The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1894-05-12
LITTLE, BUT FULL OF GRIT.
what Plucky Woman Did to a Man
who Tried to Impose Upon Her.

what BluckN woman lJAu 10 MAN
Who Tried to Impose Upon Her.
Talking about pure grit, " said wom-
an who was lunching the other day at the
Colonial club, Il knew a woman once who
was full of it,"
Tell us about her" exclaimed the other
two women of the luncheon party. who
was she?"
"Why, she was my mother" answered
the first speaker. "She was the littlest lit
tie woman l ever saw, but there was cour-
age and fight enough in her to stock a
regiment. don't mean that she was a
nagging creature, making trouble for
everybody. She was the sweetest, kindest
woman in the world 1t was only when
somebody tried to impose on her, or on
some of us girls, that she came out as
fighter Let me tell you a story about her,
and you'll see what mean.
"Well, we were living in Iowa when my
father, minister, by the way, died and
left mother to manage a farm and to
care for a big family of girls. The grain
was high in the field and it had to be cut
at once. Mother entered into negotiations
with a neighbor and was just about to
close trade with him when she discovered
that he was trying to overreach-insisting
on terms that were exorbitant and alb
surd.
Mother told him that she'd get some
body else to cut the grain. and that made
him so angry that he was quite rude in his
speech. But mother shut the door in his
face and left him to have his sputter out
all by himself.
THAT night about o'clock mother was
awakened by a noise out in the yard. She
slipped out of bed and peered through the
window. There was that same farmer en-
gagged in taking down the bars of the
fence that surrounded the field of grain
that mother wouldn't let him cut. The
bars down, the man went out into the road
for a minute, and the next minute he came
back driving yoke of oxen, which he
turned loose into the field"
what did your mother say to the mann"
asked one of the listeners.
"She didn't say anything"
Didn't she tell him to take that cattle
right out of the field?"
mo, indeed that was not her way of do
ing things. What she did first was to
dress herself Then she stole quietly down
stairs and went out into the yard. Then
she went to the barn and got an OK goad.
Then she bounded to the grain field and
drove the oxen out of it,"
And then she went back to bed, sup
pose" said one of the women. 'Ordid she
watch the rest of the nightY"
Neither. She drove those oxen a mile
and half down the road till she came to a
great field of corn which belonged to that
awful man. Then she took down the bars
and wished the oxen good morning.
"On the way back she stopped long
enough to open the gate Of a pasture in
which was quite herd of steers and to
set some of them moving toward the corn
field, and they found that field, / can as
sure you.
Next morning mother told US what she
had done, and we just Rugged her and
kissed her till she cried"
And what came of itP'
ooh, yeS-that's the best part of the
story. The neighbors somehow found out
what had happened, and they were so
pleased over it that they came and cut
mothers grain for nothing.
but just think of that little ninety five
pound woman driving a yoke of oxen a
mile and half in the middle of the night
on such an errand! always feel proud of
my little mother when / recall this cpl
sode in her life, New York Times.