Show HIS BELOVED WIVES S ever hear of Buckl bucklesberry esberry said a man from north carolina the other day well it Is a dis brict in lenoir county about twenty miles from goldsboro twenty years ago it used to abound in curious characters almost everybody in the neighborhood was named sutton at the time of which I 1 speak about the most representative citizen of the corn com was ben sutton ben had one of the nicest neatest little one story houses you ever saw and when one day I 1 met him on the road and was invited to partake of his hospitality at midday dinner I 1 accepted with alacrity we entered the house from the rear and al most immediately sat down at a table that lit orally groaned under the weight of ham and sweet potatoes collards corn pone turnips and huckleberry pie bens ben s hospitality made him see that I 1 got away with tha th whole of an enormous second helping I 1 strolled out upon the front porch after the meal and to my horror there stood in the yard just in front of the house a row of four handsome tombstones each with a grave attached my host had lingered inside so I 1 went out and in specter the stones one bore the inscription to my beloved wife annie the second was to my beloved wife kate the third read to my beloved wife maggie and the fourth to my beloved wife jennie good heavens have I 1 truck struck a bluebeard T I 1 exclaimed then I 1 looked at the th dates of decease they were from two to live year years apart I 1 turned around and there was the present mrs button sutton looking at me with a smile on her face look pretty don dont t they she said you see ben likes to sit out here on the porch and look at the tombstones and tell me what a good wife annie or kate or maggie maggle or jennie was to him it doesn doean t hurt me and he gets lots of tun fun out of 0 it it dut but you can bet your sweet life there la is no place there for me in the first place I 1 made him promise me before we were married that he be wouldn t put me there it if I 1 died before him in the second I 1 mean to outlive him you see ben looks pretty husky but he Is nearly 60 and I 1 am pot yet 30 oh ob no I 1 don t mind the tombstones or the graves for one thing they keep negroes away from our place you see there Is the chicken coop on one side of the yard and the watermelon patch on the other and you could t get a darky to go into either after sundown for any number of chickens or watermelons the only thing I 1 mind about it Is that people try to tease me and tell me that ben den s already got my tombstone ready lettered and all except as to the date of my death but I 1 guess fool them all she did too poor ben den was gathered away to ta her numerous predecessors within a year or two after that I 1 have never been down in thit that part of the state since then so I 1 don t know what she did with the th tombstones |