The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1886-02-25
ms HAND WAsv.TsTEAD NOE
aaa6 EVE QUICK.

/ hWA0 - - SOaO-e
| New York sanl
EoUrNUNK, Pa, January l6.-John
| Finley Teeple, known all over Northern
Peunsylv ania as Uncle Fin, was 70 years
| old his last birthday. For more than
sixty years he hunted and trapped from
the Delaware to the Allegheny, and never
missed a season until two years ago.
Then he made up his mind to take rest,
more be cause game was getting scarce
than because he was tired. His boys,
| Lie and Sim. couldltake care of all that
| was left. he said. From that time until q
few"days before the past deer season
closed he hadn't touched his gun-a gun
that he claims has lain low bear and deer
by the thousand. One morning recently
he got out.of bed and said to his son Lie:
ellie, Pm goin' down in Pike county
an knocksover one deer before hold up
fur good.''
Lie and the rest of the family tried to
change Uncle Fins mind, for they thought
he was to old to 60 tramping through the
| woods on a deer hunt. He was deter
mined, however, and SO his boys, Lie and
Sim fixed themselves up, and got ready
to 90 with the old hunter. They got
down on the Mast Hope Ridge, twenty
FIVE miles from home. Sim drove tor
deer. and Uncle Fin and Lie stood on
the runways.
Father" said LDe, al guess I'll stay
close by you, for your hand isn't as steady
as it was fifty years ago, and your eye
isn't as quick. SO I'll keep close by you,
and if Sim sends a deer along and you
n SO it I'll knock it over"
"Ye will, hey :" exclaimed the old man,
Indignantly "My han hain't ez stiddy
ez 'twerc fifty years ago, hain't it? Nor
my eye hain't 80 quick Wall, now, my
fresh young Nimtod you jist plank yer
self over on that runway up yonder half
a mile or so, an I'll stay right whar l be.
If deer comes pitchin long here thin
gunshot ONE, rll show ye wuther my han
han't ez stiddy or my eye hain't ez quick
ez they usety be. G'long with ye, an
look out fur your own ham an eye.''
Gall right" said Lie; but if you lose
the deer don't blame me-"
Lie went reluctantly to the upper rum
way. Urce Flu remained where he was.
Sim went out on the ridge, and half
an hour or so, started a rousing big buck.
1t was good ways off, but within reach,
and he blazed away at it. 1t kept right
on. 1t bounded down the ridge and pass
ed along within good range of Lije. LlJe
sent bullet after it, but the buck kept
/ ght on. =.
SBlame the luck - said he. "Now,
lust for the old mans contrarlness we're
liable to lose that deer. He won't be able
to see it unless it runs over him, to say
nothing of hitting it,"
The buck tore along through the brush
and was clearing thirty feet at jump as
it passed Uncle Fin, hundred yards
away. His eyesight hadn't entirely fail
ed him, for he saw the buck He drew
bead on it and let the "Old Betsy" "speak.
The buck gave two or three wild bounds
and fell in the brush. Uncle Fin didn't
move toward it. When the boys came up
Lie asked the old man what he had shot
at.
GA buck, reckon" said he. what
did you fellers blaze at ?"
"a big buck" said Lie, "but l didn't
reach him. Which way did he go from
here ~
(Which way'd he go?" said Uncle Fin,
contemptously. "Ie heerd me shoot,
didn't ye? Ii you smart roosters don't
know how to handle gun yit, mebbe ye
know how to dress dead deer. If Hye do,
list trot over yender by that big hemlock
an hang up that buck. I'd go an do it,
but nv han hain't ez stiddy ez 'twere
fifty year ago, ye know, an my eyesight's
fallin'."
Lie and Sim could hear the old man
lauoh all the way over to the hemlock
tree, and when they found the buck lying
there dead as mackerel, and with only
one bullet hole in it, and that through the
kidneys, they felt like butting their heads
against a rock. They dressed the deer
and brought it in without word.
cts a terrible thing wen a man gifts
old an shaky an durn nigh blind, hain't
it bows ?" said Uncle Fin, seriously, as the
boys tumbled the buck on the ground at
his feet. It's the snappy young feller
with stiddy nerves that knocks over the
ven'zin, hain't it boys p
Then the way the old man laughed
made the boys feel more sheepish than
ever. They took the big buck to Mast
Hope, loaded it on the cars, and got home
the same day they went away. But the re-
suit of the hunt satisfied Uncle Fin that
he had made a mistake in re iring frog.
the chase two years ago.
"I see I've got to go out an give them
bows O. mine leetle more trainin'," he
says. Wy, if were the side O. barn
wouldn't be 'feered to stan 40 an let
them boys peg away at me all day. Pll
be on the turf again mex, season, ez usual,
an take 'em in hand an larn 'em sumpin -