Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-04-14

| But, 01tef all I'm not TO Dl3Ines
He took the kiss; l do think men
Are quite without the sense Of ehame-
Iwonder when he II come again?
| It Is good to be merry and wise;
iS good to be honest and true;
And before you are oG with the old love,
II is best to be on with the new.
3 7"
THE BOARD FENCE.
"Shool ahool get home. you plaguy crit
ters !" cried Mr.. Babcock, waving his arms
as he chased dozen sheep and lambs thro'
o gap in the fence.
1t was q wooden fence, and when be had
succeeded in driving the animals the other
side Of 1t, he lifted It from it's reclining po.
sition aud propped it up with stakes.
This was an operation he had found him.
self obliged to repeat many times In the
course Of the season, and not only Of that
season, but Of several previous seasons.
Yet Mr. Babcock was neither slack nor
shiftless in fact, he rather prided himself
ON the ordinary appearance OF his farm, and
not without reason. How then shall We
account for his negligence 10 this particular
instancei.
The truth was that this fencs formed the
boundary line between his estate and that Of
Mr.. Small aud three generations Of men
who owned these estates had been unable 70
decide to whom it belonged to rebuild and
keep IL in repair. II the owners had
chanced TO be mon Of peaceful dispositions,
they would have compromised the matter
and avoided quarrel; but il, on the con-
trary, they belonged to that much larger
class who would sooner sacrifice their own
comfort and convenience than their own 90
called rights, this fence had been source Of
unending pickering and strife. 81
And of this class were the present own
err. Again and again had they consulted
their respective lawyers on the subject and
dragged from their hiding places musty old
deeds and records, but always with the
same result. asa
II say it belongs 10 you 10 keep II in re-
pair that's = plain ~ = pikestaff." Nj.
Babcock would ssy.
"And say II belongs 10 you-apy fool
might go that" Mr.. Small would reply, and
then high words would follow, and they
would part in anger, more determined and
obstinate than ever. The lawyers fees and
the loss by damages from each others cattle
had already amounted TO sum sufficient to
have built fence around their entire e.
tates, but what was that compared to the
satisfaction Of having their own way2
There werc not wanting peacemakers in
their neighborhood who would gladly have
settled the affair by arbitration, but to this
neither Of the belligerents would listen for
. moment.
AZ last, one day, Miss Letitia Gill, 20.
man much respected In the village, and of
some weight - landowner and tax-psyes,
sent TO Mr.. Bobcock 10 come and see her on
business, q summons which he had made
haste to obey, a. how could 1t b otherwise
when . lady was concernedi
Miss Letltls sat at her window sewing \
seam, but she drvpped her work and took
| off her spectacles when Mr.. Babcock made
his appearance.
$50 you got my message; thank you for
coming, I'm sure. Sit down. do. Isup-
| pose my man Isaac told you that ! wanted
70 consult you on matter Of business
matter OF equity, may say. It can't be
t:-r- -ssea .'s. - women ahnnld ba the beat
judges about such thinga, you know.
There's Isaac, to he sure, but then he lives
on the place, and may be he wouldn't be ex-
actly impartial in his Judgment about our
affairs
| sJes' So" said Mr.. Babcock.
| "Well, the state of the case Is this: When
Isaac came up from the long meadow to din
ner-shey're moving the meadow to-day,
and IN uncommonly good yield there is-
when he came up to dinner, he found that
stray cows had broken into The vegetable
garden"
\ .sMe did. hey ~
"1on can fancy the RIOT tScs rasde I IA,
clare, Isaac was almost ready to use profans
language. I'm not sure that be didn't say
deuce and I'm certain he did say darn
and, after all, didn't feel like reproachine
him very severely, for the pains he has
taken with that garden Is something amaz-
ing; working 10 IL, Mr.. Babcock, early and
late, wedding, and digging, and watching,
and now to see 1t all torn and trampled 40
that you would not know which was beets
and which was cucumbers. It's enough "a
raise anybody's temper"
at is 20" said Mr.. Babcock.
"And that isn't all, for by the looks oi
things they must have been rampaging in
the orchard and clover field before they got
into tho garden. Just you come and see, y
aud putting on her sunbonnet Miss Letitia
showed Mr.. Babcock over the damaged
precincts.
"You don't happen to know whose ami.
mcls did the mischief ~ asked Mr.. Babcock
"Well, ] didn't observe them in particula,
myself, but Isaac said there WAS one with q
peculiar white mark, something like cross
upon its haunch." 49,
| "why, that's Small's old brindle," cried
Mr.. Babcock. II know that mark ss vel
a. know the nose on my face. She hai
balls on her horns, didn't she2'
"Yes, 60 Isaac said"
Il "And kind of . hump on her back ~
il "A perfect dromedary," ]" said Miss Letitia
II noticed that much myself"
"They were Small's cows, no doubt Of ]
at ALL" said M. Babcock. ssNo sheep viii
'em, heyi'
sWeil, now think Of It, thess acer
sheep-they ran away ~ soon - they sav
Isaac. Yes. certainly there were sheep,
said Miss Letitla.
Il know it-they always 60 with th
cows. And what Of me-"
IL "Its to fix the damages, said Miss Letitia
, Gas said before, women folks arc NO judge
about such matters"
II Mr.. Babcock meditated . moment An
, then said:
. "Well, wouldn't take cent less tha
SIS, If were you-not cent"
"Seventy-iye dollars! Isn't that goo
n deal, Nj. Babcock7 You know don
wish to bs hard on the poor man; all
want 10 affair compensation for the mischit
; DONE"
"Seventy. five dollars IL fair, msam. I
. fact, / might say is low would not has
! . herd Of cattle and sheep tramping throug
, my premises In that way for . hundred"
t'Ihere's one thing forgot to stats, Il
: orchard gate was left open or they oouidn
have got in; that may mako di6agsuce
0 "Not bit-not q bit. You'd right
: have your gate open, but Small's cows hi
no right to run loose. hope Isaac dro'
: them to the pound, didn't he7'
81 II heard him say be shut 'em up som
4 where, and didn't mean to let ,'sm out u
Q the owner calls for 'em. Bot, Mr.. Babcocl
( what II he should refuse to pay the damage
% should hate to 60 70 law about It."
It "He wont refuse; If be does. keep q
It critters till he will pay. Al to law gue
= he's had about enough Of that"