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Store tobacco is flat black plug, but these fellows mostly chaws the natural

leaf twisted. When they borrow a chaw, they don't generly cut it off with a

knife, but they set the plug in between their teeth, and gnaw with their teeth

and tug at the plug with their hands till they get it in two -- then sometimes the

one that owns the tobacco looks mournful at it when it's handed back, and

says, sarcastic -- ssssssssss

"Here, gimme the chaw, and you take the plug."

All the streets and lanes was just mud, they warn't nothing else but mud --

mud as black as tar, and nigh about a foot deep in some places; and two or

three inches deep in all the places. The hogs loafed and grunted around,

everywheres. You'd see a muddy sow and a litter of pigs come lazying along

the street and whollop herself right down in the way, where folks had to walk

around her, and she'd stretch out, and shut her eyes, and wave her ears, whilst

the pigs was milking her, and look as happy as if she was on salary. And

pretty soon you'd hear a loafer sing out, "Hi! so boy! sick him, Tige!" and

away the sow would go, squealing most horrible, with a dog or two swinging to

each ear, and three or four dozen more a-coming; and then you would see all the

loafers get up and watch the thing out of sight, and laugh at the fun and

look grateful for the noise. Then they'd settle back again till there was a

dog-fight. There couldn't anything wake them up all over, and make them

happy all over, like a dog-fight -- unless it might be putting turpentine on a stray

dog and setting fire to him, or tying a tin pan to his tail and see him run himself

to death. ssssssssss

On the river front some of the houses was sticking out over the bank, and

they was bowed and bent, and about ready to tumble in. The people had

moved out of them. The bank was caved away under one corner of some

others, and that corner was hanging over. People lived in them yet, but it

was dangersome, because sometimes a strip of land as wide as a house caves

in at a time. Sometimes a belt of land a quarter of a mile deep will start in

and cave along and cave along till it all caves into the river in one summer.

Such a town as that has to be always moving back, and back, and back, because

the river's always gnawing at it. ssssssssss

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