Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1890-05-03
'LlAs. WONDERFUL COLT.
The Story OF the Trials OF an Old Hero
Told by a Maine Man.

The Story OF the Trials OF an Old Hero
Told by a Maine Man.
81 remember the first time that saw
Elias Perkins" said the man from Maine
to tho Now York Tribune. ''EIe wa.
sitting on fence-rail, whiting stick.
The neXt time I saw him he wa.
perchcd on the same rail, and the stick
in his loft hand seemed to be the same
one as before. i saw him many times
that summer, and he always sat on the
fence, and he always whitfield.
"lle was one of those pieces of hickory
that one meets in my State He was
over sixty years old, but during the
winter he could swing an axe with any
man in tho woods. He never worked in
tho summer. He had picked up q deal
OF knowledge somewhere, and his brain
was like an iron box, for he never for
got anything which he once got into his
head. He would discuss 'algebree, trigo-
nometree and the classics as he ex-
pressed it, with equal willingness, but
he would add, 4 prefer the old poets;
they get down to business without
many flouriShes.' I have heard him
quote Homer by the hundred lines with
out break, his long arm making I'M
calmly gestures, and his whitened head
bowling with solemn dignity at the end
of each verse. In geometry he would
rattle away at any thing, winding up
with an impressive QUAD erat demon
strandum.'
'"Llas, every body called him, and he
was often called upon to act as the final
referee in cases of dispute, for it was adj
mitted in that part of the country that
'Lias knew every thing. But 'Lias was
destined to show his weakness late in
life, and the result of it was more Sc
we're than years of chopping at pines in
the coolest Maine weather.
''It was the second summer of nv ac-
quaintance with him that found him
ono day, as usual, on the fence, but his
knife was not at work as usual on piece
of wood. He was pegging away in an
absent-minded fashion at the rail itself.
i went into the village day before
yesterday said Elias, looking up with
weary look in his faded blue ewes,
and 1 bought a colt. I'm going to raise
him, and have the finest horse in this
township
"'Well, Elias I said, what are YOU
going to do with him? What do you
need of horse?'
81 just want to raise him. he an
swered. But he's a tough one to
handle. think that's why want to
raise him.
1.-TWO days afterward, when 1 saw him
again, both his knife and whiting
stick were gone.
elbows the colt, Elias?' I asked.
He got up in the hills yesterday,
/ ont 90
He's back now The old man showed
signs of fatigue.
Perhaps there never was colt moro
vicious than Elias. heard of the ami
mails capers every day, and it kept
Elias continually busy looking after his
new pet. But one day found him back
in his old position, looking like himself.
"'Where's the colt to-day?' asked.
He's lost said Elias. with satisfac-
ton, and he quoted some verses to show
his submission to fate.
"ln three days Elias had gone back to
his old friends, the knife and the stick.
But on the morning Of the fourth day
when he got up he found his colt stand
ing at the door of his little house.
Henceforth troubles came thick and fast
upon the old backwoodsman. His back
began to bend over, and nothing could
induce him to talk of the old poets! The
old man went to pieces rapidly, but he
would not give up the colt. This con-
dition Of affairs continued until it was
difficult for Elias to drag himself around.
One night the vicious colt, while Jump
ing fence, caught one of its legs and
broke it. Some one took q rifle and
ended the brute's suffering. When I
heard Of this the next day called on
Elias. He was lying on his bed, with
his eyes closed, but there was supreme
look of rest on the yellow face, and q
smile Of content about the thin lines at
the corner of the mouth.
Elias 1 said, it was too bad about
tho COLT
eyes, said the old man, with a
smile. Il think 1 was teaching him q
little deoency II was too had Tn no do