Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-04-26
DOWN IN A WELL.
An Old GeOrgian's Fright and First At
tempt at Prayer.
Montezuma, (Ga.,) Weekly ]


For twenty years an old man of our coun.
ty, whom we will call Jack Baldwin, has
cultivated the soil and drawn therefrom &
support for himself and wife; he is childless
Not long since Jack left his house in search
of missing COW. His route led him through
an old worn out piece OF clay land, of about
six acres in extent, in the center of which
was well, about twenty or thirty feet deep
that at sometime had probably furnished
the inmates of dilapidated house near by
with water. In passing the spot an i'll wind
drifted Jacks hat from his head and mali,
ciously waited it to the edge of the well
and in it tumbled. Now Jack had always
practiced the virtue of economy, and he i'm
mediately set about recovering his hat. He
ran to the well, and finding it was dry at
the bottom, he unrolled the rope which he
had brought for the purpose of capturing
the COW, and after several attempts to catch
the hat with moose, he concluded to save
time by going down into the we'll himself
To accomplish this he made fast one end of
the rope to stump hard by, and was soon
on his way down into the well. It was a
fact of which Jack was less obvious than the
reader hereof-that mischievous fellow
whom we will call Neal. Neal was in the
old building and saw Jack 60 down into the
well, and it so happened that Jacks old
blind horse was near by with bell on his
neck. The devil himself, or some other evil
spirit, put it into Meals head to have a little
fun; so he slipped up to the old blind
horse, unbuckled the strap and ap-
preached the well with the bell in his
hand, ting-a-Iing. Jack thought the old
horse was coming and said in an audible
tone: "Hang the old blind horse, he's comm
this way, sure, and he amt got no more sense
than fall in here on me-whoa Ball !" But
the sound of the bell came closer, and Jack
was resting at the bottom of the well. Great
Jerusalem " said Jack, "the old blind fool
will be right on top Of me in minit-whoa,
Ball, whoa, haw, Ballw Just then Neal got
close to the well and kicked little dirt on
Jacks head. Jack thought Ball was about
to come, got close to the side of the well be-
gan to pray: ooh, Lord, have mercy on
whoa, Ball-a poor sinner-I'm gone now,
whoa, Ball-Our Father, who art in-whoa,
Ball-Heaven, hallowed be Thy-jee, Ball,
ice ,-what'll do ?-name. Now l lay me
down to slice Ball, out of your livers !!
(just then in fell more dirt). Back, Ball.
Oh, Lord, if you ever intend to do anything
for me-back, Ball, whoa, ho! Thy king
dom come-jee, Ball"
"Oh, Lord, you know l was baptizedin
Smiths mill dam-whoa, Ball, hoP up! muir
der whoa, farewell worked"
Neal could hold in no longer and showed
himself at the top of the well, with big
hoarse laugh, which might have been heard
two miles. This was more than Jack could
bear and he started up the rope like a
monkey. "Blast your pictures, I'll give you
fits; I'll make your ears ring worse'an that
bell" Neal took to his heels and ran like a
quarter horse, and the last that was seen of
him he was half mile from the well, with
two big dogs grabbing at his coat, and Jack
was close behind him, yelling at the dogs.