The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-11-05

| against II. There was, moreover, al
atmosphere exhaling from the presence
! of the irate man at once repellent and
aggravaTing.
| John Welton. You have shot my
dog" The words were hissed forth hot
ly.
Yes" said iFs.lton, Jelly.
"How dared you do itl"
Il dare shoot any dog that comes
prowling around my buildings, especial
ly when have had my sheep killed by
them
''But my dog never troubled your
sheep, and you knew it"
Chow should l know it,,
''You know that he never did harm to
a sheep 1t wasn't in his nature. 1t
was mean, cowardly act, and IAN OATH
you shall suffer for it,
''Brackett, you don't know to whom
you are talking"
"OhO!" (another OATH "We'll find
out, Well see, Don't put on airs.
John WeIton. You amt saint. I'll
have satisfaction, if have to take it
out of your hide"
Peter, you'd better go home and
cool off You are making yourself ride
ulous."
Now, really, this was the unkindest
cut of all. Not all the mad words of
Bracket put together were so hard as
this single sentence; and John Welton
put all the bitter sarcasm of the COM
mand into it.
Brackett burst forth into a torrent of
invective, and then turned away.
Half an hour later John Welton ac-
kEowledged to himself that he had not
done exactly right. Had he, in the out
set-in answer to Brackets first out
burst-tOld him the simple truth-that
he had shot the dog by mistake; that lie
was sorry; and that he was willing to do
anything in his power to make amends
had lie done this, his neighbor would
probably have softened at once. BUTT
was too late now. The blow had been
struck; he had been grossly insulted,
and he would not back down.
Mr.. Brackett was not so reflective.
He only fel5 his wrath, which he nursed
to keep warm. That evening he hitched
his horse to a iOb-wagon and went down
to the village after IL barrel of flour.
Having transacted his store business, he
called upon Laban Pepper. lawyer, to
whom he narrated the facts of the shoot
ing of his dog.
Pepper was Il man anxious for fees.
He had no sympathy or soul above that.
"You say your dog was in company
with two of your ehildreni'
Yes"
"And this passage over Mr.. Welton's
land, and through his shed, has been
freely yielded by him as II right of way
to his neighbors."
eyes, sir, ever since | can remember
''Then, my dear sir, Welton is clearly
liable If you will come with me, we
will step into Mr.. Garfeld's aud have a
suit commenced at once"
Mr. Garfield was the trial Justice.
All this happened on Friday evening.
On Saturday it had become noised
abroad in the farming district that there
was not only serious trouble between
neighbors Welton and Brackett, but
that they we're going to law about it.
On Sunday morning John Welton told
his wife he should not attend church.
She could go if she liked. She had no
need to ask her husband why he should
not CO. She knew he was unhappy,
and that lie could not bear to meet his
old neighbor in the house of God while
the dark cloud was upon him. Nor did
she wish to meet either Mr.. or Mrs.
Bracket. So they both stayed at home.
Peter Blackett was even more misera-
BILE than John Welton, though perhaps
lie did not know it. He held in close
companionship the very worst demon
man can embrace-the demon of wrath
full vengeance; ard in order to maintain
himself at the strain to which lie had set
his feelings he was obliged to nurse the
monster. He did not attend church on
that day, nor did his wife. Two or three
times during that calm, beautiful Sab
bath, as he glanced ever toward his
neighbor's dwelling, he found himself
beginning to wish that he had not gone
to soc John WeIton i'll such heat of an
ger; but he pu' the wish away and nursed
back his wrath.
On Monday, towards noon, the Con
stable came up from the village, and read
to John Walton an imposing legal docu-
nent. 1t wasa summons issued by Viii
liam Garfield, Esq, Justice of the
Peace and QuoruII, ordering the said
John Welton to appear before him, at
two o'clock, OH Wednesday, at his office,
then and there to answer to the com
pIaint of Peter Brackett, etc, etc. The
officer read the summons, and left with
the defendant Il copy.
1t was the lirs, ine that Johu Welton
had ever been called upon to face the
Jaw. At first he was awe stricken, and
then he was wro:iI. lie told himself that
he would fA.ht it to the bitter end. And
now he tried TO nurse his wrath, and be
come more unhappy than before
On Tuesday evening Parson Surely
call5d upon Mr.. Welton. The good man
had heard of the trouble, and was ex-
ceediDgIy exercised in spirit. Both the
men we're of his flock, and he loved and
respected them both. He sat down alone
with Welton, and asked him what it
meant.
Tell me calmly and capdidiy all about
it, he said
! After little reflection, Mr.. WeitOn
| told the story. He knew the old clergy
man was a true man, and a whOle-heart
ed friend, and he told everything just as
| he understood it.
''And neighbor Bracket thinks, even
now, that you shot the dog knowing it
was hisl7
u suppose 81"
s'If you had told him the exact facts
in the beginning, do you think he would
have held his angeri"
This was hard question for John
Welton to answer, but he answered it