Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-10-20
MEMORIES oF THE PLoR.

l shall never forget the hslcyon spring
day that grandfather told me to scour the
old plow and get ready to learn the mys.
teries of rhapsody. l took a brick and
cleaned that old mold board with the same
eager delight and thorough faithfulness
that Ben Butler bestowed on the burnish-
ing up of the Massachusetts almshouse.
What thrill of ecstacy then frolicked
within me as l slipped the loop of the
single line about my wrist, reached up to
the handles and yauped "g'lang." Grand
father followed in silence. l felt as glOri-
GUS az Private Dalzell when be gets into
the newspapers, and with unutterable feel.
ing chirped, Dear grandpa, you needn't
never work any more. I'll run the farm
and you and grandma can spend the money
and We were going down an incline,
so when my pride quickly Strengthened the
old plow shot out of the ground and jerked
me clear over straddle of the beam. The
horses stopped and grandpa kindly re.
marked 50 Ye mustn't set down to rest so
airly in the mornin', Lenny, if you are
goin' to run the farm" l felt as bad as
the Star Router who pleaded guilty to
conspiracy, and had to take it back, plead
not guilty and be discharged. Grandpa
fOndly sat down on a stump and watched
me pull and tug and drag the old plow and
two horses backward to plow up the skip.
After ! pulled my arms out Of socket,
wrenched nay back and was ready to start,
grandpa wiped the moisture from his eyes
and cooed softly: "Ye kin save a good
deal OF time an gr1ntin' by turnin' the
horses and maxim them drag the plow
roun' fer skips like that un." l felt so
grateful l wanted to let him 90 to the
house for 8 jug o. buttermilk. We came
to little swell in the ground and the old
pl0w started down deeper like an artesisn
well augur. " Bar down on tn handles,
yelled Old Business. The horses thought
ne meant them, and they just Strengthened
out till their bellies kissed the ground the
plow started for China, struck root, the
Dlow clevis busted, the horses shot forward
and rose over the plow at the end of the
plow line ike Gilroys kite. Grandpa
picked me up tenderly, busted me off with
a sprout, then sent me to the house for
clevis and mattock to dig the old plow
out. J started next time with humiliation
and an angry ancestor. The old plow
seemed possessed. 1t tried as hard to
evade the land as st. Louis wet grocers do
the Downing law. Push tn handles
from the land" shrieked my red-hot in
structor, as the plow shot out again. The
horses knew the misery wrapped up in that
shrek, and supposing it referred to them,
started on trot, with yours truly a-skip
ping and a.hopping and a-putting and bel.
lowing whoo. o-o-oo," like fog.horn.
The plow found its affinity, an old stump,
a crash followed, and l was thrown nearly
out of the township. 1t busted the old
stump, and dear grandpa arrived just in
time to greet the bees that swsrmed out.
Il was awful the way the horses plunged
and kicked, and dear grandpa battling bees
and trying to unhook the traces. =" Lem,
Lem, you young rascal, come hYar !" But
/ concluded TO faint dead away first. He
got the team loose and they took for the
house, kicking like the whisky element in
the Iowa Republican party at the third
resolution. Darling old grandfather started
for me just clawing bees from his shirt
and pants, jumping, yelling murder and
splitting white, with enough prodding in
sects around him to sting the rascals
out" Much as loved dear grandpa's So
ciety l concluded not to wait. came ont
of that faint and started down the home
stretch like modern office-seeker. Grand
pa was after me, slapping his old hat
For the first half mile we gained on the
horses, but as we neared the house our
wind began to fail. Grandma and the
red. d.headed hired girl ran to meet US, and
the hired girl ontrsn grandma l lodged
her, but grandpa ran right into her arms.
When got stopped grandpa was hugging
the hired girl, grandma was broomsticking
them both, and the trio were screaming and
IL ha
round dance broke up dear grandpa was
too Overcame with exertion and bee stiugs
to return 70 his professorship in our agri-
cultural college out in the field. He sent
me out alone full of apprehensions and
fresh buttermilk. Fascinating old plow
Memory runs through clothes wringer as
thy skeleton outlines come ripping down
the burrows of time. Thou vert ever
creature of impulse and idiosyncrasy. Still
l followed thee, caroling the symphony ::
Gee, gee there Haw, now haw Con-
sort your old sides, I'll maui the hay out
Of you" Then grandpa would spring from
his ambush in the fence corner and fill me
full of animation and pain. All, as the
plowshare of time encroached on the land
OF to morrows, turning the to-days into
yesterdays, as the furrow falls back into
the broken past, my spirit is tired and
wearied with the task of being, and longs
to sink into the invisible arms Of rest Fas.
cinating cid anatomy wrecker Thou art
superseded by the invention of the steam
plow, just as I have been by the superior
tactics of modern politicians. Let us lie
down in the furrow together, old playmate,
and let the Roiseless share of Time cover
us over with the following of the years.
missouri Republican.