The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-08-05
MR.. BROWNS v
ooneIuded lrom Tegterday,s Leade,

this none in that section, save the little
deacon knew a word. Dick Tubman, III
deacon's youngest, widest, and we might
add, favorite son, had purchased him of an
imnecunious jockey, at the close OF, TO him,
a disastrous campaign, that cleaned him
completely out and left him in a strange
city, a thousand miles from home, with
nothing but the horse harness and sulky
and a list of unpaid bills, that must be
met before he could leave the scene of his
disastrous fortunes. Under such circum-
stances it was that Dick Tubman ran
Scross the horse. N partly out of pity foI
its owner and partly out of Admiration VI
the horse, whose failure TO win at the races
was due more TO his lack of condition, and
the bad management of his jockey, than
lack of speed, bought him of-hand, and,
having no use for him himself, shipped him
as a present to the deacon, with whom he
had now been our years, with no harder
work than blowing out the good mans
corn in the summer and jogging along the
country roads on the deacon's errands. Hav-
ing said this much of the horse, perhaps
We should more particularly describe bim,
II He was, in sooth, an animal OF most
unique and extraordinary appearance. For,
in the first place, he was quite II hands in
height and long In proportion. He was
also the reverse of shapely IN the fashion
of his build, for his head was long and
bony, and his hip bones sharp and protu-
berant, his tail was what is known among
horsemen as a rat tail, being but scantily
covered nth hair, and his neck was even
more s~cantily supplied with a name, while
in color he could easily have taken any
J -emium put up for LONELINESS, being an
ashen roam, notified with flecks and patches
OF divers hue. But his legs were fat and
nA-lzI H. q. -A.rf. L.. .,zaA~.Ia I.r.a lie
ears sharply pointed and lively, while the
white rings around his eyes limited a cr~"-
somewhere in his pedigree, with Arabian
blood. A huge, bony and homely-loC king
horse he was, who drew the deacon INC
Miranda into the village On market day
and Sundays, with a loose, s%hambDug gait,
making altogether an appearance 50 homcly
and peculiar that the smart village chaIs
riding along in their jaunty turn-outs,
used to chat the good deacon on the char
acter of his steed, and satirically challenge
him TO n brush. The deacon always tool
their badinage in good part, although he
inwardly said more han once, "If i ever
get a good chance, when there aren't too
many around, III go up to the turn of tho
road beyond the church and let Jack out
on them !" for Dick had given him n hint
Of the horses history, and told him he
could knock the spots out of thirty" and
wickedly urged the deacon to take the
starch out of them chaps some of these
days. Such was the horse, then, that the
deacon had ahead of him and the old-fash-
Toned sleigh when with the parson along
side he struck into the principal street Of
the village,
New Years day is n lively day in many
country villages, and on this bright one,
especially, as the sleighing was perfect,
everybody was out. Indeed, it had ga
noised abroad that certain trotters of loca.
fame were to be on the street that after
Don, and, rs the boys worded it, there
would be neaps of fun going on." And Sc
1t happened that everybody in town, and
many who lived out of it, were on this
particular street, n just at the hour,
100, when the deacon came to the foot of ii,
so that the walk on either side was lined
carkly with lookers-on, and the smooth
snow-path between the two lines looked
like a veritable homestretch on n rnce-day.
Now, when the deacon had reached the
corner of the main street and turned in,o
H. 1t was at that point where the course
terminated and the brushes were ended
ana nj the precise IN when the dozen
or twenty horses that had lust come eying
down were being pulled up preparatory 10
returning at a slow gait to the customary
starting point at the head of the street. a
halt mile away. So that the old fashioned
sleigh was surrounded by the light fancy
cutters oil the rival racers, and old Jack
was shambling awkwardly along in the
midst of the high spirited and smoking
nags that had just come down the street,
"Hillow, deacon" shouted ono of tbe
boys, who WIS driving n trim-looking no.
ana who had crossed the line Mt the ENDING
| oF tho cnprso so,onJ ,ul
could speed like a streak of lightning
as the boys said. "Hillow, deacon; amt
you going to shake out old shamble heels,
show us fellows what speed is to-day ~
and the merry-hearted chap-sOn of the
principal lawyer OF the place-lauphed
heartily at his challenge, while the other
drivers looked at the great angular steed
that, without any check, was walking care
lessly along with his head down, ahead of
the old sleigh and its churchly occupants.
u don't know but that / will, answered
the deacon good naturally don't know but
1 will. If the parson don't object and you
won't start of too quick to begin with,
Tor this is New Years, and a little extra
fun won't hurt any of us, 1 reckon"
DO it, do it; we'll hold up for you"
answered a dozen merry voices. "Do it.
deacon it'll do old shamble heels good to
o go n 1O-mile-an-hour gait for once in his
life, and the parson needn't fear of being
scandalized by any speed you'll get out OF
him, either" and the merry chaps haw-
hawed as men and boys viii, when every
one is jolly and fun flows fast.
And so, with any mount of good natur-
ed chatting from the drivers of the fast
uns" and from many that lined the road
too-for the day gave greater liberty than
usual to banterlng speech. The speedy
ones paced slowly up toward the head Of
he street, with old lack stumbling de
murly in the midst of them.
But the horse was n knowing old fellow
and had scored" too many races not TO
know that the return was to be leisurely
taken, and, indeed, he was n horse OF indie
p~endence, and of too even, perhaps of too
sluggish, q temperament, to waste himself
in needless action, but he had the right
stuff in him, and hadn't forgotten his early
training either, for when he came TO the
turn" his head and tail came up, his eve
Frightened, and with a playful movement
of his huge body, and without the least
hint nom the deacon, he swung himself
and the cumbersome old sleigh into line, and
began to straighten himself for the coming
brush.
Now, Jack was, as we ave said, a horse
OF huge proportions, and needed "steady-
;ng" at the start, but the good deacon had
had no experience with the ribbons and
was, therefore, utterly unskilled in the
matter of driving, and so it came about
mat old Jack was so confused at the start
That he made a most awkward and wretch
ed appearance in his effort to get of, being
all mixed up" as the saying is, SO much
50 That the crowd roared at his ungainly
Efforts and his flying rivals were twenty
rous away before he even got started. But
at last he got his huge body in a straight
line, and, leaving his miserable shuflo,
squared away to his work, and, with head