The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1894-06-09
OLD ZEKE SKINNER.

! up that, / tell you"
The whip cut the air with a stingina
sound, and the horses made another
desperate effort to climb the hill. Al
every attempt to take a forward step
the calkless shoes slipped backward,
and first one animal and then the otnef
was upon his knees. The w minutes
of plunging, paving and slipping on
the horses part and Of whipping, yell
ing and swearing on the part OF the
driver ended in the heavily laden sled
dropping back where it was before.
Zeke Skinner was on the border OF
despair. With his warped nature ana
irritable temper even a m0le-hlll o1ten
appeared Of mountain size; and the
present trouble was not of the lighteSt,
ever unmagnified.
1t was midwinter. An Iowa prairie,
with it's ice-bound, barren prospect,
stretched off in every direction. There
were threatening signs of an approach
ing blizzard, and it's forrunners We're
already sending out an occasional
breath filled with snoW-dust. The dark
ness Of night was less than an hour dis.
tant. And here was Zeke with a load
of stove coal on his sled, ut the foot Of
Il slippery hill which he could not climb,
| and the nearest house, his own, was
two miles away.
A neighbOr of Zeke's came riding
along, and with Il sort of ~self-satisfied
and triumphant grin on his face, shout
ed as he passed:
Hello, Skipner! Got stuck, eh?'
Il hain't nutller," came the reply in
a surly growl. Some folks don't know
huff ter rest their team at the foot of
4 hill; but l do"
"'Tain't none O. his business, 10.
way" he muttered to himself in ex-
cuse.
The passing horses pranced up the
hillside as though it were fun to plant
their sharp calks into the CLASSY sur
face, while the owner, with Il chuckle
to himself, s~oliloquized:
wal, | hope ole Skinner IL larn by
the time he gifts ready ter die fer I
s'spose even he'll halter give in some
time) that it's econermy ter spend a lit
tie money in hOsS-ShOein'. He may
larn, too, that it's with somethin' ter
act kind o white with his neighbors, in
std O shettin, of himself up, an never
dom nOthin' fer nobody, but ole Zeke
Skinner"
Meanwhile Zeke had turned his team
around and gone back several rods.
Then turning again he urged his team
into a trot, with the hope that under
such impetus the horses might be able
to climb the ascent.
But 1T was Of no use. They got about
two steps higher than before, and then
both team and sled slid back to the old
stopping place.
Just then two more farmers passed
with loaded sleds, h%urrying on toward
their country homes. Zekc knew them
both and secretly wished they would
offer to help him. He would have asked
them, but as he could recall to mind no
favor he had ever done for a neighbor
he was ashamed to ask a favor Of any
OF them. So he sullenly sat on his load
and watched these teams climb the hill
n pass on out of sight.
Its a gOl-durned shame,' he NUT
tered with his scowling face drawn into
wrinkles. It'll be all lost, an stolen,
an showed under, an gone to the dem
milton only knows Whar. But 1 can't
see no help fer it.. It's got ter be did.
I've got ter Unload right here"
An the thievin' dealers charge SO a
tom he added gloomily. as he made
ready to toss the load off into the snow.
just then a merry jingle of Sleigh
bells caused Zeke to look up. A light
cutter drawn by Il span of light horses,
with a man and woman wrapped to
their ears in furs, was the comfortable
sight that met his eyes.
Inc driver was Il stranger, but he
stopped us he came up, and his keen
eyes took in the situation without q
question.
Hold on, my friend" he called out
i'll a cheerful tone. You needn't do
that. l can help you out Of your trou-
BILE inside of Il twinkling."
He said it in an Off-hand way, Just
as though it We're the most common
occurrence of life for a farmer to get
stuck on a slippery road, and the most
matter OF fact sequel for a stranger
to come along and help him.
faint no use," said Zeke in as mild
n respectable Il grOWl as he could
find among his large stock. "The bosses
couldn't do it., even with the lift Of a
strong man'--and he glanced, as he
spoke, at the slender frame of the
stranger-"their shoes are as smooth ez
skates"
Just what I thought" returned the
stranger in the same chez: ful tone.
Now if you'll just slip out you horses
for a minute I'll try mine in their place.
My harness is rather light, but it is a
strong one."
by the time he had finished speaking
his own horses were free from the cut
ter. He al evidently Il man Of &C.
ton, and one who had no time to waste,
though he had all that might be need
ed in giving help to a fellow man in
distress.
Zeke Skinner was dumb-founded. He
had known the blessing Of no friendly
deed, either in bestowing or receiving.
for SO many years that this simple act
quite unnamed him. Had he been
less dazed, and more like himself, he
would have suspected at once that this
stranger intended to steal his coal,
or to get him into some sort of imagin-
airy scrape. AS ias, his dim senses
began to suspect &hat he had fallen
asleep on his load and was dreaming,
or that he had met with sudden death,
re recording angel had got into the heaven
long ago. A land where people inter
est themselves in the welfare of others
was indeed 4 very far-off place to Zeke
Skinner.
However, he mechanically obeyed
orders, and before he hal time to re
cover himself the stranger was moving
up the hill with the load Of coal, call
ing to him to hitch his team to the cut
ter and bring the woman along, saying
that he would take the load up a sec
| On6 hill q little wav hevOn7
Awkward enough was Zeke when he
seated himself on the edge of the cutter
in which he now noticed a woman
with as fair, frank and pleasant a face
as he had ever seen. She parted the
robes with the invitation that he share
them; but he only drew them slightly
/ forward 90 aS To ahnf ont tho aoll