The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1881-01-26
MOASICK'S %PRE-EMPTION.

"Well, nc. She's not, exacIy mine,
MOI yet my wife's; but we claim her Al
the same"
These remarks referred to a remark
ably fine, not to say Notwithstanding
young woman, who had just refined q
high melted young horse out of the
home gate into the downward lane.
Take the kinks out of him." said
the old man, ss he closed the gate be-
hind the cavorting steed. To which
remark the fair hcrsewoman made reply
by ainging kisses from her whip hand,
and dashing away into q cloud Of dust.
YES" he said, in response to my
further question, "she's my gal; but
she's not my da'ter, nor she amt my
wife's da'ter.
Brothers?
"No. No relation to either Of US by
blood"
"WaifP"
81 dunno much what a waif rightly
is call hel q pcremtion."
"Do you mean a pre-. emption ?" l
asked, gently.
Wei no matter if &c call it a per-
tmtion er a prec.emtion," he answered
shaGe testify. What ] mean is. that
/ took her up ss a wild claim on the ur-
SURVEYED lands Of the U. IS"
Well" ard l laughed a little as l
answered, that's another way OF get
ting CHILDREN"
"Purty good way, though. if We hap.
ren to get the kind that suits ye as we'll
Us that'n suits me-"
"Sccms to be q fine horsewoman," I
said, half musingly, as we were ap-
prout hing the entrance TO the house.
Sep in," he said; 1.-THE d%oor'scpen,
ard that shows ye the old womsn's not
to kone; and the way she'll raise Cain,
and lectur' on flies when she does come
home will be music in this camp, you
bet yoI!' and the man chuckled in
wardly until he developed q touch of
asthma that set him coughing in a way
that was more comical than serio IS.
Now" said he, when he hat re-
covered, "iet's 90 out to the barn and
see the colts. There is where I can talk
best. Though I amt a fust- class talker
no thus, I can get on better when I'm
seeing Il good, healthy colt reaching for
his hay"
Il reckon, now" he said, after having
shown me his horses seriatim, you're
thinking I'd crt to tell you how l per-
cm,ed the gal that went out the gate on
the jumping brown colt. Well, sit
down here, and I will tell ye; but fust I
want to say a word about that colt she's
a-riding. Now. ye might think, seeing
a woman en- him, that he's a picnic
horse, and that all his cavorting is only
fril,s and passear doings, but I tell ye
he means it. He's a son of a gun on
boots. I call him Quien Ssbe, because
don't know his pedigree. He had just
as good q chance to be q Belmont as to
be a Pstchen, on the side of the sire,
and which it is no one knows. His ram
was Abdallah and Medoc. and that
kind OF q mix, &c know, makes power
and ambition till ye can't rest. He looks
and acts like a Patchen, but goes like q
Belmont. Lainey, that's my gals
name. says he's the strongest, inginrub.
berest. long-hottomest boss she ever had
under her. And she's q Judge. She's
materially a Judge as well as by expo
rience. But J., for my part. l wouldn't
throw a leg over Ouien Sabe-not once
for the price of him, and I refused a
thousand for him when he was a two
year old. He's rising five now, and
Lainey's been riding him off and on for
two years"
Where did Miss Lainey, or, that is
10 say. Miss-Miss"-
Woods Lainey Woods, that's her
name: My name is MoasicSt. Eden
Moasick."
"Ab! yes. Where, I would ask, did
Miss Woods find q field for the develop
ment , f her peculiar talent"
That's what Pm goirg to tell ye,'
said Mr. Moasick; then, looking very
seriously, yet somewhat comically, at
me, be shook his finger and added
But don'C ye ever fall into the idee
that Lainey don't know much above OF
below a saddle. II ye ever should tal
into that idee and happen to be aeon
versing with her at the time, she'll take
The starch ont O ye mighty auckland
ye won't be the fust young fellow that's
gone up the hume that way" And here
the venerable Mr.. Moasick had a YER
slight attack of risible asthma. When
he recovered he said:
The way I peremted Lainey wa:
this. ! was in California when the
Reese River mining excitement broke
put n Nevada in 1862, and WASH
doing much good. I bought a cheaI
little Mexican jackass, packed my
blankets. grub, tools, and cooking out
fit upon his back, took the road behinc
his tail and went afoot into the Nevads
mountains, away east of Reese River
determined to find a silver mine. | hat
q little money on hand and q little NOR
q, coming to me from good men, when
started. I sunk it all ia two years ant
worked hard, but found nothing in tn
mining way with talking about. IL
the summer of "a 1 heari..o the droutl
in California, and Of how cattle an,
HOSES were dying there of hunger
while where 1 was there was an
amount of good boss grass. Now is m
chance, I thought. I'm losing bi
money not having stock to eat this grass
I took my jackass and started fo
Eastern Nevada on foot along the Over
land stage-road for California, calcula'
{ to fetch bosses on the SHARES t
Nevada. Besides my jackass, l had ais
q dog a dog that peremted me
mixed dog-a kind of St. Bernard an
shepherd dog-and he was a might
wise dog.
"On the stage-road them days the