St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-11-03

dangerous beasts. AS l sprang out
one of them (they were now both il
the pigs pen) snapped at my ankl,
and tore off the bottom of my trouser
leg!
81 thought if 1 tossed the pig out, h,
would be all right. But the instant tn,
little fool scrabbled up, he darteC
again, made dive out across the yard
and if you will believe it, that pig iCeR
blindly right into the open nell!
81 heard him go dOwn-splash
Twas :only few steps off. l was a
the well almost as soon as he was. The
well was some twenty feet deep, and al
that season there were eight or tel
feet of water. | could see bubbles
coming up! The pig had sunk.
~ lowered the bucket and sweep
and holding on by the pole, climbed
down to the water. 1t was narrow and
dark, and the stones were Shiny and
slippery; but by getting my face close
down to the water, | could see the pig
on the bottom.
81 thought he would rise to the top
But he did not. The little fellow would
come 'bubbling up to within three OF
four feet of the surface and then sink
again. | soon found that | could not
reach him with my hands. Then
thought of the hayhOok, and Chamber
ing out as quickly as | could, ran to
the barn and got it.
at was some minutes before | was
down again. BY the time l had got
back with my hay-hook, piggy had
stopped bubbling and lay still at the
bottom. | hooked him up, however,
and fastening him into the bucket,
climbed out and pulled him up.
''But he had been under water too
long. Rolling him did no good. had
heard of putting chilled, f-drowned
persons into hot blankets, or warm
water. So | ran into the house, built a
fire and got on kettle of water. And
was scrubbing piggy before the stove
when Blue-POd and Ann Satire came
running old Rack-a-bOnes home.
"a neighbOr, half mile below, had
stopped Buck and Berry, and he called
to Blue-POd and Ann Satire as they
came past. They knew something was
the matter and came in all cooked and
primed.' | told them what had hap
pened, and | blurted out to Bean that
it was all owing to his being too stingy
to use four board nails.
"The man didn't say much, because
he knew it was so. He left it to Ann
Satire to do the talking. 1t seemed as
if there would be no end of the rig her
tongue ran, but she finally wound up
with IF that peg is dead, it will haf
tn come out of your wages
'And the peg was dead pig, sure
enough. No amount of scrubbing could
make anything else of him, though
Ann Satire rubbed the bristles nearly
all off the poor little fellow.
"But before morning they hit on Il
plan to get out of their loss. When |
came into breakfast, after doing the
chores, Ann Satire said if they couldn't
go away an hour or two and leave me
without everything goin' to rack an
ruin,' they shouldn't keep me, and that
| might take my 'duds' and 'mOg.'
81 had then been at work about a
month and half. The plot which this
beautiful couple had hit on, during the
night, was to turn me off on account
of this pig affair and not pay me for
my work. They could then hire anOth-
er boy and so save "a month and half's
wages.
81 got my clothes and went home
before breakfast they were prudent
enough to turn me off before had eat
en- that.
81 felt pretty blue going home that
morning. But my folks did not blame
me so much as | expected. They were
very sorry about it, however; for the
season was so far advanced that
would not now be able to get another
place.
81 was about home three or four
weeks, and then went to cutting four
foot wood, by the cord, for a man who
had taken IL contract to furnish thou
sand cords of wood for the new rail
road. | received sixty cents per cord
for chOpping; and through the summer
| was able to put up about five cords a
week. AS | had to pay a dollar and
seventy-tive cents a week for my board,
this did not leave me very large sum.
''At the farmhouse where | boarded
they had but three books: the Testa-
ment, an Agricultural Report and a
book called Every Man His Own Law
YER | carried my dinner with me in
to the woods, and used to take this
law yer DOOh ilOlS anu Gedu IL dll ult
time | was resting and eating. l knew
that book almost by heart before Sep
tember
"Of course | do not mean to say that
this made IA lawyer of me. For to be
even a passable lawyer requires years
of hard study and active practice. Yet
that book started me on the legal road,
that and the pig. The pig, perhaps,
had the most to do with it,