The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-08-11
MONEY IN THEM
The Reward OF Labor in Produc-
ing q Caudated Variety.
A Smart Aleek fror, Town Runs Cp
3 Against a Reuben at q Country Fair
Who Relieves HIN cf Hi. Mad
and His Conceit.

at have just come in from the coun-
try" said the Young man with the win
ter style derby, according 10 the Chi
cago Times. and succeeded in making
large and juicy fool of myself almost
every day while was there. l stayed
with an uncle of mine who has farm
sixteen or seventeen miles from no
where, and the Reubens got the laugh
on me so many times that l can't re-
member the number.
The queerest experience that had,
though, was at one of their county
fairs. They held the fair early
this year, for some reason or other, and
i was on hand to take it iu- went out
20 the grounds with party Of young
women who were visiting in the neigh
borhood. and, undismayed by the fall
ure of my former attempts TO string the
rustics. | started ont to have fun with
them as soon as we struck the ground.
We walked around the grounds for
couple of hours. and | was polSing all
manner of fun ct the people we met.
Finally we came TO the shed where the
poultry was on exhibition, and, as we
went along looking at the variously-
bred chickens, got particularly funny.
At the end of one of the rows of coops
in it. There were quite number of
countrymen standing around looking
at the queer little animals.
I'VE walked over and looked at the
pigs. Then I said loudly: DO you
know that if you pick up guinea pig
by the tail its eyes will drop out?' The
countrymen stared. Fact l contin-
ued. Pick one of them up by the tail
and its eyes viii drop right out. Most
queerly constructed anatomically of
any animal known TO naturalists. If
these pigs were mine l would soon
show you
"A big, strapping fellow who stood
beside the box said: Stranger. don't
believe you / insisted that l was
right, but he stood and doggedly shook
his head, and the rest of the country
men sided with him. Now, guinea
pig has no tail, and there is where the
joke comes in. argued for some lit
tie time and then made grand bluff.
/ pulled out little roll of bills and of
fered to bet the Reuben twenty-five
dollars that just that thing would hap
pen. Imagine my surprise when the
Reuben hauled a greasy old pocket
book out of his jeans and covered the
money. I was sure | had him, for the
bet was catch one anyhow, and as the
young women who were with me were
egging me on couldn't think of funk
ing.
Understand I said. Y claim that
II you pick up that guinea pig by its
tail its eyes viii drop out
81 understand said the country
man, as he opened little door in the
side of the box and pulled out guinea
pig. Now, pick this one up and let's
see its eyes drop out
Then I began to laugh. 'Ha, my
Fl lends, said, 4 have played a little
trick on you, that's all. AS a guinea
pig has no tail, You can't pick one up
by it. IfSou could, 1 do not doubt that
its eyes would drop out
Il reached out for my half of the bet,
when the big countryman said: 'HoP
JHcTG, Ou JiSJ Apph OH SCc
if this here guinea pig hain't got a
tail l examined it. and may l be
switched if it didn't have tail an inch
long. The countryTnan picked it up
by the little caudal appendage, and. .'of
course, its eyes didn't drop out. Then
he reached over and grabbed the wad
of money and put it in his pocket, re-
marking, the while; L didn't think
when l developed that breed of guineas
that they would ever make that much
for me-.
''I'u be blamed if ne hadn't been
working for three years to produce
guinea pigs with tailsl He had sue
ceeded, and was chump enough to go
up against the only cage of that kind
of animals in the world with my chest
nut about their eyes dropping out"