Lincoln County advocate. (Canton, Dakota Territory, [S.D.]) 1876-1877, 1877-01-17
Peter stored the cellar with abundance

Peter stored the cellar with abundance
among other things, witha nice lot Of
superior beans in the soft pods, which
lay there till they got mouldy, and
were fit for nothing but swill.
l remember as if it were but yester.
day, the morning those beans were fed
to our pig. I was going out Of town to
be gone three days, on business of i'm
portance. I saw supply Of the
mouldy beans fed to the porker, and
then departed. To say that / did not
think of my pig while I was away,
would be to state an untruth. did
think of him. Though lost to sight he
was to memory dear.
I am seldom away from home, and
consequently I am missed when l am
away-and my welcome on returning
is wont to be of the most affectionate
description. But on this occasion,
greatly to my surprise, Susan was not
in the front hall to greet me. Iawaded
through the children into the back part
of the house, where Susan was. I fan
cied she looked at me with half
frightened air, but took her fondly
in my arms, and was about to impress
q .rapturous kiss on her lips when my
eye chahced to go out Of the window,
and I suspended the kiss midway of de.
livery. The door of the pig pen stood
wide open, and there was peculiar as
pect of desolation about it. -.
Where's our porker?" I asked,
postponing the kiss pro te,apore.
"Our porker," said Miss Dobb, grave
ly, lis in his grave"
"Good heavens ri cried, dead !'and
imm ediately went out 10 look at his de-
serted abode.
was quite calm by dinner-time, and
Informed Susan thatI was ready to hear
the particulars of the sad event.
"Well, James," she commenced, "you
know you directed those beans to be fed
him."
ooh, that's it I thought it would be
laid at my door in some manner, not
withstanding the little circumstances
that I was over two hundred miles
away. Well, proceed"
$50 the girl gave him beans for din.
ner, and beans for supper, and the next
morning she went out with some more
and then I heard her scream. I went
out, and there he was swelled up-oh
dreadfully-twice as large as life, dear
and lying on his side and kicking his
legs family. sNeighbor Jones looked
over the fence and asked what the mat
ter was"
with a bunch of Isabellas, doubt.
less."
"And when we told him, he came
over to see the pig, and said pooh he
wasn't dead; that he knew what was
the matter with tho pig; bloated stom.
ach; qe could cure him. Have you
any brandyn' said he. I told him We
had, and came into the house and go,
a BOTTLE"
"What that S. o. P. brandy" I ex
claimed.
ayes, dear, of course"
"Good gracious And you gave thai
fifteen dollar brandy to that miserable
two-dollar pig"
eyes, dear; but it did no good. Their
neighbor Jones bled him"
"The savage!"
"And that did no good either. ST.
at last we gave it up, and neighbol
Jones had his man bury it in the gar
den."
"No dear-in Mr.. Jones' garden"
A sudden idea crossed my mind.
"Well, upon my word !! P" I respor d
ed. " It seems we are not even to hav,
the benefit of the carcass as fertilizer
of the soil. This caps the climax"
"What do you mean, James ?"
,"Why, Susan, don't you know tina
dead animals enrich the soil wher,
they are buried, in decompoeing an(
supplying ammonia and phosphori,
acid and things that make the vegeta
bles grow big?"
James, how can you talk sucl
stuff?'
"Stuff Not a bit of it. Jones know
all about it. That's the way he fertil
ICES his garden. He's got a dead do,
and three dead cats buried at the foo
of his grape-vines-which accounts TO
the superiority of the Isabellas, m.
DEAR"
"Mr. Dodd. if you don't stop l sha]
leave the table," said Susan, in grea
disgust.
So I stopped like dutiful husband
But Susan hasn't eaten grape from
jones' garden since.
We have had the pig-pen cleaned u,
nicely for the children, and they use