Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-10-28
His Son Jim's Bay Mare.

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His Son Jims Bay Mare.
GIVE came all the way IN from Ca.
naan to git little law" said a man
with horsewhip under his arm, blue
overaIls in his boots, and a gray,
stubby beard on his face, as he en-
tered the Allen house reading room
yesterday, where a number of the
boys were talking politics. "Maybe
some O. you fellars kin give me the
correct thing without the dickerin'
with lawyer"
The speaker was a well.known
farmer of the southern part of the
county. He and his son Jim are
noted for their sharpness at bar
gain and readiness 30 trade horses,
COWS, wagons, farms, or anything
that belongs 10 them, at any and all
times a customer may present him
self. Jim lives on a farm mile from
the old mans.
aye see, boys" continued the
speaker, "my by boy Jim had bay
mare that he traded a yearlin' bull
and cross tooth harrow fur. She
was critter, an no mistake. l
wanted that mare the wust kind, an
made Jim heap o good offers fur
her, but he wouldn't bite. Last Wed.
nesday he came to my house kind o.
careless like, and sot down on the
front stoop. ! was chopin kindlin'
wood fur mornin'. Jim sot there
lookin' up an down the road whis-
tim the Sweet BY and By kind o to
hisself. When ! carried in my kim
dim | sot down on the stoop by him.
"'Jim,' SEE, you better let your
old father have that bay mare o.
yourn,' seq l.
"Jim had just started the second
verse of the Sweet By an BY, but he
whistled her all the way through
afore he answered me.
"'I been thinkin' o. lettin' you
have the mare, pap SEE he, seems
you got yer heart sot on her So SEE
he, 'pervidin' we kin GIT up dicker,'
seq he.
slim had been goin' to camp.
meetin' poorly steady fur a week
back, an beerd he was gittin' seri-
GUS. He hadn't been whistlin' nothin
but hymn tunes for two or three
days, and when he came around SO
nice on the mare question, / made up
my mind that me an the. old woman
would see him jinin' the mourners
afore long.
"Jim, 1 can stand $50 for the
mare," SEE l.
"Jim looked up the road and hum.
med verse of Come ye sinners poor
and needy Then he seq:
"'Pap, seq be, I'll tell you what
I'll do. Give me hundred dollars
seq he, 'an' throw in them two Berk.
shire pigs an the mare is yourn,' SEE
| he, Jest as she is
asa bargain = seq |. The pigs is
yours, an I'll be down after the mare
morrow, SEE l.
81 counted out the hundred an
give it to him. He druy the pigs
home with him. They was worth
SIS apiece, easy. | could hear Jim
whistlin' 'hold the Fort till he got
half a mile away.
sJemima,' | SEE to the old wom-
an, Jenlms,' sez l, 4 never thought
Jim d get pious, did you? But I've
got the bay mare SEE ! IAN what
the old boy Jim was thinkin' OF
can't see. She's worth two hundred
and fifty any day In the week, l seq.
'Religi'n is maxim fool O. Jim,' SEE
|.
"Well, next mornin' early / went
down to Jim's to git the mare. Jim
had gone to town. | see his wife.
GIVE bought the DAY mare, Nan.
cy,' | SEE.
"Yes, know We have, SEE Nancy,
grinnin' all over her face.
Where is she p seq
"'She's down in the stone lot seq
Nancy, GRIMM more'n ever.
81 thought it was funny that the
uihlS snOuiu DC uOH III tub sLOUe
lot but / went down to find her.
Boys, | found her. She was lynn
behind big stone heap deader'n
door nail. l went back to the house.
"Why, Nancy seq ], the bay
mares dead =
$50 yes seq Nancy, laughin' as if
she'd split, she died yesterday morn
in with the coic,' SEE she.
"Boys, for a minute | was mad
Then come to, an SEE to myself,
I'll be glued If | don't git the mares
shoes, anyhow seq l. So / went
back to the stone lot to draw her
shoes off Boys, I'll divide my farm
up between ye if Jim hadn't drawed
them shoes hisself, an the mares feet
was as bare as when she was born.
"Now, / amt no ways mad at Jim,
boys, for it was a fair an square
dicker, an it shows there's stuff in
him only he mought lett the shoes
on the mare What | want to know
is, can't git back on the camp. meet
In folks some way for damages ? If
1t hadn't ben fur them hymn tunes
Jim larnt at tina meetiR's I'd ben
lookin' out fur him. But they throw
ed me way off my guard The way
| look at it is that the camp meetin'
society is responsible for me losin'
my hundred dollars and two fifteen
dollar pigs. Can't / git back on 'em
fur trespass or false pretences, or ex-
cessary afore the foot, or suthin |
Can't / do it, boys ?"
IL the North is solid and the South |
is solid, the world CO.. say that we
have not a solid country.