The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-03-07
Grandfather Lickshingle's Stories,

tOu Slty uerr1ck.l
One evening when the family were
seated about the fire, grandfather called
the children together and said:
Ny little chicks, this cold, crisp,
hog-killing weather reminds me of some
thing which I feel I should not carry
down to the grave with me. 1t is a
story OF large pork. I am reminded of
it more forcibly by your father sitting
there IN the corner reading the paper.
Before going out this morning to kill his
hogs he told me he had some Q of the
largest pork ever butchered in this
country. One of his hogs, he saws
would kick the beam at eight hundred
and eighty pounds. Compared with
some have fattened, it is mere shoat.
| was considered the greatest heg raiser
In my time. l raised your father.
Therefore think it is not meet that he
should tell me anything about the busi-
ness. For the information of a certain
person will tell you of two hogs l fat
tened in the fall of seventeen hundred
andsomething. Perhaps it will take some
conceit out of acertain person, although
l suspect he could lose a great deal and
never miss it. The hogs were of
Durham breed. paid $40 in gold for
ShSAAA "hOh ohOy WCiC WCCh O1u. leu
them in my own way, and when they
were year old they were as large as
horses. These enormous hogs partook
very much of the nature of horses, and
acted all the time as if they wanted. to
be hitched up to the wagon and allowed
to work. They wouldn't associate with
ordinary hogs, they were so large, and
your father, who was then small boy,
could not get near them. 1 had to at
tend to them myself. / was not long in
| finding out that they were heavy draft
hogs and would probably be valuable on
| the farm. One day I put the harness
| on them, they seemed to crave it so
| much, and was not little astonished to
see them march out to the empty wagon
and take places on each side of the
tongue. l hooked them up and started
off. They were little frisky at the start,
and the off hog kicked over the traces a
few times, but as soon as they got warmed
up they cooled down, so to speak. Then
they went along like an old team. Pull ?
| Why, children, those hogs could draw a
heavier load than any team of horses in
the country. used to take them to
loggings, and they would drag the stuff
ing out of any two horses or mules on
the grounds. Trot? You ought to have
seen them trot. The nigh hog was a
trihe stiff in the shoulder from bad
cold. but they could make their mile to a
heavy farm wagon in three minutes.
The off hog was the flyer, though. Q,
hook him up in single harness, and there
him with a forty-foot pole. He could
| lyo hfc oilo in .Q0 uv;tboY,f shin or
jump. Under the saddle he racked
as stuffed rocking chair. o, / tel you
George Washington, the father of his
country, offered me$2OO in gold for him
He said he wanted him for his wife te
palfrey for lady, but knew if he KEPT
than that as fresh pork. Iquit driving
up to fatten. fed them six months
and butchered them. How much do you
supposed they dressed? Have no idea
of course. I trust your father will un
derstand me when I say these hog
dressed twenty-five hundred pounds
each. Pork was worth twenty cents .
pound then, SO you see that this eigh
hundred pound shoat, at three cents
| pound, which was murdered to-day
doesn't amount to shucks. In my do,
it would have been regarded as wicked
! sin to kill such a poor little innocen
pig"
Grandfather fell asleep, and mamm
l turned to papa and asked:
=" Do you really believe that Georg
Washington offered to buy that ridicu
4 lous hog for Martha to ride on?"
Father said he didn't see why not
e Grandfather said so, and, besides, no
that could make a mile in 2:30 wa
t something not picked up every day
t Even if it could not trot mile in si
n weeks, and he reckoned that was abou
; its gait, it was good enough for a woma
: to gallop to death. f