The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-03-28

t peal, upon she strength 6f the practical
results Of the peace policy, to have il
continued permanently. 2 eAk 81
Idr .(}3IfET'- -. ~ s..-------- = 5sa{
s 9e"0ld Residester."
You couldn't call him a sportsman
| by any strain. on your imagination, and
Let hesWash hy noneans y loafer, though
Ihe did talk with a adrxwl which indi-
rcated thathesdidn't regard time as a
very valuable commodity. He sat on
the fence as the train came up to Sieg-
fried's 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 a
string, reposed across his knees, and
his dog, looking like the ghost Of star
walton. repeeed at his feet 4he Kastdn
men came up to him.
.is !. Do you know Abe Hertzogp'
"Y-a-a-s, l know him.
Where can we find him?''
"R-i-g- hit hyar, l guess"
!" Are you Mr.. Hertzogp''
"Y-a-a-s !! that's what I'm taxed for,
anyway" 49,
I "Jimminyr' said enc of the party,
soto voce, "can this be the man that
Cap told us was personally acquainted
with every quail family in Allen Town
shipp"
.'You fellers want to go arter some
quails, ehp' a : -.
"That's what we come for. Do you
know anything about them?''
"W-a-a-l, yaasi ! can tell one when
I see it." ua f
"What kind of gun have you got
there?'' Dl
"W-a-a-l, We see, mister, that guns
an old residenter; bin into our family
ever since the first old Hertzog moved
up hyar. That guns rifle, mister,
and she shoots mighty quick. Handle
her little careful, mister" he contin-
ued, as he handed the old thing over
for inspection; "she has a way of tum-
bling apart if she's used rough-like."
The old rifle had barrel about as
long as fence-rail, with iron enough
in it for a young Gatling-gun, and a
bore not larger than a 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 l busted the stock thar whar
the rawhide bandage air, a-knockin'
fellow down what made fun of it."
At this point the investigator sud-
denly 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.
Scents, 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 bird on the
groundpc Why, old man, that's infer
nal potting." s
g S,that soa',, iarquirvd the old lnan,
humbly, as he picked up a 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
rels Of costly lbreach-loadcr and
missed. sasa ~ = I'D t
"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 stray bird
flew overhead he raised and dropped it.
"Is that ar the way you want it done,
misterPn ~. ,ee5s.s. j.,5s,...5-
The objector said nothing. and the
gunnings proceeded; but it soon be-
came 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 loose habit of parting
company with the stock; but the old
man had 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 occasionally varied the
monotony of the proceedings 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 shotupon
the most scientific principles; but,
somehow, 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
under twenty-five quail and four rab-
bits; and, as they sat on the board-pile
at the depot bargaining for the old mans
lot, he remarked: tfe
"Ye see, gents, Old Residenter be- ant
much of a gun to look at. She amt
purity nor handsome at all, but 1 tell
you she's mighty on the shoot. ,.All
you's got to do is jest to grease the
patch right well, and ram the ball
down close, and then, if you pint her
at bird and pull, that birds got to
stop. Leastwise, l aIers find itso.
Ye see, gents, where man has sich an
awfully purity gun his 'tention's kinder
taken up admirin' of it like, an the
bird goes away after he shoots. Least
wise, alters find it so." E
just then the lock dropped off "Old
Residentern 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, say
ing:
"Thank ye, gents. thankee. Come
up soon again, an I'll take Old Resi-
denter out any time; we'll be purity
sure to get something" And he mean
ders off into the Indian summer haze ~
Eastos PA. Free Press.