Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-03-05

MS bare feet We all started on in
great spirits, and nobody liked to give
up. Every body forgot that the further
we went the further we would have to
walk back.
BY the time we got . quarter Of Q
mile from the village two Of the boys
were crying quietly and every body's feet
were red and half frozen. Then some
body suggested that perhaps we had bet
ter turn back. and turn back we did.
The disastrous march Of Napoleon from
Moscow was nothing compared TO
that horrible tramp back to the VII.
lsge. It is wonder to me to this day
that amputation was not necessary for
the legs of half the boys in the VIII
lage. Our feet were so swollen when
we got back that it was impossible to
put on our shoes, although most Of US
managed to draw on our stockings, and
in that way we limped of to our several
homes.
That, however, must say to the credit
OF the boys, was about the only joke
they ever played on themselves during
the meeting of the secret conclave.
After that the jokes were on the other
people. One Of the most successful Of
these was the robbery Of cellar that
belonged to the father Of one of our
boys. The SON Of his father assisted
manfully during this crime and, in fact,
1t was through his Intervention that we
managed to bring the thing to such
successful conclusion. This man had
the largest apple orchard that was any.
where near the village, and during the
winter there was stored in the cellar any
amount Of fine apples. do not remem-
Der who it was that first thought of the
robbery. The boy said that there were
lots Of apples In his fathers cellar and
he proposed that We should all 60 up and
have as many as We could eat This
was at once assented to, and we were
eating the apples in the cellar when the
thought OF robbing the ranch occurred
to somebody. Near the house of the
owner OF the apples there lived a man
who had been elected chaplain of the
lodge OF Good Templars. He was a seri-
ous-minded man and he owned cellar.
SO it was at once proposed that we should
at once transfer the apples from the one
cellar into the other. We got a oouple
of bushel baskets that two bows could
carry between them, and every one set
to work with will. In those DAYS there
were no fears of robbers in the village,
and 1t was quite easy to get into any
house in the place.
Somebody entered the chaplsin's
house and opened the cellar door, and
then we worked with a vim that we
would never have shown if the labor had
been legitimate. After about an hour
OF hard labor we transferred everv
apple from the one cellar into another.
closed things up as they were before
and made for our respective homes. The
wonder of this thing was that, 80 many
of the boys being engaged in it, the
truth of the matter was never discov-
cred to this day. There was an awful
row raised about the robbery, and the
matter was put in the hands Of con-
stable. We had a constable in that vii.
lage who represented the law, and he
started out to find the perpetrators of
the vile deed, and began by arresting
various innocent persons who bore bad
regulations and who lived on the out
skirts of the village.
When the chaplain discovered that
somebody had left wagon load or so of
apPAoS III HIS cellar, the good man
thought at first that it was a donation
party, but when the news of the apple
robbery got around he came to the orig
inal proprietor of the apples and told him
what he had found in his cellar. Beine
neighbors, the two had not such a good
opinion of each other as they ought to
have had, and the original owner of the
apples received the information that thew
had been mysteriously transferred to
his neighbor's cellar with sniff of in
dignant disbelief. He was not slow in
saying that If he had not put the matter
so promptly in the hands of the law the
other would not have discovered the ap-
pies so opportunely in his cellar. This
remark promised to lead to q suit for
slander, and the whole village was set
by the ears. However, mutual friends
stepped in and the affair was compro-
missed, but the real culprits were never
discovered, and the chaplain and the ap-
pie owner little thought that their own
two lads had been mainly responsible
for the mysterious transfer.-Luke
Sharp. in Detroit Free Press.