The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-03-27
BILL ARp,s LETTER.
Mrs. Arp, His Wife, Reminds Him OF His
Ringmaster-Looks.
atlanta Constitution.

Mrs. Arp, His Wife, Reminds Him OF Ills
Ringmaster-Looks.
Atlanta Constellation.
Mrs. Arp was quietly reading the Con,
,t;t,,t;o,a Yesterday while the children were
outdoors. After awhile she paused and
looking over her spectacles at me, re-
marked, 81 thought that maybe you
would have mentioned that little circum-
stance about the buggy and the ringmas-
ter in one of your letters, but I suppose
Il does not seem to you to be very inter
Sesting matter to write about. Probably
! if the horse had run away with me the
public would have heard of it, and with
that she resumed her reading. Well,
that's fact. I was thinking that the
less said about some things the better,
and besides, as I told her, I didn't want
to make hero of myself in such a small
transaction. She quietly replied, "Oh.
no. of course not, but l didn't think
there was much hero about it and thought
YOU could mention it in small way,
without any particular peril-just to fill
up you know p So | reckon aad bet
ter tell 1t.
! Twas her buggy. One of her boys
bought itaud gave it to her. 1t had
nice top and a phaeton shaped body that
She could gel in so easy and the harness
were hers and the whip. Everything
was new and nice ano she lad taken but
two rides in it, and SO one day hinted
that / would ike to see how it mean,
dered over the country, and as it was all
agreeable Fhad my young horse hitched
in and sailed around smartly. We had
worked that horse in the wagon and IN
the plow and considered him pretty we'll
broke for lie came from gentle stock and
we Ind raised him and petted him and
so had no fears about his behavior. One
of the girls had been riding with me and
I let her get out at the front gate and
drove on up to the big farm gate at the
top of the hill and got out and opened it
andlea the black rascal through and l
thought he was serene and knew he was
tired ard so I just stepped back for a
moment to shut the gate and away he
went like he was shot out of gun. be
run down to the horse lot gate all right
and ] thought he would surely stop there,
but finding the gate shut he took little
roundance and went sailing down to-
wards the spring and jumped over big
log and the buggy jumped too for it was
doing its level best to keep up and then
he took the grand rounds of the hillside
grove and every time I tried to head and
catch him be lodged me and kept on
with the buggy, sometimes on tour
wheels and sometimes on two. had the
whip in my hand and Mrs. Arp, my wife,
saws that when she came to the back
door TO see what was the racket l was
standing there with the whip waving
and looked for all the world like ring-
master in circus and she actually
thought I was making the colt run round
Just 4 for my own amusement. Well,
there's no use in making long story
of it1,ow, for what's done can't be helped.
That colt tore that buggy all to pieces
and got away from it before he quit try.
ing. He run it against three trees and
over four logs and left the beautiful top
in one place and the wheels in another
and the shafts got bent backwards under,
meath the running gear and can't tell
to this day how they got there.
V 7 walked into the house and said noth-
ing for ten minutes and didn't want
ANYBODY to say anything to me. Mrs.
Arp never said nothing either but set
down to her sewing just as natural and
sorter hummed piece of tune. After
a spell she Looked over at my side OF the
bon,e .ond roma rked
.tIt was very pleasant evening for
your ride!"
"Uncommon," said |.
"I expect it will be good for your
rheumatism for you to take a ride every
evening" said she.
"They siy that walking is better for
rheumatism than riding" said l.
"Well, you will have good chance
for that now" said she; aud she laid
down her work and laughed at me-and
that's the way she broke me of the pout-
ing melancholy. And that's always the
way. When I am distressed and low
down she is all serene and lively and
cheers me up. Fact is she gave me such
comfort about that buggy business that |
am almost glad it happened. But still |
am sorter sore about that ringmaster part
of it, and then again ] overheard the
children asking Ralph if ne wasn't glad
that it wasn't him. And Ralph said,
"goodness gracious wouldn't have had
it happened to me for a hundred dol.
lars"
Well, il is no, so bad :, it might have
been for might have been in it and had
my wheels and my body and springs ali
tore up. 1t will cost about twenty dol
lars to repair the damage and she says
she will pick it up in the road or get It
somehow and that mustn't be bothered.
was telling my nabor Bufosd aeouti
Yesterday as a great calamity and nc
laughed and said, cal! we courtry folks
are used to those thugs and heap worse.
Why" says he, "it was only Yesterday
morning that and my brother ALT CON
cluded to go to town, creek or no creek.
for we knew it was up mighty high, aud
20 we took roundance for a shallower
ford up at Bradley's. and in we went
all right till we got to the little deep
swimming place, and the horse gave
lungeLO jump lnaI aoo PoPPoo
tree, and away he went out OF the shallS
and broke lose the hip straps aud got to
bank; but me and Af was in the buggy
trying to hold it down, and as leaned
over to catch my overcoat that was float
ing away the buggy just careened c'er
and split us both in the water. ana II
turned over on US and Alf grabbed holt
of one wheel and l of another and we
tried to hold it, but we had got into
sort of a whirlpool that was over our
heads and the box body just turned round
and round and over and uncer, and
sometimes we were on top and sometimes
the buggy was on top. aad we see-sawed
that way and thingemaiigged down the
creek for a hundred and fifty yards, and
had finally to let 60 and swim for the
bank. IF you ever saw drowned rats we
were them, and we were 80 tired and so