The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-09-12
THE OLD MANS TALE.
It II About a Tin Pail and q Mare, ant
Remarkable Indeed.

Remarkable Indeed.
He was sitting on the lower forward
deck of one of the Staten Island rapid
transit ferry boats. He was an old man,
with a serious expression in his gray
eyes, and his mouth above his snowy
beard was thin and tightly closed. He
did not look at all like man who
would lie unless there was money to be
made by so doing. Yet the following
Is truthful account of what he said to
an acquaintance who came and sat near
him. There were several horses on the
boat, and few words to one of them
gave the old man chance to unburden
his mind. This is how he did it:
Eyes, sir; talkin' of horses reminds
me of suthin' that happened to me
t'other day when was out ridin' with
my little boy. We was in my buggy
an was drivin' that old mare O. mine.
You know that old mare. She amt got
no bad tricks an she never he'd. My
old woman has driv her ever sence Igot
her, an she never he'd no trouble O. no
kind with her. Well, sir, l was drivin'
her, as l was a-sayin', with my little
boy last Thurs day afternoon. Remem-
Der what showery day it was last
Thursday? Well, one O. them showers
come up VIII en- l was a-drivin'. an put
the mare in trot to git to shelter SOS
the boy wouldn't get wet Make her
60 faster, pop says my little boy. an 1
hit her lick with the whip to sort O.
hurry her up. First thing you know she
was goin' at two-forty gait an l leant
back an put the whip away. Jest then
we ran over tin bucket that was a-lyin'
in the road an somehow or other the
handle of the bucket got caught round
one of the spokes of the buggy wheel
an went a-circlin' round with it. 1t
made. the durndest clatter l ever did
hear, an it liked to have scarf the wits
clean out O. that there mare. She jest
laid back her ears, kim O snorted like
an bumped herself for all she knowed
how. Go! l never seed the like in my
life. She jest whizzed along, an every
time that old tin bucket pounded the
ground she bumped herself along faster.
You bet my little boy didn't tell me to
drive no faster then. He was as scarf
as the mare. l took him between my
knees an helt onto him tight. Well, sir,
don't know what wouldn't happened
If it hedn't ben that the tin pail fetched
loose from the wheel, an went whiz-
zin' by my head toward the mare, an III
be gosh burned if it didn't hit her in the
flank an ketch onto her tail an stick
there. That's what it did. Then she
did go. D'yever see any race horses
comm down the homestretch in close
heat? Well. they wasn't circumstance
to the way that mare O. mine run last
Thursday. She got right down close to
the ground an SKINNED along the street
like lightnin' express on down grade
with all the brakes wide open. The tin
bucket kept swingin' from side to side,
an hittin' her on first one flank an then
the other, an at ev'ry lick she went
faster. l do reckon she was a-goin'
most mile minute, when at last the
bucket broke loose from her tail. Then
got fresh hold on the lines
an sorter slackened her up, an
fore long she was a-trotting jest
as nice an easy as you please.
1t was the queerest thing that ever
happened to me in all the years I've
been a-drivin', and don't want nothin'
like it to happen again. The next time
I see tin pail a-lyin' in the road you
kin bet I'll give it all the room it
wants. Hello! Here we are in the
slip. l didn't think we was much past
Gov'nor's Island. reckon we'd better
be mOvin' to git off the boat"
And the old man shut his lips close
together again and was lost in the
crowd which was fastening to get up
town from the Battery. The man to
whom he had been talking was standing
stock still gazing after him and shaking
his head slowly from side to side. IN.
Y Sum-