From Gold to Goodness (standard:Inspirational stories, 1583 words)
Author: stanley mcqueen kentucky backwoods writer	Added: Jul 18 2007	Views/Reads: 3418/2266	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
just a dot sometimes mean a lot. a shorty for sure...G

From Gold to Goodness .						Backwoods writer Stanley Mcqueen Well if
you ever seen my uncle Tom Mammy brother. You would have seen a tall 
man with long slim arms and a keen face and a little head and he is 
sort of beady eyed and just a might cross eyed , he lives down near the 
mouth of the little fox river that flows threw Muddfork county, he is a 
single forty eight years old man and he lives in a old broke down 
throned together sack , that looks like its going to slide in the river 
at the next mountain storm that touches the mountains. He works at the 
sawmill and make five dollars a day off bearing log that are cut and he 
carries back the slabs off the log and piles them behind the sawmill 
and then they are later burned , every Friday he rides his old mule 
across the rides and buy moonshine off them old tucker that make 
moonshine whiskey, he stay drunk when he is off work on the weekend and 
sometime he get put in that little hog pen jail that sets in the our 
little backwood town , folks laugh at him when he is drunk he wants to 
sing and court the fair ladies of the Muddy fork saloon.. Most of the 
woman in the saloon just take advantage of him and make eyes at him so 
he will spend all his hard earned money on drinks from them., but he 
just don't really get it that they are only friendly because he is 
generous when he is drinking... mammy says he is as crazy throwing all 
his money to the few harlot they we have in our little town, maw she 
has whipped him a few times when he come to our shack and try to make 
trouble when he is drunk, once he got mad at maw and turned ever cow we 
had on the place a loose, that time maw struck him above the eye and 
left a big open gash above his eye, paw said he is the worse fellow he 
ever was around when he is drinking. Paw if he would be honest he would 
quote that he hates the likes of his brother in law Tom. But paw want 
breath that before Maw knowing that Tom like it or not is her only 
brother.. It was Friday when we heard some new about Tom a man from 
town come to our shack and told is that Tom had found a goal mine on 
his place alone side the river.. He said folk in town was stirred up 
and ever one is trying to get in on Tom claim .. Well glory bee maw 
says as we listen to the news about Tom finding Gold on his little five 
acre ground .  The man left and rode away back toward town and paw and 
I saddled our horses and rode down to Tom place and we found Tom with a 
big bag of Gold and he had went into town beforehand and was wearing 
new town duds and a big black hat with a turkey feather sticking on the 
band of the new hat.. He has a bow tie and a brand new pair of store 
bought slippers, hello boys he say to us when he see us ride up . Guess 
you boys heard im a rich man now ,, I found gold on my place and now 
folks are flooding my land and wanting to buy it off me he says 
bragging. Tom takes out a store bought bottle of whiskey and takes a 
big swallow and asked paw did he want a snort... paw refused because he 
is a saint of the little goose chapel church,, he give me a snort and 
paw said , one snort is all you get boy , I don't want you turning out 
like your dear old uncle there a sot drunk, now Dan don't be so hard on 
the lad a good shot of whiskey never kill a man as far as I know Tom 
added' Tom what do you plan to do with all that money you are sure to 
get from the Gold seams on the place.. Asked pa”? Well the first thing 
is im going to is try and get that gal Kath to marry me that works in 
the blue Dog saloon , he answered paw” and then im going to tear this 
old shack down and build me a proper house to raise a bunch of kids in 
. Tom declared” well Tom im wanting a favor from you paw says” what 
that Tom asked? Well our little goose church house is in poor shape and 
I was wondering if you would donate us some of that gold money to fix 
the church up some the porch is about rotten down and the winders are 
breezy and in need of repair... Tom looks at paw strange. And then 
answered I want give nary penny to such foolishness nary penny he 
repeats.. I know you're a mean man and the devil is give you more 
drinking money paw snort and get on his horse and tell me to mount mine 
horse we are going home paw snorts , and away we ride leaving Tom 
standing in his fancy suit of duds and holding the amber colored whisky 
bottle.. As we ride toward our shack paw tells me that Tom will come to 
nought because he refused to help out the saint of little goose chapel 
church.. He is a greedy and selfish soul and that kind end up with 
folly and shame. I just listen at paw words and don't say nothing 
either way against Tom or for Tom. Time went on and we heard Tom was 
building a bigger saloon in muddy Fork and that he was setting up drink 
for everyone and living it up to the fullest. Maw was bad hurt that he 
had not wanted to help the church people and she said she had disowned 
him as kin of hers. Time goes on and a month passed and we got new that 
Tom had fell sick of some disease called consumption and was sure to 
die , so maw decided to go into town and see him before he died. We all 
three rode paw corn wagon into muddy fork and Tom was laid up at the 
boarding house in his sick bed, when we went into his room we found his 


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