The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-12-10

for His Infinite mercy-and comm
on so smart that with the blessing @
Providence she'd get well yet an
Smiley, before he thought, says
swell, I'll resk two and-a-half tha
h, she don't, anyway
ThIs-yer Smiley had mare--th
boys called her the fifteen minut
nag, but that was only in fun, yo
know, because, of course, she wa
faster than that-and he used to VIII
money On that horse, for all she wa
so slow and always had the asthma
or the distemper, or the consumption
or something of that kind. They
used to give her two or three hun
dred yards start, and then pass hel
under way; but always at the fag
end of the race she'd get excited anC
desperate like, and come cavortina
and spraddling up, and scattering
her legs around Timber, sometimes in
the air, and sometimes out to one
side amongst the fences, aud kicking
up m Ore dust, and raising IN Or c
racket with her coughing and sneez
ing and blowing her nose-and
always fetching up at the stand just
about neck ahead, as near as you
could cipher it dom.
And he had little small bull pup,
that to look al him you'd think he
warn't worth cent, hut to set round
md look ornery, and lay for a chance
to steal something. But as soon as
money was up on him he was a dif
ferent dog-his under jaw'd begin
to stick out like The forecastle of g
steamboat, and his teeth would un
cover, and shine savage like the fur
naces. And a dog might tackle him,
and Dully-rag him, and bite him, and
throw him over his shoulder two or
three times, and Andrew Jackson
which was the name OF the pup
Andrew Jackson would never let ON
but what he was satisfied, and hadn't
expected nothing else--snd the bets
being doubled OIL the other side all
the time, till the money was all up
and then all of su tden he would
grab that other dog just by the joint
of his hind legs and freeze to it-not
chaw, you understand, but only just
grip and hang on till they throwed
up the sponge, if it was year
Smiley always came out winner on
that pup till he harnessed dog once
that didn't have no hind legs, because
they'd been sawed Off in circular
saw, and when the thing had gone
along far enough, and the money was
All up, and he came to make snatch
for his pet holt, he saw in n minute
how he'd been imposed or, and how
the other dog had him in the door,
so TO speak, and he 'peared surprised,
and then he looked sorter discOur-
aged like, and didn't try no more to
win the fight, and so he got shucked
out bad. He gave Smiley look as
much as to say ms heart was broke,
afsd IL Wa 40 r.-..It Ior t-.-s-- -
dog that hadn't no hind legs for him
to take holt of, which was his main
in fight, and then he
limped off a piece, and laid down
and died. 1t was good pup, was
that Andrew jackson, and would
have made name for hisself if he'd
lived, for the stuff was in him, and
he had genius-I know 1t, because
he hadn't had no opportunities to
speak of, and it don't stand to reason
that dog could make such fight
as he he could under such clrcum-
stances, if he hadn't no talent. 1t
always makes me feel sorry when i
think of that last fight of his'on, and
the way it turned out.
Well, this-yer Smiley had rat-ter
riers, and chicken cocks, and tom
cats, and all them kind of things, till
you couldn't rest, and you couldn't
fetch nothing for him to bet on but
he'd match you. He keiched frog
one day and took him home and said
he cal'lated to educate him /; and so
he never done nothing for three
months but sit in his back yard and
leard that frog to jump. And you
bet you he did learn him, too. He'd
give him little hunch behind, and
the next minute you'd see that frog
whirling in the air like a doughnut-
see him turn one summerset, Ur may
be couple, if he GOT a good start,
aad come down fiat. footed and all
right, like q cat. He got him up so
in the matter OF ketching flies, and
kept him in practice so constant, that
he'd nail fly every time as Jar as
he could see him. Smiley said all a
frog wanted was education, and he
could do most anything-and / be-
lieve him. Why, I've seen him set
Dan'l Webster down here on the
floOr-Dan'l Webster was the name
of the frog-and sing out, "Flies I!
Dan'l, flies" and quicker'n you
could wink, he'd spring straight up,
and snake a fly ofi'n the counter
there, and flop down on the floor
again as solid as COB of mud, and
fall to scratching the side of his
head with his hind foot as indiffer
ent 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
straightfor' ard as he was, for all he
was so gifted. And when it come
to fair-and-square jumping on 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 a red. Smiley
was monstrous proud of his frog,
and well might he 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 bet. One day feller-a
stranger in the camp, he was-come
come across him with his box, and
says:
"What might it be that you've got
in the box
And Smiley says, sOrter Indifferent
like, at might be parrot, or it
might be a canary, maybe, but it
ain't-it's only just frog"
And the feller took it, and looked
at it careful. and turned it round
this way and that, and says, "H'm-
so 'tis. Well, what's he good for ?"
"Wel.,' Smiley SAYS, easy and