Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-04-26
" Old Residenter."

any bITaln on your lunaBlndllOu, anu
yet he was by no means.a loafer, though
he did talk with drawl which indicated
that he didn't regard time as very val
liable commodity. He sat on the fence
as the train came up to Siegfried's 8
Bridge, with the three Easton fancy
gunners aboard, whom he was to pilot
across the country after quail. His gun
having the lock tied on with string,
reposed across his knees, and his dog,
looking like the ghost of starvation, re-
posed at his feet. The Easton men
came up to him.
"Do you know Abe Hertzog2"
Y-a-a-s, know him."
"Where can we find him?"
Right hyar, guess.
." Are you Mr.. Hertzog?"
Y-a-a-s that's what I'm taxed fir,
anyway"
soto UOce, " can this be the man that
Cap told us was personally acquainted
with every quail family in Allen Town
ship ?"
&" You fellers want to go arter some
quails, eh?"
"That's what we come for. Do you
know anything about them?"
"W-a-a-l, yaas; 1 can tell one when 1
see it."
"What kind of a gun have you got
there9"
W-a-a-l, ye see, mister, that guns
an old residenter; bin into our family
ever since the first old Hertzog moved
up hyar. That guns rife, mister, and
she shoots mighty quick. Handle her a
little careful, mister" he continued, as
he handed the old thing over for inspec-
ton; " she has way of tumbling apart
if she's used rough-like.
The old rifle had barrel about as
large as fence rail, with iron enough
in it for young Gatling-gun, and a
bore not larger than healthy rye straw,
while all the stock it had was absorbed
in brass trap-door leading into cellar
smelling of verdigris and filled with
grease and little pieces of rags.
How do you kill anything with this;
knock it DOWN."
W-a-a-l, yes sometimes. That's
the way I busted the stock thar whar the
rawhide bandage air, a-knockin' fellow
down what made fun of it.
At this point the investigator suddenly
lost interest in the gun, and the party
moved off into the country. AS they
climbed the fifteenth fence, the old man
paused on the top rail and waved his
hand indefinitely over the fields before
them.
"Gents, there's quails all about hyar
and over yander-yaas, and thar's one on
'em now," he added, as he drew up Old
Residenter and knocked it over where it
sat.
"What do you shoot a bird on the
ground? Why, old man, that's internal
potting."
"S'that so ?" inquired the old man,
humbly, as he picked up piece of his
gun-stock that had been Jared off by
the shot.
Just then a small covey of the birds
took wing, and the man who scorned
pot-hunting blazed away with both bar
rells of costly breach-loader and
missed.
"Whar whar do you shoot 'em,
mister ?" inquired the old man, quietly,
as he put his patch and bullet on the
muzzle of his rifle, which he held be-
tween his legs while he rammed the
charge home, and then as a stray bird
flew overhead, he raised and dropped it.
is that ar the way you want it done,
mister ?"
The obiector said nothing, and the
cunning proceeded; but it soon became
evident that the sportsmen were doing
the cunning and the old man was doing
the shooting. The lock tumbled off his
gun occasionally, and the barrel had q
loose habit of parting company with the
stock; but the old man had q pocket
full of strings, and as fast as it gave out
he tied it up, and made ready to shoot
whenever bird showed, and he occa.
sionally varied the monotony of the pro.
ceedings by coolly blazing into the
bushes, whereupon his mean-looking
dog would rush in and drag out dead
rabbit.
The Easton party hunted faithfully,
according to their lights, and shot upon
the most scientific principles: but, some.
how, the old man got the game, as the
count showed five quail and a pheasant
among the three for the days work
while Mr.. Hertzog toddled along un
der twenty-five quail and four rabbits
and, as they sat on the board-pile at the
depot bargaining for the old mans lot
lie remarked:
aye see, gents, Old Residenter be'ant
much of a gun to look at. She ain't
purity nor handsome at all, but 1 tel
you she's mighty on the shoot. All you's
got to do is jest to grease the patch right
we'll, and ram the ball down close, an6
then, if you pint her at bird and pull
that birds got to stop. Leastwise,
alters find it so. Ye see, gents, where 6
man has such awfully purity gun his
'tention's kinder taken up admirin' of it.
like, and the bird goes away after he
shoots. Leastwise I alters find it so.
Just then the lock dropped off "Old
Residenter " for the eleventh time, and
as the old man wasn't going to shoot any
more that day, he put it in his pocket
along with his game money, saying:
"Thank ye, gents, thankee. Come
up soon again, and I'll take Old Resi-
denter out any time; we'll be purity SURF
to get something" And he meander'
off into the Indian summer haze. .-EaS
ton (Pa.) Free Press.