BURNING FAIRIES
by Fred Butler
One of those men went by the name of Peter. He used to get kind of queer in the head and one time he got down here in the hollow burning fairies. Apparently they were bothering the daylights out of him.
He went to work and built a circular fire and put the fairies inside it. I don't know how he got them in there but he was going around the fire with a big stick keeping them in.
He was so busy making sure none of the fairies got away on him that he failed to notice one of the neighbor ladies as she walked down over the hill and go right past him. He never paid any attention to her until he caught sight of her going up the grade away from him.
As he turned around he cried after her,"How the devil did you get out of my circle!"
The poor soul thought she was one of the fairies.

BAD BLOOD BETWEEN THEM
by Fred Butler
There was always bad blood between the Ryans and the Griffiths. They lived across the road from each other and the bad feelings came with them from the old countries. Griffith was an Englishman and the Ryans were ribbonmen from Ireland.
The ribbonmen were something like what the I.R.A. people are today. The only thing they wore in the way of a uniform was a small ribbon of some kind on their lapel. These were the type of men that held no love for an Englishman.
Anyway, old Denny Ryan got into a fight with Joseph Griffith over some cedar. I don't know just what it was about but Denny beat him up Joseph went to the law about it and Deny was bound over to keep the peace.
A while after all this happened, Denny and his wife were out there in the yard where Denny was making a hand rake. One of those old wooden ones with the teeth made of pegs. The missus looked up the road and saw Joseph coming by on his way from town. He was stepping along as smart as you like and sporting one of those tall hats on his head.
Deny's wife got egging him on to go at Joseph again. She said he had made some uncomplimentary remarks about her and that Deny should beat him up again for doing so.
"Oh no," he said, " I'm not going to jail over anything to do with him, but that's not to stop you!"
Now the road was much narrower then, but there was the cut for the hill, and it was probably six feet or so in depth. Scoffing at her husband for being so cautious, she walked out to the bank at the edge of the road and brought the big wooden rake down on that tall hat and jammed it right down over Joseph's ears.
I don't know what happened after, but I bet there were more than a few words spoken by everybody concerned. Talk about bad blood!

DAMN FINE COURTIN' IT 'TWAS
by Fred Butler
Great Great Grandfather homesteaded down here. He came out the year after the
Miasmic Fire. He claimed that he cut down a tree to cross Mill Stream. His name
was Joseph Griffith. He was born in Wales but was raised in England.
His wife's name was Anne Thompson and she was English. They had a daughter named Anne also, but she didn't come with them. Her father's half-brother brought her out later. On the trip over her ship got blown off course and they started to run low on drinking water. Her uncle and the other sailors went on water rations to make sure that young Anne had enough.
After she arrived on the Miasmic her parents betrothed her to one of the Egan's who lived up here. Peter Egan, I think his name was. However, young Anne had met my grandfather and had taken a shine to him but the Old Lady said, "Let her pout, she'll get over it."
So she had to marry Egan. She married Egan and they had a child. But the child died and then Egan died! Great Grandfather was still in the wings so Anne finally got her man. They married and their son was my grandfather.
When he grew up he took it upon himself to go a courtin' up at Boyle's. They lived up there on the hill but old Mr. Boyle didn't like him at all Didn't think he would ever amount to much considering he was so poor to begin with.
Grandfather later told his children, "I courted in me bare feet and damn fine courting it was." When he asked the old man for the daughter's hand, he barked, "What do you have to keep a wife on?"
Grandfather replied that he had a barrel of pork and a bag of potatoes.
The old fellow then told him to ,"Go on home and ate it by Ayer self."
Both Grandfather and the girl were broken hearted. However, the mother interceded and pleaded her cause The father finally gave in with bad grace and said, "If she burns her arose, she kin sit on the blister." They married and prospered until it wasn't long before he was hiring some of the
Boyle's to work for him.
She died giving birth to their sixth child.
Sometime later he went courting up at O'Hare's. It was a different story there.

A PICTURE TO PROVE IT

by Fred Butler
There was this old feeler, George something or other, from up the Nor' West who was out cruising for a chance to go logging in the fall. When darkness fell he fixed up a little campsite, had his supper and settled down for the night. He was using his knap sack for a pillow but he had some meat in it.
A bear smelled the meat and while old George was sleeping the animal tried to pull the knap sack out from under his head. After chasing the bear away, the old lad hung the knap sack up on a high limb. The rest of the night was spent in undisturbed sleep.
Later on George told the story to a small audience of locals and an American sport who happened to be there at the time. Now, it just so happens that this sport was a cartoonist and when he got back home he drew a picture of George and the bear. The picture showed George sleeping on the ground and the bear reaching out for the knap sack with one paw while covering his face like a thief with the other paw.
The American sent the drawing to George and after that the old lad started to believe the story himself.
After all, he had a picture to prove it!