And Horns on the Toads Page: 53
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JOE WHILDEN, ONE OF THE PEOPLE
people screw a light globe out of its socket when the switch
wouldn't work, and that's what I did for the globe in Joe's
house. But he wasn't satisfied. He figured that electricity was
still flowing out through the socket and wasting and would soon
get the room so full of electricity that if you struck a match in
it it would blow your house up. So he had us take the wiring
out. I was in high school then and very pompous about my
knowledge. I said, "Aw, Joe, if the globe isn't burning up elec-
tricity, it can't waste out the end of the wire."
"It does, too, I studied it," Joe answered flatfoot. His study
had to be from some other source than the written word, for
he couldn't read, can't read yet, and never has pretended to
read. A man don't have to read as long as he can go into
Bloom's Store or Wukasch's Store and just call for Levi Gar-
rett's snuff.
Joe had a brother named Zee, who was a fighter. He'd
fight a man at the drop of a hat, Zee would. He belonged to a
group that I don't know what's happened to sociologically. Zee
was the first man I ever saw have a fist fight with another full-
grown man. Zee loved to fight. When he got a little drunk, he
would go around looking for trouble. If he didn't find it, he'd
make it. Zee was working out north of Georgetown in a beer
hall-no, he wasn't working there, but he was courting a lady
that graced that establishment. Daddy had gotten him out of
trouble repeatedly, always in trouble for fighting. Zee was also
a strictly dishonest man. He is now in the state penitentiary
doing a life term. When Joe describes Zee, he describes him as a
completely naive, fresh, soft personality. Everything with Joe
is white or black. This is his testimony.
"Zee borrowed my car to go up to Georgetown to see this
lady, and she'd jest keep after him all time, 'Come back some
more, stay up here later.' He'd say, 'No, I've got to get my
night's sleep and get up and work tomorrow.' " Joe never men-
tions the occupations Zee was engaged in. The truth is he
never hit a lick of work in his life. But let Joe go on.53
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And Horns on the Toads (Book)
Volume of folk stories and tall tales about the horned toad and other Texas folklore. The index begins on page 235.
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Boatright, Mody Coggin. And Horns on the Toads, book, 1959; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38856/m1/66/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.