The Press., 1895-12-26
HE WOULD LIE DOWN.
THE DRAGONS EIGHT YEARS sTRu0.
 GLE WITH OLD BILLY.


 For . Time the Strange Performance Tn. tercsted All stOrkville Centre; Then Only
 Strangers Paid Attention to It--A Flood
 Ended the Contest.
 "Deacon Penguin, said Colonel Cal nper, "had farm on the outskirts of gtorkville 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 1859 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 wash '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. It isn't nice to have horse that lies down when you are driving him. Deacon Penguin got him up after 8 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 a 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 cnrbstone 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 s wagon were three or four timbers, and what these things were for was very soon seen. The deacon hadn I much more than got into the store be- tore 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 8 sort of gal lows frame-two uprights with cross beam between. Right in the middle of the crossbeam on the under side there was 8 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 8 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 1 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 Bi1ly't l 4SOG UOuCuCu SAOAAUS AO ShFO OP' 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, It would seem as though Billy ought tc have known better. Of course he knew l that the deacon was bound to get him every time. but he was mu1ish about that one habit. He wouldn't give it up And some people said the deacon wal mulish too. He was certainly very persistent, patient man. He kept tho 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'l derrick was the most interesting thing l in Main street. A crowd gathered everj day to see him lift Billy up, and sup pose that, all things considered, the lift ing of Billy, which was continued il that way for eight years, was really th' most astonishing thing that ever hap pened in Storkville Centre. But after { week or two people scarcely paid any more attention to it. The deacon got tC be very expert in getting the horse o1 his feet, and people-that is, Storkvill' people-paid no more attention to il than they would to a man rolling bar rel of flour into 8 wagon on 8 pair O skids. But it was always of interest t strangers. The stranger who happened to see Deacon Penguin getting old Billy on his feet again was pretty sure tC think and to say that it was the mos curious thing he'd ever seen.
 "Well, this went along until the fal of 1860, which was the year they hat the great flood in Storkville Centre There was little brook running througl Deacon Penguin s farm right back of thu barn in which old Billy was stabled Nobody ever dreamed of this ~littl' stream ever being anything more than { brook in any kind of weather, but il the great flood it rose to a torrent, ana it carried away the old barn and olC Billy down into the larger stream tha
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