The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-03-26
HIS HAND wAsN'T STEADY

II. M. HoxIE,
First Vice President
HIS HAND WASN'T STEADY
Nor His Eye Quick. but When Hi. Gun
Went on the Boys Felt sheepisl.
An Equinunk, Pa., correspondent
writes: John Finley Teeple, known
all over northern Pennsylvania as
Uncle Fin. was 70 years old his last
birthday. For more than sixty years
hc hunted and trapped from the Della
ware to the Allegheny, and never miss
ed season until two years ago.
Then he made up his mind to take q
rest, more because game was getting
scarce than because he was tired. His
two boys, Life and Sim, could take
care of all that was left, he said.
From that time until few days be.
fore the past deer season closed he
hadn't touched his gun-a gun he
claims has lain low bear and deer by
the thousand. One morning recently
he got out of bed and said to his son
Life:
"Lije, I'm goin' down in Pikccounty
an knock over one deer before hole
up fur good"
Lige and the rest of the family tried
to change Uncle Fins mind, for they
thought he was too old to 90 tramp
ing through the woods on q deer hunt.
He was determined, however, and so
his boys, Lije and Sim, fixed them.
selves up, and got ready to go with
the old hunter. They went down on
the Mast Hope ridge, twenty five miles
from home. Sim drove for deer, and
Uncle Fin and Lie stood on the run
ways.
"Father," said Lie, 81 guess I'll
stay close by you, for your hand ISM t
as steady rs it was fifty years ago,
and your eye isn't as quick. So I'll
keep close by you, and if Sim sends q
deer along and you miss it I'll knock
it over"
"Ye will, hcy?" exclaimed the old
man, Indignantly. "Nly ham hain't t
ez stiddy ez 'twere fifty year ago,
hain't it? Nor my eye hain't SO
quick? Wall, now, my fresh young
Nimrod, you jist plank yerself over OH
that runway up yender half a mile or
so, an I'll stay right whar be. II
deer comes pitchin' long here
thin gunshot O. me II show ye wuther
my ham hain't ez stiddy or my eye
hain't ez quick ez they usety be.
Glong with We, an look out fur yer
own ham an eye!'
"All right" said Lie; "but if you
lose the deer don't blame me?"
Lie went reluctantly to the upper
runway. Uncle Fin remained where
he was. Sim went out on the ridge.
and after half al hour or SO started a
rousing big buck. 1t wasa good ways
off. but within reach, and he blazed
away at it. 1t kept right on. 1t
bounded down the ridge and passed
along within good range of Lie. Lie
sent q bullet afterit, but the buck kept
right on.
"Blame the luck!" said he. "Now,
just for the old mans contrariness,
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
q jump ms it passed Uncle Fin, n hun
dred yards away. His eyesight hadn't
entirely failed him, for he saw the
buck. He drew bead on it, and let
cold Betsey" speak. The buck gave
two or three wild bounces, 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, Ireckon, said he. "Nhat' d
you fellers blaze at?"
"a big buck, said Lie, "but didn't
reach him. Which way did he 70 from
here?"
"W'ich way'd hego?" said Uncle Fin,
contemptuously. "Yeheerd me shoot,
didn't ye? If you smart roosters
don't know how to handle q gun yit
mebbe ye know how to dress dead
deer. II We do, jist trot over yender
by that big hemlock an hang up that
buck. I'd 60 an do it but my ham
hain't ez stiddy ez 'twere fifty year
ago. ye know, an my eyesight's failin'."
Lije and Sim could hear the old man
laugh all the way over to the hemlock
tree, and when they found the buck
lying there, dead as a mackerel, and
with only one bullet-hole in it, and
that through the kidneys, they felt
like butting their heads against rock.
They dressed the deer and brought it
in without q word.
'It's a terrible thing wen a man gifts
old an shaky an durn nigh blind.
hain't it. boys?" said Uncle Fin, seri.
ously, as the boys tumbled the buck
on the ground at his feet. otis the
snappy young TELLER with stiddy nerves
that knocks over the venzen, hahn tit,
boys?"
Then the way this old man laughed
made the boysfee more sheepish than
ever. They took the big buck to Mast
Hope, loaded it OH the cars, and got
home the same day they went away.
But the result of the hunt has salts
fled Uncle Fin that he made mistake
in retiring from the chase two years
ago.
II see I've got to 20 out an give
them boys O. mine a leetle more train
in, he says. "W'y ii I were the side
of a barn i wouldn't be 'feerd to stan
up an let them boys peg away at me
all day. I'll be on the turf ag'in next
season, ez usual, an take 'em in han
an Parn 'em sumpin!"
"French physicians" says the New
York Commercial Advertiser, s'seem
to value their professional services far
more highly than American physicians
do theirs, Judging from DR.. Alvarez, a
homeopathic in Paris. He lately
brought suit against the Princess de
Medina 'Cali for s130,O0O, justifying
his enormous charges by the fact Of
her enormous wealth. The court, re-
garding the bill as exorbitant, award.
ed him SIT 1000, after compelling him
to pay the costs. The doctor feels
deeply aggrieved, particularly as he
had, a few days before, refused to
compromise the matter when the de-