The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-08-01

things were for was very soon seen.
The deacon hadn't much more than g01
into the store before 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 gallows frame-two up
rights with a crossbeam between.
Right in the middle of the crossbe
on the under side there was a stout iron
eye. Thedeacon went back to the wagon
after he had set up this derrick and
reached under the seat and pulled out
tackle, one block of which he hooked
to the eye set in the crossbaam, while
the other block he hooked into the
ring in the belt. Then he carried the
free end of the rope from the under
block along to block attached to one
of the uprights and then down to and
around drum, to which was attached
a handle.
by the time the deacon had got
this derrick rugged, it seemed as though
all Storkville Center and the surround
ing population were standing on the
sidewalk 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 something tremendous. Slowly
but surely he raised the big gray horse
until he had him on his feet again.
When Billys feet touched the ground
he gave up. The deacon unlocked the
tackle and carried it back and put it
under the seat again, and then he took
down the derrick 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 GER
tainly very persistent, patient man.
He kept the derrick in his wagon al
ways; never unloaded it. He was ready
for Billy any time, and whenever he
came to town Billy was sure to lie
down, and the deacon to raise him.
For week or ten days the dea-
cons derrick was the most interesting
thing in Main street; crowd gathered
every day to see him lift Billy up; and
suppose that, all things considered,
the lifting of Billy, which was con-
tinued in that way for eight years,
was really the most astonishing thing
that ever happened in Storkville Cen
49, DIT, -, l.,
scarcely paid any more attention to it.
The deacon got to be very expert in
getting the horse on his feet, and peo-
pie, that is the Storkville Center peo-
pie, paid no more attention to it than
they would to a man rolling barrel
of flour into wagon on pair of
skids But it was always of interest
to strangers; the stranger who hap
pened 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 Center.
There was a little brook running
through Deacon Penguins farm, right
back of the barn in which old Billy
was stabbed. Nobody ever dreamed OF
this little stream ever being anything
more than a brook in any kind of
weather, but in the great flood it rose
to be a torrent, and it carried away
the old barn and old Billy down into
the larger stream that runs through
Storkville Center. The big gray was
never heard of in Storkville Center
again, and so nobody could tell how
the struggle between him and the
deacon might finally have ended
Y. Sun.