Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-02-09
A Big LOAd.

Old Man White was Il character of
prominence in small Maine town some
years ago. IIe was the local liar, of whom
the town was justly proud, for it was said
he could give "pints to AIRY other critter in
the caountry, an then beat him at yarnin
it, without hafe tryin" Nuone could tell
a bigger or more impossible story than
White II they attempted it, the old sin
ner would not rest until he had invented
some yarn that completely put his rival to
route. Sometimes he "cut his own fin
gers in II most decided manner, but he
would never acknowledge it, and he
promptly got angry on having slips of the
kind pointed ont to him
One night, as party of us sat around n
comfortable fire in the big wood stove of
the village grocery, the men began telling
about large loads of various kinds they
had seen drawn by cattle. After listening
in silence for long time, Old Man White
Strengthened up, took in new 'chaw''
and cleared his throat for action. In mo
ment, everybody was listening in an mt
tentive manner, although significant winks
and mods passed around the circle.
"Talkiu abaout big loads r'minds me. d"
drawled White, speaking through his nose
with the genuine down east tWang Year
ago last haydn | hawled in the gaul ding
dest load of hay with them air steers whut
| sold jed Blaisdel. hain't gin to work
i'll on Sunday, as eV'rybOdy knows. but ii
happened he'd slathers of hay in the cock,
an | saw an all fired big shower a-comin
up. Thar wasn't one of the men araound
the place, as they d all gone OIL fshin but
| jest hollers To my wife to come aout an
give me hand an then yoked the steers
an kited right aout inter the field
"Anybody as knows anything about
me knows I'm purity good man at pitch
in on. So told the old woman to Jest git
up inter the rack an tread an take kepr
didn't bury her. She done it, an will
say she 5 Jest abaOut the best man at build
in load ever saw, by gum The way
tossed them cocks up inter that rack an
braided them air steers araound that there
field WIS ii caution to cats.
"Well, kept a-pilin an buildin an
Nancy kept a-treadin. Purity soon the load
got SO high | he'd to toss the cocks up, an
| jest kept the air full of em till Nancy
she yelled whoa. Then she sed the load'd
never ride to the barn 'thout goin to
pieces, but lowed could fix that. | got
"A bindin pole an hitched it forrud an aft,
though | didn't hev very good rope to
make it fast at the back. To fix this,
jest told Nancy to put her weight onter it
an bear down fer all she wus with.
"By this time, it he'd begun ter rain, an
jest braided them steers till they went
fer ther barn a-kitin. When ther front
wheels struck the sill at the door, the back
rope a-holdin the bindin pole bruck The
old woman was squattin on that end,
an when the pole Tipped up it jest sent her
right up over the roof of the barn. That
air load was so blamed heavy that them
steers, bein new shod, he'd to git down an
scratch, an they ripped up every plank of
the barn floor jest as fast as they passed
over it, by gum"
The old man stopped, and somebody
ventured TO inquire:
"Wus your wife hurt? sh'ud thought
it'd killed her W en- she struck"
"She struck on the load of hay" said
White.
"Why, the hay WIS in the barnp
"Not much. Them steers got ter goin so
fast they couldn't stop, an they took the
load clean through an uout the front
doors. Lucky they did, fer jest then the
old woman came sailin over the barn like
a balloon an struck right on the load,
'thout touchin another thing Never hurt
her hair, by juxH
There were several moments of profound
silence, broken by the same inquiring in
dividual who had spoken before.
But you sed the shoes of the steers rip
ped up the planks of the floor right along
Haow'd they haul the load through"
Old Man White bridled up in an instant
Haul it through, you gaul dern chug
head!' he snorted. "Why, they jest yank-
ed it along so blamed fast the load didn't
hev time to drop through the foorl Haow
in thunderd you think they hauled it
through An if they hadn't hauled it
through my wife'd be dead now. She's
livin-that's proof they hauled it through
If airy critter thinks it amt proof let him
say so ter me right now"
And nobody said word
GnnEpT u ATTEN