The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-04-14
TOMMY TUCKER'S HORSESHOE.

the city of New York, near the Central
Park. Some people make fun OF Tom
my's way of living, and call his place
the "sunken lots" and say his family
are squatters; but it makes very little
difference to Tommy what remarks
were made about his home or his peo-
pie, SO long as they were happy. And
they were happy for very long time,
SO happy that they didn't know what it
was to be miserable, and it makes
wonderful difference to be able to tell
one from the other. Up to the begin
ming of this winter they had the longest
run of luck on record in any family in
that neighborhood. A long while since,
a horse had been turned out to die in a
lot near the fuckers. 1t wasn't such
very old horse, but it was dreadfully
sick, and something was the matter
with its windpipe, so that MIR. Tucker
heard it wheeling away while he was
at WORK on the farm. He had very
kind heart, and always did what he
could for poor dumb creatures, as well
as those that could tell what was the
matter with them; and what with kind
treatment and wonderful skill Mr..
Tucker had with animals. that horse
came around so that you'd hardly know
it from a spirited charger of Mr..
Crpsus--a gentleman who lives up in
that neighborhood. 1t grew so strong
that it was able to drag q cart-load of
vegetables down town to MIR. fuckers
customers, and Mr.. Tucker was
able to put another lot or two
under cultivation. And If the
lots were a little rough and sunken, it
was very pretty to see them full of
green things a-growing." Up to this
last winter there was almost always
something to sell, and pretty soon after
Mr.. Tucker cured his horse he got
COW. She wasn't first-class COW when
Mr. Tucker first traded off some pigs
for her, and gave some silver to boot
out of Mother Tucker stocking. What
little milk she had seemed to be turned
to gall, and even that couldn't be got
from her until she was tied to the side
of the house; then she would have
kicked the whole mansion down if it
hadn't been founded on a rock, like the
wise mans house Mr.. Tucker read
about in the Bible. Mr.. Tucker and
Tommy think there are only two books
worth reading in the whole world: one
is the Bible. and the other is Robinson
Crusoe. Tommy hadn't minded de-
pending on his goats for milk, because
IL StcLuCu 81 IiuCh AihO S|huoOO . 10Y "a
living, but Mrs. Tucker and Tommy's
three little brothers liked cows milk
the best; for one thing, there was so
much more of it, and Tommy's three
little brothers had such excellent appe-
tites. For Mr.. fuckers wisdom ex-
tended to the udders of the COW, and
pretty soon she was almost as good as
an Alderney COW around the corner, so
called, Mr. Tucker said, because she
belonged to an Alderman.
Tommy fuckers family prOspered
exceedingly. The horse drew more
and more vegetables to market, the
cow gave more and more milk, the hens
laid more and more eggs, and the
| CHEEKY chink in Mother fuckers stock
| ing became more and more musical to
the ear, until the last winter set in.
Then the Tucker luck. which was pro-
verbal in that neighborhood, suddenly
took an evil turn.
| First, and worst. Mr.. Tucker fell on
the ice aud broke his leg. You may
know it was a particular kind of ice that
could bring Mr.. Tucker down. 1t was
about dozen layers thick. and very
treacherous. The winter had closed in
some time before in very unusual way.
1t was bitter cold. day in and day out;
the heavens opened. and the snow fell,
| and opened again, and more snow came
down, and kept on opening. and more
snow kept falling, until the familiar
gullies were all filled up, and the coun-
try around there grew white and level
and changed, SO that Tommy wondered
sometimes if the world had lost its
reckoning, and stopped turning when il
reached the north pole.
And it gave Tommy a dreadful sickly
feeling to know that his fathers leg
could break 1t wasn't natural to see
him living on the bed in the corner,
when he had always been up and do.
ing. Nothing ever seemed so far gone
that his father couldn't fetch it around.
and it shook Tommy's confidence con.
siderably to see the obstinacy of that
leg. Tommy had always gone to bed
before his father, and his father had al.
WAYS got up before Tommy, so that il
was q new experience to Tommy to see
his father down.
1t took the heart out of all of them,
and everything went wrong. 1t went
on freezing, showing and blowing out.
side; and do what Tommy could, the
live stock began to give out. Thai
charity waif of q horse yielded to the
weakness in his windpipe again, and
sprawled his legs and hung his head in
the most ungrateful way; the COW went
dry; two of the best pigs got frost-bit
ten, SO that their squeal mingled will
the melancholy soughing of the norti
wind around the Tucker mansion; ant
the hens wouldn't lay an egg for Mr.
Tucker, though the doctor had particu
larly ordered it.
And about that doctor: Tommy USED
to dread to see him come. for instead