, 1872-12-26

| still no W0fd from the absent M1Bc0n8ln boy
| and no present from the South which expecta-
ton, by the way, never fingered in Richards
generous heart at all. because it never entered
! there.
| One September evening, just as Cicada was
beginning to sing big yespor hymn among
| the leafy boughs Of Wabash avenue, the guests
and louIgers on the Lake street front Of the
| hotel where this veracious narrative is laid,
| were discussing their cigars and the situation
at the front, and whether II the pending
the rid flag get setback, there came q noise
frot the quiet shadows between the tall blocks
of4oWer Lake street. It brought every man to
hs feet. It sounded like horse laugh done by
:attle couple Of Thousand times magnided
like q steam-driVen buzz-saW at work at q rail-
road axle. " Observation-Disclosures
hau."
Out of the gloom Of the deepening crepuacule
word twilight again in elegant writing) emerged
an awe-struck railway menial, holding on, with
grim despair, to couple OF rods Of tether, at
the remoter end Of which followed q diminutive
thin deck frame like the twin s1noke-stacks Of a
Hudson River tug-boat. "He-a1-he-oh-" (our
trusty pencil breaks).
Richard, unmindful OF fate bearing down upon
him. gazed with the rest, as the tall ears came to
q halt before the hotel-entrance, and the dimin-
utiye carcass below fairly ewayed with their
motion.
"1s Mr.. Winters here2 Il he is. I've got
jackass for him.
fair human imitation Of his notes,-su is the
power Of numbers and the donkey stood teth-
cred to q hitching~ring while eighteen dollars
frelght-charges we're discussed and dispoaed Of.
There YVES no mistake in the bill Of lading. This
was the soldier boys consignment OF the exact
pledge he made in parting. Aainus had come to
discharge the hote1-bill.
And now the narrative must assume con-
denaed style. enforced by the necessities Of the
case. Why harrow up the minds Of unsuspect-
ing readers, ignorant Of the extent Of the calam-
ity iackass OF country-breeding naturally
becomes IN q many-peopled neighborhood, by
the infiction we repress. Stabbed the first light
on State street, at the corner Of Adams, that
jackass' voice harassed Richards ears at the
hotel, fire blocks away, like guilty conscience,
while the stablemen fairly grew giddy With
wrath, and shed curses which had Asinus been
clothed with them as with garment, he would
have been utterly unconscious Of the thwacks that
gave lively trade In now pitchforks next morn
ing to the hardware dealer over the way. Then
the jackass was taken to barn near the Homo
OF the Friendless, where his night-song stirred
his and their notes rose heavenward and
spread into the air, and showered down
upon the hap1eeH city a geyser OF walls, and
groans, and shrieka, and he-hawH, until it seemed
broken loose. Three more stables were tried,
and more and more homesick grew the Southern
pet translated to our Northern cline. He seem-
ed to gain power by practice, and actually shook
on his hoofs m with the increasing power Of his
notes, until a new and forcible beauty grew to
the figure about 8 homesick party making an ass
Of himself. Finally, when Asinus disturbed
Common Council meeting held to late hour
and fairly desfenedi into adjournment by this don-
key ahelteredfor that night only as special favor
in Charley Stokes stable, On an alley adjoining
the Court House Square, the first time tho
voice OF an unstayed aBs has disturbed the AL
dermen in sesRion,-it became city matter, and
got no.t to be borne longer. So Richard took his
private summer residence above the Catholic
Cemetery: The night that followed will never
be forgotten in that peaceful and sequestered
bourne. Richards man sWore the next morn
ing that the shingles we're starting on the barn
roof, that the npening fruit vas shaken from
the orchard trees, that he feared to
look over the cemetery fence lest he should
see observation-disclosures and opening graves.
Saturday, since beside resisting forcib1y the
barn shovel, even to the breaking Of the handle,
the absurd donkey had kicked him in the stom-
ach. For two weeks more the donkey changed
his country quarters. He Was sold twice, to
come back in three DAYS with freight charges
He was taken to DuPage County, to Boone, to
Woodford, and came back like many travelled
ass before him. simply an ass as before. Then
q Venturesome farmer il Fond du Lac County,
who read an advertisement "a SOUND iackass
for SALE" unconscious how much WAS hidden |
N the qualnylng phase, sent for tho
The Northwestern Freight, Wisconsin Division, |
never left the city in better trim. For few |
miles Asinus was quiet. He was little hoarse |
from extra Voca1ization in frantic North Side |
tesmster's barn the night previous. All went
smoothly until crossing . heavy enbankment
near the Fox River junction, the Nemesis that !
neverfails, after ALL to ogertako jackasses as we'll
as men,-came post and overlook him. He raised |
himself, and bent his ears double against the !
top Of the car, and then, cabined, cribbed, con-
fined as he was, he lifted his asinino soul into
his last bray: It vas one too much The
left the track, rolled over down the bank, and,
when they came to free the wreck, Asinr1s was
dead. Yet his last bray, it is averred BY SUPER
stitious brakemen, still haunts the hills Of
Crystal Lake as an echo, heard after dark when
the rumbling wheels wake up the din Of the |
deep cuts, and the donkey'a lament together.
The news came back to Chicago, and having
verified it BY seeing fragment . few. feet long
Of his lost donkey's ear, g Richard was himself
again" Since then he has been kind to many
boys in blue, and they have gone away g1addened
by bis hearty welcome, but he never again sug-
gested donkey as legal-tender for hotel bill
And when, remembering the name OF the brave |
Walworth County boy, whose only fault was
falthfulness to rash promise, he saw his name
among the killed in small skirmish in Alabama,
who but he paid tribute to the soldiers mem-
ory by sending $50 to the soldiers mother in
Wisconsin, So ends our narrative OF generos-
ty, and bravery, and fidelity, and it is not the
drst time 3 jackass has come in and marred
both.
An Old Lawsuit.
Washington Correspondence Of the Cincinnati Tines
Your felloW-cltzen, Judge William Johnston !