Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-11-25
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SUIT LovEGOOD's DADDY ACTING
HORSE

lin whar he is sWo.' sWo, Shavetail.' n
He's a dancing a jig ho
These, and like expressions, we're adj 90
to q queer-looking, longlegged, a.
short bodied, small-headed, white-haired, "A
.hog-eyed, funny sort of a genius, fresh from !,
bench-legged jews clothing store,
mounted on 'Tearpoke,' a nick-tailed, bow a,
necked, long poor horse, half dandy, half .,
devil, and enveloped all over in perfect net 81
work Of bride, reins, cruppers, martin !,
gales, straps, circingles, and red ferretting, h
who had reined up in front Of Pat Nashe's .
grocery, among a crowd of mountaineers, :
full of fight and mean whiskey. =
I say, you darned ash cat, just keep .
your shirt on, will ye2 You have never :
seen a rale boss till | ride NJ Tearpoke is :
Just next to the ever sh~eilepuubbins, an !,
he's dead as a still worm, poor old Ticky- :
tail :,
what killed him, SUIT? 2 says an anxious
inquirer. /,
why nuthing, you 'tarnal fool he just
died so, died a standing up at that. Warn't
not that goodbluck? Froze stiff, no, not
that, adzactly, but starved fust, and then
froze afterwards, so stiff that when dad and
me pushed him over, he jist stuck out so
(spreading his arms and legs), like a car
penter's bench, and we waited seventeen
DAYS for him tn thaw afore We could skin
i'm. Well, thar we was-Dad and me
Counting on his fngers)-Dad, an me an
Sail an Jake (Fool Jake as we called him
for short) an Janass an Phineass, Jam me,
and Calline Jane, and Sharlottean, an Sim
con, Sam'l, an Cashus Henry Clay, an
Noar Dan Webster, an me, and the twin.
gals /; an Catharine Second, and Cleopatary
Antony, add Jane Lind, and Tom Bullion,
an the Baby, an the prospect, an nam
herself, all left without ara boss to crap
with. There was a nice mess for a spec
table white family to be slashiDg about
in, warn't it? l be darned if l didn't feel
like sortcr stealing q boss sometimes
Well, we waited, and rested, an wished,
and waited, ontil near strawberry time,
hoping that some stray boss mout come
along, but dog my cat, eff eny SIGH luck as
that ever Gums whar dad is, he's SO drafted
mean, and lazy, an ugly, an savage.
well, one mite, dad lie awake all mite,
a s%nortin, an a rollin' an a BLOWN, an
scratchin', an a w~hisperin to nam, an
next morning, says he, 'Sut I'll tell you
what we'll do; III be boss myself, and pull
the plough, while you drive me an thel
the 'old quilt chats many an the brat
kin plant, or let it alone, jist as they please
So out we went to the pawpaw thicket, an,
pealed a rite peart chance Of bark, an man
and me made geers for dad, an they be
com him nifty, then he would have a br
dial so | TUX an old umbereller what d founC
it a little forked piece of iron, sorter lil
onto a pitch-fork We know, an we bent al
, twisted it shorter intu a bridal bit, snai
shape dad wanted it kurb, as he said b
= hadn't work't for some time, an mite so
m ter feel his oats and go cavortin'.) We
when we got the bride all fixed on dad, !
n. chomped an bit jist like a boss Che allie
was a most komplicated darn't old fool Ell
how, and nam alters said so when
warn't about then | put on the geers, a
out dad and me goes to the field, | a lea
in dad by the bride, and a toting the g
pher plough on my back. When we Gu
to the fence / let down the gap and it ma
dad mad he wanted to JUMP the fence
[. all fours, boss ways. l hitched him
to the gopher, and away he went, dad lei
in forward tn his pulIin' rite peart, a
we made sharp plowin' dad going rite o1
the sprouts aud bushes same as a rale no
8, the only differ was he vent on two legs.
Presently we cum to a s~assafras bush, a
to keep up his kar6cter as a boss bull
square intu it, and thru it, and tore do
q hornet nest nigh as big as a hoss's he
and all the tribe covered him rite strate
He reared and kicked once or twice
fetched a squeal wus nor ara boss IN
district, and sot in to runnin' away jos
natural as ever you seed. let go the Il
and hollered, 'woa, dad, woa ] but
mout as well said 'woa' to a locomotive
Gewhillicans how he run! When
cum to the bushes he cleared the top Q
gopher and all; praps he thought t
mout be another settlement of bald hor
& in tand that it wur safer to go over than t
"A and quicker done, every now and he'd
the sides of his head with fust one fol
Bo- then to'ther, then he'd gin himself an
handed slap, that sounded like a "
whip, a runnin all the time, an a Ike
that gopher jist about as fast an as
from the yeath as the gopher was cal
l swear. When he come to the fen
busted rite through it, tarrin down ri
to sevenpannels scatterin' and breakil
rales mitily, and here he left the 60
geers, siugletree, and klevis all mike
-, and not worth a darn. Most ov his
~ '0"' stuck on the end of a rale, and nigh
ear. a pint ov hornets staid with the q
stingiu' it all over, the balance OF
about a gallon and a half kept on wit
He seemed to run jist adzactly as
JUS. the hornets could fly, it wur the tite
l ever seed. Down thru the seds
!, they all went, the hornets making i
J sorter like smoke all roun' dads bale
and he with nothin' on yearth but t
M. 7 die, and nigh onto a yard of plough
sailin' behind.
81 seed that he was amin for the
ome' min hole in the creek, whar the
vs. over % feet perpendicular tn the w
- ...r hits nj onto ten feet deep. Well,
up his karacter as a boss, when he
nd. the bluff he jist leaped of, or rather
kept on %runnin.' Kerslunge into Il
he went I seed the water fly pluI
the bluff from whar I was. Now
boys he overdid the thing, if
y what he was arter, fur TIERS mar
ever foalded darned fool enough
over such a place, a cussed mule
done it, but dad warn't a acting l
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