carve the animals

fer

if

in

you-aU would

Memphis.

I'll

Mr. Thoni and Uncle Hank beamed. Jeb never felt so skylarky in his whole life. Another four weeks of whittlin'! And another ten dollars! It was enough to make a ground hog whistle!

Next day Mr. Thoni and Uncle Hank and Jeb were carving the animals for the fly-around at the

at

Memphis

work,

Trolley

Park. But not for long.

Long about noonin' Mr. Hawkins' wagon stopped in front of the shop. Out of it stepped Mammy and Pappy and Granny 32

and Grandpappy and Kate! One right after the other they marched into the shop. All were frowning, all 'ceptin' Mammy,

and she had

the sweetest smile on her face that Jeb

had ever

seen.

"We

be here," said Pappy sternly, "to take that young 'un

home." He turned

to

Uncle Hank. "A

fine

one you be

to send

atter him."

Granny sniffed. "Jest a no-good whittler." Pappy turned to Mr. Thoni. "And don't ever with ye agin. Hit war bad enough

fer

him

to

ask Jeb to stay

be around one

play-pretty whittler. But to be around two of 'em be a mite too

much." "Play-pretties!"

shop.

"What

snorted

Grandpappy, looking about the

use be they? Cain't eat 'em! Cain't wear 'em!

Cain't swap 'em!"

"But they do be of some use!" cried Jeb. go back home. taking the

wanted

cow

He

didn't

to pasture

want

to

didn't

want

to

go back to hoeing beans, and

and corn

to stay right here

He

to the grist for grinding.

and help carve the animals

He

for an-

other fly-around. 33

^.1Lii£^ "Whut

use?" asked

Pappy and Granny and Grandpappy.

"You kin ride 'em!" Pappy looked at him "Son," he

for a

long time.

said, right worried-like,

"you sound

like

wind

in

an empty jug."

"Come," ley Park.

said

Ve

Mr. Thoni

vill

briskly.

show them that

"Ve

vill

take them to Trol-

play-pretties can be of

some

use."

And

there they went, straight to the fly-around.

"Git on," said Uncle Hank, as they stood looking at the

fly-

around, their mouths wide open.

Pappy pappy goat.

34

got on the pony.

got on the pig.

Mammy

got on the goose. Grand-

Kate got on the

rooster.

Jeb got on

the

Uncle Hank got on the cow. Mr. Thoni got on the bear.

"Me?" said Granny, tugging on the ribbons of her pink sun'^

bonnet. "I'm a-goin' to

git

She chmbed up on the wooden jenny. The crank.

The platform turned around,

went the goose, the the bear,

laughing

rooster, the

faster

man

and

'

-

turned the

faster.

Around

pony, the pig, the goat, the cow,

and the jenny.

Mammy to grin;

"

on that there jenny."

began

to smile;

Kate began

Grandpappy began fit

to giggle;

to chuckle;

Pappy began

and Granny

got to

to bust!

35

'

"iCHOOL^

Around and around went the fly-around, faster and faster. The laughter grew louder and louder. A big crowd gathered. Everybody was having the time of his life, Granny most of all. She whooped and hollered and flapped the "Hit's jest like

was

I

reins.

a-flyin'!" she yelled.

"That's cause you're ridin' a flying jenny!" cried Jeb.

"A

jenny!" whooped Granny. "You are

flyin'

boy, I'm a-ridin' a the day!

"A

flyin'

jenny.

I

right.

never thought I'd

Gran-

live to see

Whoopee!"

flying jenny!" cried a little boy,

watching them. "I wanna

ride the flying jenny!"

"The "That the

is

what we

flying jenny!"

will call the fly-around

man who owned

The

The

flying jenny!

the park. "We'll call

Flying Jenny stopped.

Mammy

it

from now on," said the Flying Jenny!"

and Pappy and Grand-

pappy and Granny and Uncle Hank and Jeb and Kate got off". But Pappy still was stern. "Hit ain't nothin' but a play-pretty," he said grimly. "And no young 'un of mine is a-goin' to spend

them

his life whittlin'

When Pappy

sounded

Jeb fought back the to the shop.

He

out." like that

tears.

He

he meant just what he

fought them

all

said.

way back wagon and

the

fought them as he climbed into the

waved good-bye to Uncle Hank and Mr. Thoni. "Too bad," said Mammy, as she put her arm about his drooping shoulders, "that you couldn't make yore little wooden jenny grow up flyin'

Jeb 36

to

be a workin',

pullin', totin'

jenny

'stead of a

one." sighed.

He

slipped his

hand

into his pocket. His fingers

closed around the

thing

else,

too

wooden jenny. They

— a crisp ten-dollar

He jumped

like

"Pappy!" he

make my

little

he had been

around some-

bill!

shot.

yelled. "Recollect tellin'

me

that ef'n

jenny grow up and become a workin', you would see some use to my whittlin?"

little ol'

totin' jenny

closed

I

could

pullin',

"I recollects," said Pappy.

"Hold up here!" "Be back directly!"

yelled Jeb.

He jumped down off the wagon.

He going. little

down a side street. He knew exactly where he was When he came to a mule market, he bought a fine, fat

lit

out

gray jenny.

He

paid ten dollars for

it

and

led

it

back

to

the wagon.

"Here's yore workin', puUin,'

Pappy looked

at the little

totin'

jenny, Pappy," he

gray jenny,

his eyes

said.

wide with

wonder.

"Where fer that

in tarnation,"

he asked, "did you

git the

cash

money

jenny, boy?"

Jeb drew himself up proudly. "Mr. Thoni paid me cash money

fer

helping him whittle out

>

the animals fer that Flying Jenny," he said.

Pappy's eyes grew wider

Granny and Grandpappy leaned believe what their ears were hear-

still.

forward as though unable to ing.

"You mean," asked Grandpappy, "that you money fer whittlin' out play-pretties?"

got paid cash

"I got ten dollars," said Jeb, digging his bare toe into the dust.

Pappy slapped

"Then why

his thigh.

in tarnation didn't

tied the reins of the

jenny

to the

you say so?" he

yelled.

back of the wagon. "You

on back there and help that pore Mr. Thoni with

He git

his carving."

39

Jeb whooped with

joy.

The wagon went one way. Jeb went

the other.

Granny watched him go, proudly. "I knowed," she said, stroking the jenny's ears, "when Jeb was a year old and Hank put that jackknife on the floor and Jeb went

my

after hit like old Nellie

gran-boy would grow up

Soon Jeb was back

He

he stayed. for the for

on

wood

carver."

shop of Melchior Thoni.

Trolley Park.

one Flying Jenny

it

be a fine

for the feed stall, that

And

there

helped carve the animals for the Flying Jenny

Memphis

ment park

in the

to

heading

He

helped carve the animals

after the other. It

in the country

seemed

like

every amuse-

wanted a Flying Jenny with animals

instead of seats.

Uncle Hank stayed

for awhile.

Then he went back

to the

hills.

But Jeb stayed on. well.

One day

DAVIS,

WOOD

learned

AND

He

it

learned the

wood

carver's trade

the sign above the shop read,

CARVERS.

and

THONI

That was the day they

moved to a fine, big, new shop on the main street of Nashville. They carved many animals for Flying Jennies. They also 40

carved

many

Nashville

other things. Soon the

came

into their shop

weahhy

and bought

planters about

clocks

and canes

and picture frames, mantels and stair rails, and figures of ladies and gentlemen to set about on tables and whatnot shelves. They decorated

mas

many churches,

too,

and carved the

figures for Christ-

creches. 41

Often Jeb went back

to his

home

in the hills.

Then

the

family gathered about the table in the cookroom to eat shucky

beans and corn pone and buttermilk. There were

Mammy

and

Pappy and Kate and Granny and Grandpappy and Uncle Hank. Uncle Hank lived with them then. He lived in the spare room on Granny and Grandpappy's

"Mighty

fine

man,

that

side of the dogtrot.

Hank,"

said

Granny, "a-larnin' Jeb

to whittle so fine."

"Powerful fine man," said Grandpappy, puffing on

his corn-

cob pipe. Quite often,

too,

Mammy

and Pappy and Kate and Granny

and Grandpappy and Uncle Hank came down to Nashville. And every time they came they headed straight for Trolley Park. It was a sight to see them all on that Flying Jenny, awhoopin' and a-hollerin' and a-laughin'

%

w^

fit

to kill!

Lots of folks since have Yes, you guessed

Today

it is

whooped

it

up on

the Flying Jenny.

it.

called the

MERRY-GO-ROUND!

•v^ ;;

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r:

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