The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-02-08

might have been-ouly the feud was
much moro satisfactory, because IL had
been on for four years and hardly a
! month had passed during al that time
| that had not witnessed some new epi-
! sode IN the affair, apd each one seemed
more startling than It's predecessor.
! And so IS was that the good people Cd
| Hickey township held their heads Just
q little bit higher than their less fortu-
nate friends who resided IN more peace
full portions of the country.
1.-THE feud-al1 started on account
of yearling cch-than which, permi,
fui e1perience) 20 iuterpolate, thers
never was nor can there ever be a
| creature more hopebessly, unreason-
ably 'Noruery," and ons more pro
ductive Of sinful language and display
of suitry temper on the paxt of its
keepers TearLing calves have caused
the recording angel more trouble.
broken mp more old friendships, pro
doced mere family jars, and, in the
form Of veal, bego.teu more indigestion
aud the insomnia resultant therefrom-
thar-brt this is not an essay on the
sinful. sportive steeriet and his short
coniDGs.
The Walkers and The Benedicts had
been Odd neighbours fos years, back in
Ioway." In fact the elder Walkers
and the elder Benedicts had been mar
ginning of the war, and had just set
tied on adjoining homeste ads when the
first gun was fired on Sumter. The
men enlisted in the same company.
fought side BY side, ate and slept
and suffered together; and at
homo their young wives waited
and wept together When the little
Walkers and the little Benedicts
grew Large enough to run about, they
were play mates md boon companions;
the children of one family felt as much
at liberty in the home OF the other as
they did in their oUn-for twenty-eignt
years the two families had lived in
peace and amity, and then that Jnisera-
bic calf precipa&aIed an irreparable
row. 1t was too bad, al the neigh bors
said. but it is q noticeable fact that
klbAC VI SCOO ~ Ht3h(Ia up d
peaoe-hfe IN Hickey township and at
Hickey corners would have been dali
indeed, but for the feud; SO every body
sat by and watched each new phase Of
the affair with nervous, morbid IN
terest, and commented thereon, but
not in o manner likely to prove con-
ducive to truce ON the part of the dis
putantS
1t was this Why: The Benedict and
Walker houses had been built ON adj
iacent corners OF the homestead guar
ters, and were quite close together; in
fact, one well, sunk on the quarter
section line between the two home
steads, had furnished water for both
families for the first four years after
coming to Dakota, and It was only a
short distance from either house.
But it came to pass that on the Walk
er domain there was born, and grew,
and waxed fat and sassy" brindle
calf, with a right smart chance of
white IN its eye and a plethora of deep
dyed mischief IN its soul-and he for
1t was a young gentleman ''crft<er"),
while yet of tender age but tough
record, engendered the feud- He had
wandered away tho day before, and
when ne returned. at night the gate OF
the calf-pen was shut against hin:and in
he morning, when Papa Benedict arose
from post-breakfast family prayers,
and, followed by the younger nalo
Benedicts, hied him toward the stable,
he behold his neighbOr's incipient steer
nipping in the bud sundry young and
toOthsome eabbages. and kickinG ont