Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-04-04
Brave Lying.

brave LYING
THAT thunder shower was one of
the worst things of its kind | ever
took a hand in"
would you replenish your glass
and tell us the details?" asked heavy
man, politely.
at was in the winter of 40" said
the stranger, stirring his glass re-
flectively. Td heard there was n
good deal o walnut timber in them
sections, and / was keen to get it. So
me and my son took a steamer and
went up on the Northern Coast, where
no white man had ever been before.
As soon as we landed we knowed we
had struck it rich. Gentleman, there
was millions Of acres, all cut and
ready for the market"
might inquire who cut it?" in
terrogated the heavy man, solemnly.
"Gou say no white man had ever
been there"
"The polar bears had gnawed it off
searching for honey" replied the
stranger calmly.
$50 on with your thunder shower"
well, as was telling you, we start.
cd right in, and in three weeks we
were richer than any eight men in the
States. There was no end to the luck /!
Everything went our way from the
start. We had all the logs down on
the dock and were only waiting for
the boat to come and take us of, when
! saw clouds making to north ard and
| knowed it was going to settle in for
thick weather | told my son to look
out, and in less than half an hour
ther broke the doggondest storm |
ever seed. Rain! Why, gentleman,
it rained so hard into the muzzlc of
my gun, that it busted the derncd
thing at the breechl Yes, sir! And
the water began to rise on us, too.
Talk about your floods down South!
Why, gentlemen, the water rose so
rapidly in our house that it flowed up
the chimney and streamed 500 feet up
in the air! We got it both ways that
trip, up and down.
"Do we understand that you are re-
lating facts within the scope Of your
own experienced" demanded the heavy
man, with his mouth wide open.
Partially mine and partially my
sons" answered the unabashcd
stranger. "He watched it 60 up, and
/ watched it come down But you
can get some idea of how it raincd
when | tell you that we put out a bar
rel without any heads into it, and it
rained into the bunghole of that bar
rel faster than it could run out at both
ends ~
"Whichof you saw that?' inquired
a listener.
1--WE each watched an end, my son
and me-" returned the stranger. "I'm
telling you about storm now, gentle
men. But the worst Of all was the
lightning. 1t wasn't in strcaks, it
Just stood still in one flash, and when
it got through, you should have taken
a look at that timber That timber
was chopped into the finest suw-dust
you ever got your eye on! Fine as
snuff! Wasn't a stick left half an inch
long! You never saw anything like
it! There was over Sl2,000,0OO,0 900
gone! We thought we might save
the saw-dust to mix paints with and
save a couple o million out of the
wreck, but while we was thinking that
over, the wind sprang up, and then
there was music! Nv seen some wind
in my time, but no such wind as that
ever blowed before or anywhere else !!
Well, you can get an imperfect no.
ton of how that wind blew, when |
tell you that it bowed that saw-dust
right back into its former shape, and
when that storm passed of, there
stood them trees just where they stood
before the bees got after them ~
Eroo Dross