The Hazlehurst signal., 1884-04-10
Pcttibone rs . Horse Tral,r.

Pcttibone rs . Horse Tral,r.
MAJOR Pettibonc was q great admircr
Of the horse. He would go into rapt-
urcs over splendid animal. and equal
" 50 over no-account nag. The fact
OF the case is. Petit bone i no Judge at
all of ''hoss ilesh;" and the one weak
ness of the genial old chap is that he
won't acknowledge his failure. lie is
the owner OF n horse; and such horse.
This particular animal has been handed
down from generation 10 generation I'M
Ill his age has been entirely lost among
the decades. He is jumper; this may
seem strange Ia the average reader
Surely the horse has arrived ut the ma
turity OF the mellowy golden, and ought
To know better than 10 practice the
freshness If q bonhomic dude col; with
sorrel name and bur,lock tail. After
the MAJOR had stood il as long rs ho
could. he curried down the ancient
nag's coat with the wire barn broom,
hitched him before tho jumper and sal
lied forth upon the war pike with blood
in his eye.
He i looking for trade. The man
who looks for dickcr in "hoss flesh"
don't have To search far before he finds
n party who is bent upon just such an-
other mission. The professional horse
trader is strange freak Of nature. As
fabricator he can give the veteran cir
Gus clown big odds. and come home un-
der the wire with dozen lengths to
spare.
mo; don't know rs he cares 10 trade.
Satisfied with the animal he's got.
Don't understand much bout HOSES
anyhow-still. miJh' talk the thing over,
and" Well, IL was just such fellow as
the forcgonc whom Major Pet,ibonc
met. The strangers horse seemed to
be a likely animal and-if he (Maior)
wanted to give twenty dollars boot why
he mightswop. The Major laughed
slyly behind the others back rs ho un-
bucSlcd the traces and made the trade.
His old nag wasn't worth twenty dol
lars: he's very surc he has made good
bargain. Treat the old 'hoss' good,
stranger; he's been in the family long
Il mean the family will long TO know
tina. he's in good hands, cried the Ma
jor. ~ the stranger drove oil.
The Major tickled his new horse with
the whip. and h. thought cyclone had
struck him when he felt the pieces of
dashboard rafting about his head. ~
kicker. by th.imblcs. I've gone and
traded of an innoccnt jumper for n
pcsky, dangerous kicker and paid
twenty dollars 10 learn it. Must get
rid Of THIS ugly beast. G'long there;
so-easy. Whoa! now steady Thus
the Na or cogitatcd as hcurgcd the new
horse along. Ere he had gone a mile
he met another man who--"Didn't care
to trale. Satisfied with his animal;
and-didn't know much bout a 'hosS.'"
etc. The strangers beast looked
good piece Of horse. flesh. The Major
traded. His new horse started of well
enough and--thcn he stopped. First
tho MAJOR touched him with the whip
The horse scratched his oil ear with his
oil hind hoof and-didn't bulge an
inch. Then the Major cluckcd. and
slapped the reins upon the animals
back. No good. The beast wouldn't
step OF in the least. The Ms'or got
out and took the horse by the bit and
after considerable urging got the horse
to lead. The horse made spring. and
as the jumper few by the Major also
made spring and succeeded in capt
uring tho seat whcr, he sat holding
the rains, very red Of face. Thcn-the
nag stopped again. The Major tried all
the tricks he had heard OF. which were
used to make q balky horse 20. The
horse grew fast; he took root; no
wouldn't stir peg. The Major was
now mad. First, twenty dollars to boot
for kicker; nova balky horse. He
was ready 10 hug himself with disgust.
He would give the world just to have
che old jumping nag back. A man
can get around jumper; but wick
cd. balky animal Is only good for soap
grease.
While the Major was standing there
sweating and muttering imprecations,
gentlcmanly foot passenger came
along. He was soon made acquainted
with the Majors dilemma. lie offered
the Major one hundred and fifty dollars
for horse. harness, jumper and all. His
offer was snapped at. Ho presented
check upon well-known bank Tor TWO
hundred dollars. The MAJOR handed
over the fifty dollars. pocketed the
check and stepped back TO see tho gen.
erous stranger get tho balky horse to
go. That was an easy matter. The
stranger tied n small stone to string,
fastened the string TO the tip OF the
nag car. and-away the charmed beast
sped like the wind. Back through the
dust tho weary Major trudged. dc
would have just time to get tho check
cashed at the village hank. He went to
the cashier and presented the check:
The cashier smiled. showed II back and
said: mo good; not worth the paper
It Is written upon" A sore-hesrted
man. q disgusted man, a man ready TO
sell himself for q cent, went home. Inc
Major Is ready to fight at the drop OF
the hat with any man who dsrcs 10
mention ''hoss trader" even to this day.
II. s. Keller, 100 the Judge.
William II. Field shot his brother
nj Greenwich Comm. recently, under