Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-06
T0MMIE PANTS TALKS.
HE TAKES THE SUBJECT OF A
WATERING TROUGH
For His Text-His Experience with the
Billy Goat-VFhy His Pa Don't Draw
Pension-His Aunt MoIIie's Verses

| haps noticed in The GAZETTE that mov"-
| lnent Is on foot among the ladies of Fort
| Worth loo king TO the interest of orr noble
| friend, the hOrSe-that we are endeavol'in@
to secure better water and drinking
| troughs for him on the public square. Our
| dunno servants have no redress save in the
| minds and hearts of humane people. there
| fore any effort in their behalf should have
| the hearty support Of all. We ask that You
! kindly lend Us The assistance of your ready
pen in bringing our work before the good
| people of Fort " orth. Respectfully,
! Mis-. DREW PRUIT.
| Mis-. HCGu I. WILSON,
and others.
TEXARKASA, Sept. }, 1891.
| To Mrs. Drew Pruit, Mrs. Hugh T
| Wilson and many other kind-hearted ladies
| of Fort Worth who are interested in the
| lauddble and humane undertaking of Sc
! curing better water for our noble friend,
| the horse the following random thoughts
| are respectfully addressed:
| When l was quite a small kid l heard my
| pa a readin' out loud one eveniu' u little
| cOupletsOmethin' like this:
When the devil IVES sick the devil saint
would be,
| But when he got well, the devil Of a saint was
he
| couldn't help thinkin' that was about
| in the same box myself, cause when that
| pfatle pie got in its work and | didn { gel To
| go to Mexico with THE GAZETTE girls,
| was mitey sick and | vowed then and
there, while my dear antics was a-makin'
| mustard plaSter-parlses and a-doSin' of me,
| that | would never again rite uOthiu' for
! nobody about nothin' and babe the dear
| old GAZETTE goodbye ana Went on i-suf-
| FERN ali by myself. I'm a heap easier now,
| and when | got your request to rite few
| lines about boss trofs, sorter giviu' my
| views about them, talked it over with pa.
| and asked him what he thought about
| waterin stock in the city. Pa got hot and
| said that all them blOated missionaries that
| owned and controlled cOrpOrOsitieS was al
| ways a-waterin' of their stock and ieavin'
the poor folks outside to hold the bag, and
he didn't approve of waterin' stock at all
| Poor pa. it looks like he never does get on
10 anything rite at first, but pas q good,
kind man, and his heart IS in tine rite
place, too. Once, when my little naybor
girl that's moved away now gave me her
photoGraffe, 1 told her [ would wear il next
my heart; but l only had on waste and q
pair of pants, and / had TO put it in my hip
pocket, and she snatchcd it back and said |
was either a StOry-teller or ny heart was
in the wrong place. Well. when / told pa
as how the ladies wanted to work sl1cme
so as to give the paor dumb bruteS that
work so faithfully for us d-plenty of pure
water and decent place to drink it from,
why pa Just told me 10 20 ahead and help
the ladies all l could. One time when |
was i'll Fort Worth. a real nice lady
took me UP 10 the public square
dear where that funny-lookin' Old buildin'
with a tower on it stands, and pointed out
to ME about the only place where a poor,
tired, faithful boss could get drink in all
that great city, and it was 4 tuff lookin',
Shiny, filthy trOfi, full of muddy water that
my cote wouldn't drink, and he's hard
case, you bet. He will eat anything he
finds, from an empty oyster can up to a
al. Il l.,
no dirty water and he don't have to, cause
Pa says water don't cost nothin' and poor
dumb brute that God maid dependent on US
shant suffer for water as long as he can
help it. My cote went to school with me
one day last fall, like Mary'S lamb, but they
never turned him out cause he cleaned up
the whole layout: my chum says ne was the
butt OF the school. and he wrote u few
pretty verses about him, ruunir' somethin'
like this:
"Tommie had billie cote
That ate tin cans ami sticks:
He was a butter from the knob,
And full OF fieaS and ticks.
He hiked himself to school one day
Hit was agin the rule.
But he Uit the teacher from the rear
And knocked him on his stool
And so the teacher turned him out;
But still he fingered near.
And ate the cans and cuckOld burrs
TIL Tommie did appear
There We're thirty-eight verses. but these
three will scrter show the style of them
Pa won't let me abuse my cote, even if |
wanted TO, cause he says he does hate TO
see 4 No , cote haulin' a No. kid up hill.
Poor Billie, he's all the plaything I've got
except my little bird Charlie and my dog
"Tufy." and Tufy is the onryist-lOokin'
purp you ever did see; he's so ugly his face
hurts him.
But, about some drinking places for the
poor. beasts of burden that toll so faithfully
day after day for their masters. It does
seem as if the good people of Fort Worth
would take deal of interest in the project
undertaken by the ladies' and give them
encouragement, both substantial and moral
Think of the poor, half-fed animals that
haul their burdens to the city every day
ard stand tied to the iron fence at the
courthouse all day long in the broiling sun
and then think how delicious would be
draught of pure, cool water 10 their
ling water that pushes from the earth al
most at the bidding of man, and not one
drop TO spare for his friend in time OF
need, his helper in the struggle for main
tenance, his faithful horse. Pa says: God
bless the pretty ladies that's a helpin' them
dumb bruteS,' and he sends you postage
note for 80 cents 10 sorter help out. Poor
pa don't draw no pention, cause lie was on
the left side durin' the war, and he's irwin
to save up some money now 10 get a cork
extremity or, he says, he'd send you a good
deal more. Some day I'll tell you all about
my dog fluffy" but he's sorter NANCY
now and I'm tryin' TO doctor
him up bit SO he won't
be so doggoned ugly. Poor Tufy. You
bet he gets lots 10 eat and plenty o. good,
clean water to drink. if he is ugly. / wish
had nice dog to play with, cause 1 love
'em SO. Pa says he saw in The GAZETTE
where a nice gentleman named MIR. A a
Locke had offered SIS to start a fund for
the purpose of furnishin' nice drinkin'
places for bosses in Fort Worth, and Pa
says fer YOU ladies to hunt him up cause
he's man with great big, generous heart
in him. and he'll do to trust and will help
you out. I've done the very bestI could for
you now. and hope you wont make fun o.
my spellin', nor OF poor pas fifty cents,
cause its all he could afford rite now, and
you must sorter remember that poor little
boy, no matter what he may think can't do
much when it comes to ritin it down sorter