Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-25
THE TURTLES WE'RE FIGHTERS.
They Hated Each Other So Much Tha
1t Made the Deacon Sud,

They Hated Each Other So Much That
1t Made the Deacon Sad,
From the New York Sun.
In 1S4O." said Deacon Seth Gregg Of old
Steuben. Il was crossing one of my fathers
fields on my way to the Cohocton for a
days fishing-for there were trout In those
days. Bill Spicer was with me, and we
came upon a couple Of land turtles that
were having the ugliest kind of a scrap.
don't know what started the fight between
the turtles, but from what l know 1t must
have been something serious. The turtles
bit and tumbled and clawed each other for
a spell and then Bill and / separted them
and put them a long distance apart. They
turned as they were down and
came toward each other again as fast as
they could. which was at the rate of about
a mile an hour. but there was fire in both
their eyes. and when they got together
they pitched in again as ferce as ever We
hadn't time to stay there ard watch them
and so We went on and left them fighting
When we came back that way late I'm the
afternoon there were those two turtles
yet. fighting as ugly as ever and neither one
of them seemed to have the best OF It,
Then we broke up the fight. l took one
Of the turtles home with me and Bill took
the other one home with him. l cut my
IL,
with the date, and Bill cut his name and
date the same way on his turtle.
My folks were getting ready about Their
to move out to Illinois. and Birs were
going back somewhere in Massachusetts.
where they came from. When we went
away 1 took my turtle with me. just for
the fun Of the thing. and Bill took his
along to Massachusetts. We settled out
my turtles name-didn't seem to like It out
there. Anyway. he disappeared before We
had been there week, and / couldn't find
him. nigh nor low. We lived In Illinois
twenty years. and then the old folks hav-
ing died moved back to old steuben.
bought the farm we moved OF Of in lSiJ
and have lived there ever since. or course
l forgot all about Peter. the turtle, fifty
years or more ago.
They Were the same.
"On, d.y last week was going over M
farm, and not more than three rods from
where Bill Spicer and l surprised the tur-
tless at their scrapp.ng match fifty -four
years ago last spring I came on to two
turtles having 1t out with one another in
exactly the same way. II brought back
the oil days like a flash. and I lay down
In the grass and watched those turtles
fight for a quarter Of an hour Then I
got up and took one Of them by the tall
and turned him over on his back. His I'M
der shell was cut and carved IKE beech
tree In a country school house yard 1
went to decipherng the carvings. when the
first one l looked at nearly made me drop
In my tracks. And good reason. There
it was. plain as day: Seth Gregg. IS4Or'
The very turtle / had caught more than
half a century ago. and which had got
away from me three months later. way
out In Illinois,! ''i''
;. AS soon as could get over my sur
prise and wonder I began scanning the
other Inscriptions on the turtle. They
dated all the way from 1S4S down to 1897
and the names OF places carved now and
then showed in chronological order that oil /
Peter was steadily and rnswer<lnxly trav-
cling east. -..
IAN tho time was examining Peter the
other turtle stood on guard. g1aring ut
the fight. So i put Peter down and picked
up the other one. I know you will believe
me when I say that my first sight at the
under shell of this turtle actually sent me
to grass. 1t had carvings. too, and the
very first one was w. Spicer. $780, And
there were carvings on Bills turtle show
ing that he had been as unswervingly head
ed west during the past fiftyfour years as
my turtle had been pointed east. Had these
turtles been governed by some mysterious
instinct that drew them back to the old
home for love Of 1t. or had they been
nursing unlying luminosity toward each
other for half a century and travelled back
with the hope Of wreaking vengeance each
on his foe? From the way they glared at
each other and waited for a new chance to
get even l made up my mind that the tur-
ties had journeyed all those years toward
the old home simply with the Intention of
having that fight out. and SO got up and
left them by themselves. Two days after
ward 1 went that way again. The turtles
lay in a ditch. Peter had his jaws fast on
Bits turtles throat and Bills had Peter
foul in the tender spot under the left
shoulder. Both were dead. l buried them
right where they lay. and 1t saddened me
to know that any living thing could carry
hate 80 long and so far