Show FEUD IS RESULT OF A REFUSAL TO KISS BABY whole section in trouble because of prec alive man with grouch COMMUNITY TAKES SIDES bill dunham boen in H s declarant arat on that oil e kebles shall yet beg for pr he scornfully refused kebler had loved pretty L atle one s mother and there Is the root of the whole troubled fight so far has been interest ng w th further developments expected cynthiana four hundred and sixty three persons have kissed little miss margaret dunham aged tour months and three days the tally in eludes dave downing who travels for mckeehan company s grocery and the five candidates for office in pike county ohio who vis cited during the recent campaign which are about all the visitors the little haniley set down in the tul brush creek hills has had recent ly or at least as recently as the corn ing ot miss dunham into the world that has welcomed her with kisses but despite the fact that she has been kissed by more persons than any girl in pike county and most ot them are Us sable the fact that ollie kibler has not kissed her has started trouble divided the town into two factions and almost caused a feud between the dunhams and the kibler family everybody in cynthiana over the age of five months excepting kibler has kissed miss dunham kibler alone has refused to fall in love with her how kibler can refuse to kiss her no one else in town can understand for she is the prettiest plumpest sweet est baby ever born that is what her mother sas and besides that per sons including dave downing who ought to be unprejudiced being a bachelor have ea d the same thing she is so soft and satiny and so pink and white and her blue eyes open with such amazed and delighted alares and her dimples evolve such unexpected and wonderful smiles and her soft little rosebud hands flut ter so confidingly into even the horny bands of the loggers that any per son it seems who has any human blood in his veins wants to grab her right into his arms and just squeeze her and kiss her and then look ashamed and say I 1 aiwas liked ba hies and sneak away and wish he had one just like it where oil e kibler lost out that Is the way little miss dunham has affected everybody except ollie kibler he has not kissed her and will not kiss her therefore there Is trouble it appears from the facts that are ascertainable that miss margaret shannon who waa better known as madge was the belle of the entire dis brict around cynthiana by the time she was 18 years old not only that but the young men from drove down to call on her and once it was rumored that she was engaged to a wealthy young man up at dav ariy the county seat everybody knew that pred cravens from sink ing springs was wildly in love with her almost all the town boys and especially ollie kibler who owns a big farm over cameron s mountain besides his house in cynthiana then bill dunham big hearty good natured and with a laugh that could be heard over half the town tell a victim to the of margaret shannon and that settled it they were married and ollie kibler became a of woman hater people with college educations would have called him misanthropic but Cynt blana sim ply referred to it as grouch except uncle billy newell who said ollie waa peevish at any rate ollie ceased to be the beau brummel of cynthiana and set tied down to business and was as hard flint and as uncle billy newell vowed as doss as his paw was and 14 shoemakers coulden couldn t have got a bristle between his fingers and a dol lar story about the baby all those things happened years ago possibly ten bill dunham got along pretty well in the lumber busl ness running a sawmill over newell mills way and hauling to and als wife was just as pretty as when she was a girl although in a different sort of way they were hap py but until a few months ago their happiness was incomplete bill dunham s friends said he haan hadn t an enemy on earth he was one of the most popular men in pike county and a lot of the republicans up at cynthiana wanted bill to run tor aoun ty and try to v rest the con arol of old pike county om the dem but bill said he dian didn t cart tor politics and refused to run al though he let them make him an al ternate to the sta i convention which was quite an conr he took his wife with him to columbus and they visit ed the penitentiary and the blind aay lum and b it that is another story this story is about the baby when the baby arrive everybody said it would be a pretty baby for its father was big and handsome and its mother so pretty grandma shan non said it took after the sr annons and grandpa dunham vowed it tv ored the dunhams but almost eveia body said it resembled both its eyes were blue like its father s and the upper part of ats face was his one could see that by putting a hand over ohp mouth but its noe and mouth were just like its mothers only pret tier she said although altho uh of course bill denied that anyhow it was the prettiest baby that ever came to cynthiana every body conceded that but no one sus pecked that it was going to cause so much trouble the F great event when it or she rather her mother gets mad when anybody calls her it was just one month old they took her to the church and christened her margaret after her mother and her mother s aunt mag who sent the little turquoise ring and the knit jacket tor the baby dunham was so hurt she almost cried she went straight home and at supper she told her husban 1 and bill was hot under the collar 01 course he care whether ollie kibler ever kissed his baby or not in fact he d rather he 1 ut make it any better swore should be sorry and then and there bill swore that ollie would kiss the baby or be sorry for it he went right up to the store and told ollie what he thought of him before all the men and repeated his vow that ollie would be begging tor a chance to kiss the baby before got through with him ollie was just as mad as bill was and swore he would n t kiss anybody s squawking colicky brat the idea of saying that when margadet Marga iet never had colic but once and tl at ads when lizzie gave her a lump of sugar bill and ollie came near fighting and would have fought if mr wick arsham haan hadn t told them to dry up or else go out in the street and fight it out the trouble grew serious at once half the people in town declared that ollie ought to be tarred and feath ered A few said that the dunhams t to be so touchy the rest just kept quiet A few days later bill came out as a candidate for township trustee on the republican ticket just to beat ollie who was a democrat he only had three weeks to campaign in but he swept the township and it went re the real trouble start until margaret was over two months old her mamma had her out riding in her new go cart the one with the front that lets down and th e blue silk para sol with a robe to match all covered with blue ribbon when right in front of wickersham s store they met kibler he was standing there talk ing to nate giddings from over at paint kibler refused precious boon nate never had seen the baby so of course he spoke to it and began playing with it and when it cooed and laughed and wrinkled up its dim pled little face he do a thing but stoop down and kiss her nate la a family man himself and has three or four kids at home and likes them but never moved he just stood there and looked disgusted and nate and mrs dunham talked baby and she asked how mrs giddings was then nate not meaning to make any brou trou ble laughed and said come and kiss the baby ye aint afraid are yea ollie said something about not making a tool of himself over any slobbery brat and walked away nate said afterwards he was so mad he could have kicked ollie and mrs publican tor the first time in years bill dian didn t boast much he simply repeated his assertion that would beg to kiss the baby before he got through with him then he went up to bainbridge on business and caught the train tor waverly and what did he do but buy a tax claim on a piece of land that belonged to kibler had neglected to pay the taxes and it was advertised among the delan fuents so bill bought it just to spite oilie and make him spend money people began to say that bill dunham could be just as bad an enemy as he was a good friend but they dian didn t know him until he had two ot s stray cows that were feeding along the roadside taken to the pound when had to pay one dollar each fine he was so mad he threatened to lick bill that s the way the feud stands now bill still vows that ollie must kiss his baby and ask his wife s permission to do it but ollie swears hell law bill out of pike county before he 11 do it As for little miss dunham she is growing prettier each day and from signs about the time she gets to be 1 ollie or any other human being will beg for the chance |