Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-01-06

andrew ckSOQ-Wulc was the name OF
the pup-Andrew jackson would never
let on but that he was satisfied, and hadn't
expected nothing elseAand the bets being
doubled and doubled on the other side all
the time, till the money wes all up-and
then all Of a sudden he would grab that
other dog just by the joint of his hind leg
and freeze to it-not chaw, you under
stand, but only just grip and hang on till
they throwed up the sponge, if it was a
year. Smiley always came out winner on
i. that pup till he hsrnessed a dog once that
/ didn't have no hind legs, because
they had been sawed off in a cir
eular saw, and when the thing had gone
along far enough, and the money was all
up, and he came to make q snatch for his
pet holt he saw in q minute how he'd been
imposed on, and how the other dog had
him in the door, so to speak, and he APP
peared surprised, and then he looked sort
a Of discouraged like, and didn't try no
more to win the fght,aDd SO he got shucked
out bad. He gave Smiley a look as much
as to ssy his heart was broke, and it was
his fault, for putting up a dog that hadn't
no hind legs for him so take holt OF, which
was his main dependence in a fight, and
then he limped off q piece, and laid down
and died. 1t was a good pup, was that
Andrew jackson, and would have made a
name for himself if he'd lived, for the stuff
was in him, and he had geniusI know it,
because he hadn't had no opportunities to
speak of, and it don't stand to reason that
a dog could make such a fight as he could
under them circumstances, if he hadn't no
talent. 1t always makes me feel sorry
when I think Of that last fight of his'n,
and the way it turned out.
Well, thish-yer Smiley had rat terriers
and chicken cocks, and tom cats, and all
them kind ofthings, till you could MT rest,
and you could MT fetch nothing for him to
bet on but he'd match you. He cotched a
frog one day and took him home and said
he callated to educate him; and so he never
done nothing forthree months but sit in his
back yard and learn that frog to jump. And
you betyou he did learn him, too. He'd
give him q little bunch behind, and the next
minute you'd see that frog whirling in the
air like 3 doughnut-see him turn one
summerset,an and maybe a couple, if he got a
good start, and come down fat-footed and
all right like g cat. He got him up so in
the matter of ketching flies, and kept him
in practice so constant, that he'd nail a fly |
every time as far as he could see him.
Smiley said all a>frog wanted was educa-
ton, and he could do most anything, and
I believe him. Why, I've seen him set
Daniel Webster down here on the floor
Dan1 Webster was the name Of the frog
and sing out @Fliesl Danl, fies,' and
quicker'n you could wink, he'd spring
straight up, and snake a fly off n the coun-
ter there, and flop down on the floor again
as solid as a COB of mud, and fall to
scratching the side of his head with his
hind foot as Indifferent as if he hadn't no
idea he'd done any more'n any frog might
do. You never see a frog SO modest and
straightforward as he was, for all he was so
gifted. And when it come to fair-and-
square jumping on a dead level, he could
get over more ground at one straddle than
any animal of his breed you ever see.
Jumping on a dead level was his strong
suit, you understand, and when it come to
that, Smiley would ante up money to him
as long as he had AIRED. Smiley was mon
strous proud of his frog, and well he might
be, for fellers that had travelled and been
everywheres all said he laid over any frog
that ever they see.
Well, Smiley kept the beast in a little
lattice box, and he used to fetch it down
town sometimes and lay for a bet. One
day 9 feller-a stranger in the camp, he
was-come across him with his box, and
says |.
%What might it be that you've got in
the box 2"
And Smiley says, sorter Indifferent like,
alt might be a parrot or it might be a
canary, maybe, but it ain't-its only just
a frog"
And the Teller took it, and looked at it
careful, and turned it round this way and
AhoA I'D -o-1 q NJ, ~ mn
what's he good for 2" :
"Wel, Smiley says, easy and careless;
"He's good enough for one thing l should
judge@he can outiump any frog in GALAXY
erss county"
The Teller took the box again, and took !
another long, particular look, and gives it
back to Smiley, and says very deliberate, /
@Well, 1 don't see no points about that
frog that's any better'n any other frog"
"Maybe you DON'T" Smiley says 4
MAYBE you understand frogs, and maybe !.
you don't understand EN- maybe you've .
had experience, and maybe you amt only 6
a smeteur, as it were. Anyways I've got g
my opinion, and I'll Iesk forty dollars that c
he can out jump any frog in C~alaveras e
county" =
And the Teller studied a minute, and !
then says, kinder sad like, "Well-Tm :
only a stranger here, and 1 amt got no b,
frog-but if 1 had a frog I'd bet you" I
And then Smiley says That's all right t
that's all right-if you'll hold my box a /
minute I'll go and get you a frog " and /
SO the Teller took the box, and put up his '
forty dollars along with Smiley's and set $
down to wait.
So he set there a good while thinking
and thinking to hisself, and then he got '
the frog out and pried his mouth open, s
and took a teaspoon and filed him full of i
quailshot-flled him pretty near up to f
his chin-and set him on the floor. Smiley $
he went out to the swamp and stopped .
around in the mud for a long time, and >
finally he ketched a frog and fetched him .
in and give him to the Teller, and says:
"Now, if you're ready, set him along
side Of Dan'l with his fore-paws just ever {
with Dsn'Ps, and I'll give the word. Then I
he says, Fone-two-three-jumpr" and {
him and the Teller touched up the frogs
from behind, and the new frog hoped off
lively, but Danl give q heave and histed
up his shoulders-so-like a Frenchman, :
but it wasn't no use-he couldn't bulge;
he was planted as solid as an anvil, and he
couldn't no more stir than if he was an
chored out. Smiley was a good deal sur
Prised and he was disguised too, but he
didn't have no idea what the matter was,
Of course.
The Teller took the money and started
sway, and when he was going out at the
door he sorter jerked his thumb over his
shoulder-this way-at Dan'l and says
again, very deliberate, "Well-I don't
see no points about that frog that's any
bettern any other frog"
Smiley he stood scratching his head and
looking down at Daniel a long time, and
at last he says: al do wonder what in the
n~atiAA4hasf frog thzauAd0R for-Iw wonder
if there amt something the matter with
him he pears to look nightly baggy
somehow n-and he ketched Dan1 by the
nap of the neck, and lifted him up and
says, "Why, blame my cat if he don't
weigh five pounds" and turned him upside
down and he belched out about a double
handful of shot and then he see how It
was, andhe was the msddest mamie set
the frog down and took out after that fel-
Ter, but he never ketched him. And
] There Simon Wheeler heard his name
called from the front yard, and got up to
90 and see what Yves wanted And turn
ing to me as ne moved away, he said
"Just sit where you are, stranger, and rest