Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-10-17
HOWPETEWASCURED
WHAT HIS SHORT STAY IN LOUISIANA
DID FOR HIM.

able and Sent Him Away-Plunk Took
His Life In His Hand. So He Thought,
hut Pete Came Back Completely Changed.
81 never knew any enc but Pete
Raines that had ever been to Louisiana,
said Slote Bondell of Gibson county,
Tenn. land I never heard him say a
word against it, but from the way he
acted when he came back to Tennessee
from there can't say that gathered
the idea that Louisiana held out many
inducements for folks to go there and
stay-that is, if the district Pete Raines
went to was any fair sample OF the
way things strike visitors in Louisiana
That district was Tangipahoa parish. L
saw Pete when he started for Tangipa-
hoa parish, and saw him just after he
got back. That's why l can't get up
and shout much when hear folks braS
about Louisiana, although Pete never
said word. There was good reason for
that, though.
"Now, s'pose that when rise to
remark that west Tennessee is the garden
SPOT of all creation some folks II smoker
and maybe snort. But they wouldn't If
they knew how 'shamed they'd be II
they could ever strike luck enough to be
turned loose in Gibson county once, es-
pecially around where Humboldt is.
William Zachariah Raines lives there.
cone day, two years on so ago, Bill
Zach said to Plunk-Plunk was a mig
ger that worked for Bill Zach, and
good one he was, too-'Plunk, said
Bill Zach, there amt no kind O. use,
we got to do something with Pete.
The better 1 treat him the worse he
acts. He won't pillow, and he won't
do nothing that amt cussedness.
Kicked the bay mare III the belly this
morning, and she won't be worth pic
ayune for week Chased the old wom-
an from the cowyard clear to the house
and into the house and followed her
half way up the kitchen stairs. There
amt any living with Pete any longer.
Something's got to be done. Guess I'll
send him long with you down into
Louisiana.
-" 'Golly' said PUNK. Who'll fotch
me back ag'in den? Pete he kill me
sure! Dead niger can't walk back from
'WeesyannahP
"But Bill Zach had made up his
mind, and the mule had to go with
PUNK, dead niger or no dead niger.
Guess l forgot to say before that
Pete Raines was a mule, and slick one
he was tool Bill Zach raised him. He
was s years old when all this happened,
and I'll bet his ears were foot and q
half long. His tail wasn't as long as his
ears, but it had tuft on it like can
non swab. Pete was fat as seal, and
his hide glistened like darky's face in
a green cornfield. But Pete wasn't reli-
able He had way of kicking and bit
ing and fighting OH the spur of the mo-
ment and without any provocation that
made him practically the boss Of things
around Bill Zach's place, and he knew
it. Bill Zach bought place couple OF
years ago down III Tangipahoa parish,
La, to which he intended to send PUNK
down to work, and so he thought he'd
get rid of Pete in merciful sort Of way
by sending him down there, too, al
though it might he that he'd get rid OF
PUNK at the same time.
"They shipped Pete on the railroad,
and he went away tickled to death. he
had it in his mind that he was going
into wider field to spread his cussed-
ness in, and he fairly yelled with de-
light in his car when the train pulled
out. 1t is $50 miles from Humboldt to
Tangipahoa parish by rail. When they
unloaded Pete down there, he came out
smiling. He thought he had it i'll for
that country and would make his mark.
But he hadn't looked around much be-
fore detection seemed to seize him.
PUNK had never seen Pete that way,
and he got scared. PUNK was more I'M
easy still when Pete went listlessly to
the plow and dragged it all day without
once lifting his ears or his heels.
Il bet dis whole plantation gin a
alligator what amt kotched yit, said
PUNK, dat dey's earthquake wuckin
in dat mool, an dat when it busts it'll
hist dis niger clean to de udder side
oh Jurdanp
But it wasn't so. The mule got
down in the dumps worse and worse ev-
cry day, and after Pete had been i'll
Louisiana a week PUNK went to the
field after him one day, and there was
no mule to be seen. PUNK hunted all
over that country for three days, but
couldn't find any trace of Pete. Then
PUNK sent word to Bill Zach that the
mule had gone off somewhere and died.
And Bill Zach was glad About three
weeks after that Bill Zach was startled
out of his sleep at half past 3 in the
morning by noise that awakened mem
cries. He listened. The noise broke out
again. 1t ratified the windows; it echoed
among the hills; it walled; it yooped; it
heehawed.
"'Pete, by the living jumper' yelled
Bill Zach, jumping out of bed and hur-
rying to the door. A mule was leaning
YEARLY against the front fence. He was
thin and scraggy, his eyes were hollow
and his ears half way to his knees, like
q yaller hounds. When this mule saw
Bill Zach at the door, he lifted up his
voice again and actually wept. 1t was
Pete back from Louisiana. 1t is 900
miles from Tangipahoa parish to Hum
boldt by road, and so you may know
what Pete must have thought OF Louisi-
ana to take his overburdened heart with
him, so to speak, and pull out for Ten
nessee on the hoof. Pete was as slick as
ever he was in few days and started
in to be pretty near as sassy and cussed
as ever, but Bill Zach said one day to
his wife when Pete was by:
Pm going to send Pete back to
Fangipahoa parish again, Susan.
''Pete dropped his ears and walked
away, and ever since then he has been
the best mule in the whole of Gibson