St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-11-26
MISCELLANY.
~ OLD FOLKS WON THE OAKS
A CAPITAL Southern Story.


E4bles of Col Bill, a typical Kentuckian.
I'd Folks" is a queer little colored boy,
10 appeared at the stables one day from
e$ody knows where, and was accepted and
dc at home as an attache, winning place
rcause of his phenomenal accomplishments
dancer, his gift as story-teller. his
ange Ways' , and his ',ga gan IN fheTe
<fased to do, and that was to ride the
ofses. slyly telling Col. Bill, as an excuse
I'D his left leg was "a little bogus; 3" AN
rou cher took notice OBJ me a-dancin', you
ri dun it all with my right leg: and dat 1ef
td soon found how fatal to his rule was his
z<zz bility to ride, and he was anxious to re-
som drew near, to take place on the Mem
SIS track he urgently besought Col. Bill to
H. ich all the colonel's hopes were staked
III. Bill good-naturedly put him off, but
ben the eventful hour arrived, and when
s I'd came that the Jockey who was to ride the
III re to hoped-for triumph dead drunk,
Old Folks" was put on her back as a last
Ftsort How this came about. and how he
ode the beautiful horse to victory is thus
"a Col Bill turned around, and there
bod Old Folks. The boy touched
IS hat respectfully.
'Kunnel Bill" he cried with nerv-
b S eagerness, 'Kunnell Bill, plea,
sfr, lemrne ride de mare
Colonel Bill felt little CLEAN of
1ope 1t was with no change of ex-
zEeression, however, that he said
~ ortly:
Why, you can't ride; what do you
kno w bout ridin' ?"
'Kunnel BILL cried Old Folks,
sIl arply, "ef dat fool niggah Ike kin
de, l kin ride. Eff de mare don't
lin, you kin jes', here Old Folks
ia used moment for a comparison,
md then the colonel's awful threat
10 Ike came back to him-''You kin
IS skin me an cut my black yeres
"Why, you couldn't sit on the
Mare" responded the colonel in a
more Modified tone.
"Jes' try me-" urged Old Folks
With a voice of keenest entreaty.
Jes' try me, only plea, sir, try me
#once."
q The colonel looked at his watch.
1T was nearly two O'Clock. The
horses would be at the post in an
n hour There was no possible hope
a Of getting any one else. Then came
a thought of the Mobile stable and
4 he treacherous Ike.
"Old Folks" said the colonel with
great solemnity, you can ride the
hare; an eff you beat that niggah
Ike I'll give you mo- money than
yer you heard tell of in all yo' life. u
The Oaks was the big race OF the
meeting, and all Memphis turned
but to see it rum The crowd filled
the grand stand and overfowed into
THE inner field, lining the track on
|Hboth sides. Up in the boxes young
ladies in gay attire made little ex.
carnations and picked out horses to
win because they had pretty names
On the lawn the crowd dubbed UP
1 into excited groups and fell away in
quiet eddies, moving hlther and
4 thither, filled with the fever of unrest
Fl as shifting and uneasy as the yellow
Il waves dancing away off yonder or
n the bosom of the Mississippi, while
Z all the time the brazen throated rims
Il brawled forth it's odds. Everywhere
Fl there was motion, life. The entry o
the Mobile stable, Cleopatra. wa:
81 thestrong favorite. The newspaper:
had been discussing her for weeks
and the public concluded that sh'
was invincible.
81 "What's the matter with the colo
nel's mare?" asked Joe Sutton, thu
81 biggest book-maker in the ring, of {
trainer who bet him on the favorite
ooh, she can't win," was the reply
"Grubbsy's went off on a toot ano
8 they've got nobody to ride. It's {
walk for Cleopatra. There won't b.
nothing else in it,
Il never heard of that boy before,
unused the book-maker, looking VI
at the list of jockeys. 80. Folks
who is he ?"
'Only stable boy" answered thu
trainer. "a little niger that dom
know no more about ridin' than yol
Zoe laughed good-naturedly ano
went on with his book, leugthenins
the odds against the mare. A strons
tip was out on Catalpa and Fairy
Rose, the Californians, and they wer'
holly played. The Johnsons of Ala
bama sent commission in on thei
entry, Kathleen and Elizabeth. BLU
Eyes found friends, and so did Tan
trum. The rank outsider was tn
colOnel's mare.
III lay fifty to one against Bill
mare" yelled the Chicago plunger
one of the heaviest betters in tn
Southern Circuit
T'll jes' go you hundred" criec
a big, ruddy-faced young man witt
wide-open blue eyes and tawn,
mustache, pushing his way through
the crowd. The bookmaker hest
tated a moment, and then, rubin;
his odds at the same time, called GU
to his sheetwriter:
"All right, $4,000 to $780," an
then as the stranger walked ava.
with the ticket in his pocket, h
asked curiously: who is that fel
low?'
Don't you know him !" responde'
the sheet-writer. why, that's Co
Onel Bill himself
The Chicago plunger watched tn
colonel going down the line, and h
noticed that wherever the odds wer