Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1890-08-13
To AK AND THs wooppiLE
d DoD DunDErf1.

Every humsn male man who pos
ssssee evea . lingering faint d tsmpsA
should kssp a a ana : woodpile
somsvhsse handy that he may rush
out ard work Cd his wrath whom il
wakes 1srcs. There = nothing In this
vain old world that viii Sand . man
back . his appointed work with .
more wilted collar and . truer com.
prehension Of himself than thirty Mn
utes, wrestling with . fu1l-Aavofed az.
He can nj II 20 Aercsly on the wood.
All the fury Of his nature, al the hate
he teels for his enemy. hs can infuse
into that sx-handle. and how the chips
will dy. Not very artistically, prob
ably. but they wilfhy. And presently
1t begins to dawn upon the man that
he u feeling more calm. Evidently he
i experiencing . change Of heart. He
does not hate his enemy 20 bitterly,
after all. The OK weighs about eighty
n pounds on the up stroke. He does
not hate his enemy q all. He changes
his stroke, and begins to chop on The
system Of Italian penmanship, the mp
strokes heavy and the down strokes
light. He rather loves his enemy now.
At last he puts al his failing strength
into n terrific blow. He misses his
tip with the Ak, and smites the chop
ping block with the handle. A Jingle
% though he had swallowed IN alarm
clock goes from elbow to hip and back
again, the AZ drops from his powerless
hands, and, . weak, limp, nerveless,
perspiring, trembling thing, he stag
gers into the house, lies down on the
first thing that looks like . lounge, and
IL ready to die. There isn't q fear or .
fault in his heart. Death has NO ter
rors and life no temptations for him.
He has chopped out all his baser ma
ture. and IL Just Is ethereal and spir-
itual q he can be on this side Of Jor-
dan. It is great medicine.
People with whom / have been quar-
reling all the spring would be amazed
to see me now. I foolishly contracted.
last year, to keep q campfire going. /
didn't know then that It took all the
forests in the Adirondack spurs TO keep
up one little campfire. / am not .
large, tall, broad, sinewy man, and the
AZ they gave me might have beaten
down the brazen gates Of what-you.
may-call-t that what's-his-name be-
sieged, il he over did besiege it. I
have fallen trees with that Ak that
would have made Mr.. Gladstone shud-
der. They tell me I must say felled,
not fallen, but / know better, because
l only cut down fallen trees. My
wrists were larger than my knees, |
which goes to show that / didn't pray
- hard as ! chopped, but / didn't have
strength enough to hate anybody; I
was too limp to commit the lightest
sin, 80 I didn't have much need of
prayer. / didn't write any the follow
Ing week, because I couldn't close my
fingers over anything smaller than IN
ax-helve. We tried tying the pen.
holder to my elboHs, but they didn't
bend with that kind Of an implement.
My hands were . little better the next
week, but I was as badly ax-ridden Is
/ hear voices call even now for |
more wood" though 1 assure you I
cut . cord between every paragraph.
At least I think I did. But I went out
and chopped until the OK few off the
handle, which was dropped every Ave
minutes, and then I heaped high the
fagots, and crawled in to the campfire
and showed the old martyrs how
sweetly and joyously . man could roast
himself rather than cut one solitary
other stick of wood more.