Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1868-10-22
A Mac-a-Cheek Letter.


A Mac-a-Cheek Letter.
Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial
ABOUT HOGS.
Again l beg your readers not to
be alarmed. lam not going to write
polished letter, although the head
ing may indicate that much.
at was happy stroke of genius
in ADAM" said Jones, as soon as
he could recover breath, "when he
called that beast hog"
"Supposing," 1 responded, sitting
on stump, end tanning myself with
my hat, "that said Adam understood
the English language, and SO desig-
mated the miserable brute"
We had been chasing beast of a
sow for nearly two hours. She was
widows SOW, snd could not, there.
fore, be impounded. She seemed
fully aware of this, and, being half
starved. took liberties with the
neighbors' Enclosures. No gate can
arrest her trespassing, no fence turn.
She will insert her long nose under
a gate and hoist it off its hinges in a
twinkle, and she can climb like a
dog. She will scramble up one side
of a fence and then tumble over
the other, with grunt, indicative
of disgust at the shock and triumph
over the obstacle.
She is known to the whole country
side as the widows sow. She is. Of
the aboriginal wood specie, known
popularly as slab sides, or saw-back
tall, long-legged and thin; her
ears have been eaten close to her
head, and her tail has been burned
off by fire crackers, attached there
to by wrathful boys, made desperate
by whippings inflicted for letting
the beast get into the "garden sass"
She is, therefore, ron-clad, and Of
fers no hold for a dog. She rec.
ognizes this fact, and makes a fight
pluckily and to some purpose. So
long as she keeps her head to the
enemy she is safe. This Is not com
mon to hogs, but is shared by bulls
and armies, as l learned once from
the "late lamented' Mr.. Lincoln.
1 called on him in company with
the Hon. Reverdy johnson. We
found the elongated embodiment of
shrewd loyalty busy with a great
quantity of maps before him.
"We are trying, gentlemen, to get
Mcclellan from off the James," he
said, pointing to the maps, 'and do
you know that two armies, opposed to
each other, are just like two bulls
fighting? As long as they keep
their heads together there is no harm
done; but the moment one attempts
to turn, the other rips up his be-
hind"
l have somewhat amended the re-
mark, but it was in words 10 that ef-
feet; so grotesque and amusing, com
ing from the President of the United
States, that we laughed for weeks af.
ter. Indeed, I can't help laughing
now, although Booth, the actor, turn
ed our roaring farce into dread
full tragedy.
But to return to our bacon. AL
though Democratic politicians have
made the hog well known, it was once
the emblem of the party. 81 feel to
say" as my gifted friend, the Rt. Rev.
Maxwell, P. g., would express it,
that the hog is not well understood -
He is considered, for example, a
filthy beast; when, as the fact is, he
is the neatest creature, naturally, in
animated nature. Poor hoggy Is
troubled with feas, and has q way of
getting rid Of them, that gave rise to
the SANDER, respecting his proclivi-
ty of dirt. Heggy rolls in the mud.
The flea finds itself plastered up
Soon as the mud is dry hoggy rubs
off mud and flea together. "Viola,"
as the Chief Justice wrete on card,
wnen certain other hog got clear of
his fleas in a like manner.
Give your hog clean pen, with q
plenty of fresh water to wash in,
and he will put to shame the neat
est house-keeper, and be shining
example to Sam. Cary, and other
men-beasts who seek to wallow with
out the excuse Of feas.
Again, he is charged with being q
voracious feeder, and not nice IS to
his food. But, we must remember,
like Cardinal Woolsey, he is beast
"of unbounded stomach" and net
always a square meal to fill it with.
Consult hoggy's nature. and feed him
well, and you will find him as nice as
the most accomplished epicure that
frequents the St. Nicholas. Every
one, q naturalist, / mean, who has
eyes looking cut of his heart, SIS well
as brain, who has watched pig in
an orchard, realizes this. At FIRST
the animal gorges himself with fruit;
after a time he gets choicy, listens
for the newly dropped fruit, and has
his favorite tree.
The strangest fact connected with
my subject is his taste for snakes