Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1862-11-05
A South Carolina Hog Race.

A South Carolina Hog Race.
We had passed through a dense forest
of pines, but were emerging into a bot
tom country" where some of the finest
desiduous trees-then brown and ~leafiess,
but bearing promise Of the opening beau
ty of spring-reared, along with the I'M
fading evergreen, their tall stems in the
air. The live oak, sycamore, the Spanish
mulberry, the holly, and the persimmon
-gaily festooned with wreaths of the
white and yellow jessamine, the woodbine
and the cypress-moss, and bearing here
and there a bouquet of the mistletoe, with
its deep green and glossy leaves upturned
to the sun-hung their broad arms over
the road, forming an archway grander and
more beautiful tlan any the hand of man
ever wove for the greatest hero the world
has worshiped.
The woods were free from underbrush,
and a coarse, why grass, unfit for fodder
and scattered through them in detached
patches was the only vegetation visible
The ground was mainly covered with the
leaves and hurrs of the pine.
We passed great numbers of swine feed
ing on these burrs, and now and her a
horned animal browsing on the trees. |
observed that nearly all the swine were
marked, though they seemed too wild to
have ever seen an owner, or a habitation.
They were a long, lean, slab-sided race,
with legs and shoulders like deer, and
bearing no sort of resemblance to the Or
binary hog, except in the snout, and that
feature was so much longer and sharper
than nose of the ordinary swine, that l
doubt if Agassiz would class the two as
one species. However, they have their
uses-they make excellent bacon, and are
death on snakes" Ireland itself is not
more free from the serpentine race than
are the districts f~requented by these long
nosed ouadrupeds.
1--WE call them Carolina race-horses,"
said the Colonel, as he finished an &C
count of their peculiarities.
"Race-horsesl Why, are they feet Of
foot"
Fleet as deer. I'd match one against
an ordinary horse at any time"
Come, my friend, you're practicing on
my ignorance of natural history"
Not a bit of it. See there's a good
specimen yonder. If we can get him on
the road, and fairly started, III bet you d
dollar he'll beat Sandy's mare on a half
mile stretch-Sandy to hold the stakes
and have the winnings"
We'll, agreed" 1 said, laughing, "and
I'll give the pig ten rods the start"
NO" replied the Colonel, you can't
afford it. He'll have to start ahead, but
you'll need that in the count. Come, San
dy, will you go in for the pile ?"
Pm not sure that the native would not
have run a race with old Nicholas him
self, for the sake of so much money. To
him it was avast sum and as he thought
of it, his eyes struck small sparks and his
enormous beard and moustache vibrated
with something that family resembled a
laugh. Replying to the question, he
said:
Kinder reckon I wull. Cunnel how
somdever, keeps the stakes, ony how"
"Of course" said the planter but be
honest-win if you can"
Sandy halted his horse in the road,
while the planter and I took to the woods
on either side of the way. The Colonel
soon manmuvered to seperate the select
ed animal from the rest of the herd, and
without much difficulty got him into
the road, where, by closing down on each
flank, we kept him till he and Sandy were
under way.
started"-said the Colonel, laughing
aAo hC II oAOh NOn SUITS u the latest
running you eve saw in your life
Away the wen At first the pig, SEEM
ing not exactly to comprehend the pro-
gramme, cantered of at a leisurely pace,
though he held his own. Soon, however.
he cast an eye behind inundated a mo-
ment TO collect his thoughts and ~reconnoi-
tre-ahd then, lowering his head and ell
eVating his tail, put forth all his SPEED
And such speed! Talk of a deer, the
wind, or a steam-engine-they are not to
be compared with it. Nothing in nature
/ ever saw un-except, it may be a South
ern tornado or a Sixth Ward politician
could hope to distance that pig. He GAIN
&c on the horse at every step, and il was
soon evident that my dollar was gonei
I'm for shilling, in for a pound, " is the
adage, so, turning to the Colonel, / said,
as intelligibly as my horses rapid pace and
my excited risibilities would allow:
u see I've lost, but III go you another
dollar that you can't beat the pig"
"No-sir," the Colonel got out in the
breaks of his laughing explosions, ''yOuf
hedge On me in that manner. I'll
for a dollar that you can't do it, and
your mare is the fastest on the road. She
won me a thousand not a month ago"
well, I'll do it-Sandy 10 have the
Agreed" said the Colonel. and awav
We went.
The swinish racer was about "A hundred ,
yards ahead when | gave the mare the
reins, and told her to 60. And she did
60. She flew against the wind with a mo-
ton so rapid that my face, as If Glove tbs
air, felt as if cutting lis way through a sol ]
i'll body, and the trees. as We passed, SEEM
ed struck with panic, and running for
dear life in the opposite direction.
For a few moments | thought the mare
was gaining, and | turned to the Colonel
with an exultant look.
Don't shout till YOU win. my boy" he
called out from the distance where ! was
fast leaving him and Sandy.
L did not shout. fer in spite of all my eff
forts the space between me and the pig
seemed to widen. Yet I kept on, deterl
mined to win, till. at the end of a short
half mile we reached the Waccamaw4 !
the swine still a hundred yards ahead -
There his pigship halted, turned coolly
around. then with a quiet, deliberate trot
turned off into the woods. n
IA