Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-08-24
THE END OF A FEUD.

settlers in and about Hickey Town
SHIP Just us u haunted house or ii
murder mystery or Il lOng-llvcd scan-
dial ilight have been, only the fcud
was much more satisfactory because
1t had been on for four years, and
hardly Il month had passed during all
that time that had not witnessed some
new episode IN the affair and each one
see .cd more startling tnan its prede-
ccssor And so 1t was that the good
people of Hickey Township held their
heads just a little bit higher than
Their less fortunate friends who re-
side in more peaceful portions of the
country.
1.-THE feud-all started on account
OF . yeariinr calf-than which, per-
nit Inc (a stock raiser Of limited but
fruitful eXperlence) to interp late,
there never was nor can there ever be
creature more hopclessly, unreason-
ably 'OrDery" and one more p,oduc-
tive of sinful language and display of
sultry temper on the part OF its keep
erS. 4earling calves have caused
the recording angel more trouble,
broken up more old friendships, pro-
duced more family jas and in the
form of veal begotten more lndiges.
ton and the insomnia resulting there
from than-but this is not an essay on
the sinful. sportive stesrlet and his
shortcomings.
The Walkers and the Benedicts had
been old neighbors fora years. 'back
in lOway." In fact, the elder Walk
Grs and the elder Benedicts had been
married about the same time. at the
beginning OF the war, and had just
settled on adjoining homcsteads when
the first gun was fired on Sumter.
The men enlisted in the same COM
pany, fought side by side. ate and
slept and suffered together, and at
home their young wives waited and
wept together. When the little
Walkers and the little Benedicts grew
large enough to run about they were
Dlaymates and boone companions; the
children of one family felt as much
at liberty in the home of the other
as they did in their own-for twenty
eight years the two families lived in
peace and amity, and then that mis-
erable calf precipitated an irrepara BILE
row. 1t was too bad, all the neigh
bOrS said, but it is a noticeable fact
that none OF them attempted to patch
up Il piece-life in Hickey Township
and at Hickey Corners would have
been dull, indeed, but for the feud;
SO everybody sat by and watched each
new phase OF the affair with nervous,
morbid interest and commented
thereon, but not in manner likely
to prove conducive to truce on the
part of the disputants.
1t was in this way: The Benedict
and Walker houses had been built on
adjacent corners of the homestead
quarters, and were quite close to-
gether; in fact, one we'll, sunk on the
quarter section line between the two
homeSteads, had furnished water for
both families for the first four years
after coming to Dakota, and it was
only IL short distance from either
house.
But it came to PISS on the Walker
domain there was born aud grew and
waxed fat and SASSY brindle calf,
with right smart chance of white
in its eye and plethora of deep.dyed
mischief in its soul-and he Cfor it
was young gentleman "critter'),
while yet of tender age but tough of
record, engendered the feud He had
wandered away the day before, and
when he returned at night the gate
of the calf pen was shut against him,
and In the morning when Papa Benc.
dict arose from pOSt-hreaktast family
prayers and followed by the Younger
male BenedictS hied him toward the
stable, he beheld his neighbours in
cipient steer nipping in the bud
sundry young and toothsome cabbages
and kicking out of the earth, in his
bovine abandon, all he could not eat.
Then Papa Benedict was wroth
and thereupon did he give way to
naughty, profane words, while the
young Benedicts surrounded the of.
Tending calf and brought him up for
Judgment.
Now Papa Benedict was man OF
hastv temper, but easily calmed; so
when the calf was rendered him at
the end of a long picket-rope his
wrath had decreased several degrees
and he wound the rope around his
hands and started to lead the calf
home
IL was while he was pondering on
what to say to the calls owner that
the calf suddenly remembered a rre-
ylous engagement and started il. some
haste to keep it, heading directly
across the croQuet ground. Papa
Benedict wished to follow with more
dignity than the calf desired, and
presently his feet were scraped from
under him by wicket. and he was
being handled the way the vaqueros
IN South America are supposed tt
make butter-at the end of a lasso.
He did not look very neat when few
minutes later he reached the Walker
residence and called his neighbor out
ne was holding the calf up short, but
ms temper had slipped its tether auG