Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-07-24
HE WOULD LIE DOWN.
THE DEACON'S EIGHT YEARS STRUG-
GLE WITH OLD BILLY.

dIE WI n OIO oiIII'
For a Time the Strange Performance In
terested All StorkviIle Centre; Then Only
Strangers Paid Attention to It-A Flood
Ended the Contest.
deacon Penguin, said Colonel CAL
iper, chad farm on the outskirts Of
Storkville Centre, Vt. He raised consid-
erable truck, and he was at the Centre
most every day. In fact, he and his
horse and wagon were about as familiar
as any objects in Main street, and in
1852 something happened that drew at
tention to them more than ever.
"In that year the deacon bought a
new horse-a big, gaunt, gray horse,
which he called Billy. The gray wasn't
handsome horse, but he was good and
strong, and the deacon got him pretty
cheap, so he was satisfied. But the Sec
ond day he drove him into the village
something disagreeable happened. When
the deacon came out of store where he
had been leaving some vegetables, he
found Billy lying down. That was un-
pleasant 1t isn't nice to have horse
that lies down when you are driving
him. Deacon Penguin got him up after
a good deal of trouble and drove him
home. The next day the horse lay down
again, and the next, and then it was dis
covered that he had habit of lying
down, which the horse dealer of whom
Deacon Penguin had bought him had
forgotten to mention when he sold him
to Deacon Penguin.
"The next day when the deacon drove
along Main street the people saw around
the body of the big gray horse broad
canvas belt, and when the deacon drew
up by the curbstone at the store where
he generally stopped first they saw stick
ing up from the top Of this belt along
side the saddle of the harness stout
iron ring. Sticking out of the rear of
the deacon's wagon were three or four
timbers, and what these things were for
was very soon seen. The deacon hadn't
much more than got into the store be-
fore the horse lay down, as usual
"When the deacon came out, he went
around to the rear Of the wagon and
pulled out the timbers. He set them up
over the horse. They made sort of gal
lows frame-two uprights with cross
beam between. Right in the middle of
tho crossbeam on the under side there
was a stout iron eye. The deacon went
back to the wagon after he had set up
this derrick and reached under the seat
and pulled out q tackle, one block Of
which he hooked to the eye set in the
crossbeam, while the other block he
hooked into the ring in the belt. Then
he carried the free end Of the rope from
the upper block along to block attach
ed to one of the uprights and then down
to and around drum, to which was at
tached handle.
"By the time the deacon had got this
derrick rigged it seemed as though all
Storkville Centre and the surrounding
population were standing on the side
walk and in the street watching him,
and when he set taut on the tackle and
the frame began to creak with the
horses weight the interest was some
thing tremendous. Slowly but surely he
raised the big gray horse until he had
him ON his feet again. When Billy's
feet touched the ground, he gave up.
The deacon unlocked the tackle and car
ried it back and put it under the seat
again, and then he took down the der
rick and slowed it in the wagon.
''But the next day the same perform
ance was all gone through with again.
1t would seem as though Billy ought to
have known better. Of course he knew
that the deacon was bound to get him
every time, but he was mulish about
that one habit. He wouldn't give it up.
And some people said the deacon was
mulish too. He was certainly very
persistent, patient man. He kept the
derrick in his wagon always; never un-
loaded it. He was ready for Billy any
time, and whenever he came to town
Billy was sure to lie down and the dea-
con to raise him.
''For week or ten days the deacon's
derrick was the most interesting thing
in Main street. A crowd gathered every
day to see him lift Billy up, and I sup
pose that, all things considered, the lift
ing of Billy, which was continued in
that way for eight years, was really the
most astonishing thing that ever hap
pened in Storkville Centre. But after a
week or two people scarcely paid any
more attention to it. The deacon got to
be very expert in getting the horse ON
his feet, and people-that is, Storkville
people-paid no more attention to it
than they would to man rolling bar
rel of flour into a wagon ON pair of
skids. But it was always of interest to
strangers. The stranger who happened
to see Deacon Penguin getting old Billy
on his feet again was pretty sure to
think and to say that it was the most
curious thing he'd ever seen.
''Well, this went along until the fall
Of 1860, which was the year they had
the great flood in Storkville Centre.
There was little brook running through
Deacon Penguin IS farm right back Of the
barn in which old Billy was stabbed.
Nobody ever dreamed Of this little
stream ever being anything more than
brook in any kind of weather, but in
the great flood it rose to torrent, and
it carried away the old barn and old
Billy down into the larger stream that
runs through Storllville Centre. Thebig
gray was never heard of in Storkville
Centre again, and so nobody could tell
how the struggle between him and the
deacon might finally have ended. -
New York Sun.