The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-07-22
The Hard Lines of Life.


most novel vehicle the light harness
horse world over beheld. Nothing but
view oft win ever give our readers an
accurate idea of how it really looked;
and having once seen it, it will never
be forgotten. To describe it correctly
with pen is impossible.
A little grass-bellied pony, whose ribs
and bones stood out at every angle OF
the circle, whose back was swayed uIl-
der the weight of years and hard work,
whose feet were cracked, whose mane
had been eaten of, apparently by the
calves, and whose legs were pulled and
swollen, but whose game, little head and
nervous eye betOkened the "dO or die"
quality of the little chap, was hitched to
a vehicle-an1 such vehicle! No man
ever saw ono like it before; perhaps
never will again.
Imagine, reader, boys play wagon
made three times as large as usual, with
body three feet across and about one
foot deep, but in length as long as an or
dinary wagon,th making it decidedly
| canoe shaped. Imagine four little wheels
scarcely two feet in diameter. Imagine
over all thin, faded piece of domestic
on hoops stretched above it to answer
for a covering, and you have some idea
of this little %prairie schooner" 1t did
not look like a wagon; it looked like
broken-down child's plaything, intended
| fora wagon and drawn by an oVergrown
goat.
Holding a pair of rope lines was a
man of about forty years, but thin ana
hungry looking, unnerved, the strength
of honest manhood gone, and dull
hard look settled over his face. He
glanced about occasionally as if he WAS
afraid some one would speak to him,
but he held his little pony while the
rain beat down upon him.
Clutching the two wire strings which
ran through the rear OF the wagon to
hold in the EG9r gate, WAS lean and
broken creature, whom Opr pen hesi-
lates to picture. Barefaotea, ragged,
Undiscovered, her shoulders stopped,
her chest sunk, her dress wet to the
knees, but her eyes full of mother lOVe
and sympathy under her old bonnet,
was a woman think OF it-a white
woman, holding 10 the wagon to be
half dragged, half walked, half pulled
along by the side of this little cart
which contained her all.
"Stand back" said the officer az we
walked up, prompted by curiosity to
see the contents of this turnout.
"Stand back, gentlemen, there is
smallpox in that wagon"
Smallpox, indeed" We mentally
calculated. as we went up to the reaI and
lifted the curtain of the queer little
wagon and stopped down to see within.
Reader, we almost started! You have
lived on ths old farm or in the peaceful,
quiet town and have plenty to eat and
to spare; you know not the suffering, the
misery, the heart-Rches that surround
you.
In this little wagon, piled on some old
blankets, surrounded with tubs, spin
ming wheel, pots and kettles, were five
little children. The smallest of them
had been jostled about till it had gone to
sleep with a stick of candy in its hand,
and its head, which had evidently been
on an old blanket near, now rested on
the upturned base Of an old kettle. An
other sat near the front, eating an apple
some one had given it, and hardly clad
in garments sufficiently warm to keep
out the cold, damp air. The third, a
bright-lOoking boy, held a small yellow
kitten in his arms and was quietly suck
ing piece of his brothers candy. The
fourth was peeping out of the front at
the crowd, and the fifth, a blue-eyed girl
of about twelve years of age, but very
small, seemed to be acting as hostess
and nodded a pleasant bow as we asked
her where she came from.
"FrOm Lincoln County, Sir"
"And where are you gOing?"
"Oh, 1 don't know, mister; way over a
rver."
"TO Shelby County, Kentucky" said
the mother, who heard our question.
"To Shelby County, kentucky" we
gasped. "Why, madam, you cant get
there with this little wagon"
"Oh, yes we can, sir; Jim is powerful
stayin' horse. And then he don't pull
nothing but the chillun and the plum
der. Me and the old man, we walks"
"But have you come all the way in this
thing?"
ayes sir, all the way-except down in
Marshall cOunty-we stopped there two
days out of the rain and to bury the
baby; he died there. They wero kind to
us. He was good little fellow; and he
played around in there with the chill
lun, and when we didn't have much to
eat he didn't cry. But it rained on him
every day and one night he died of
Group; right in my arms. o, sir, it was
hardp
The little girl nodded affirmatively
like the half concerning Jim's goodness
and the baby's had not been told, and
the tears almost came to our eyes as we
hunted in our pocket for something to
help them on; wishing, as we gave it,
that it was ten times as much. The little
girl slipped the coin in her pocket while
she patted her sleeping. brothers cheek
and said:
willie, l can get you some more
candy now, wake up"
"Move on, Dave" said the woman as
she pulled her bonnet further down 10
hide her tears. "Oh if / could only
get home again! am so tired"
The man jerked the reins; brave little
Jim threw himself in the collar and
they moved of, the mother holding to
the wire in the gate and plodding
wearily along.
AS they moved of the little girl, the
unsslfish, gentle creature who was wet
and hungry then, but who thought only
of Willie, thrust her head out OF the
wagon and said:
"GOod-by, mister; when get 70 the
next town I'll buy Willie some candy
for you"-and they went on down the
hill.
"Gentlemen," we said, to the curious
crowd that stood Watching them of,
"Andrew Jackson's father was hauled
to his grave on An old broken down
sledge, and Jackson himself and his
brother were moved around ss objects
of charity in an OK cart, with . broken
down mother for q driver. We know
not what is in yonder wagon"
hal nd