The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-04-17

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armor to see that it wasn't wrinkled
nor unbuckled any place-he was such
o skeezicks among the women that way
and as she went by he Tipped his
hand up to his iron helmet that was
covered with an inch Of frost, andsas
no started to salute her the hand didn't
come. Froze fast! And the lady, she
huns as she passes. Where Did You
Get That HAITI | thought the Lion
Heart would just burst his b%reastpiate,
he was that mad. But he pretended
hat was the way he always done. says
the best people was all doing that way
holding their fingers to their helmets
after saluting q lady. didn't say moth
ing 1t wasn't my cue to come in. Sc
! just helped the old man up the palace
steps and pulled out to tell the boys"
A new slate was brought, and the mar
rative went OH.
We'll, sir, when l got there, what do
you S pose l found? Weather cold. mind
you, way down to 20 degrees below and
still a-dropping. I found that whole
blamed army Of English crusaders in
their job lot base burner armor leaning
up against one another, not able to
bulge. There they was, a~-whooping and
hollering for some one to come and take
the base burners off'n EN-, but not NOV.
ing an inch. They couldn't They had
perspired ON the road and melted some
Of the snow. and that, with the rust Of
the night before, had froze tight as a
rock. They couldn't move, or they'd fall
over.
There they stood stacked up like a
FIRE sale Of old iron, and the snow drift.
ing in and packing down harder in the
cracks OF the armor pla<every minute.
/ was still in working order, SO l sets
ont to find the blacksmith. When
found him, he vas silly drunk, a-drop-
ping the last monkey wrench on the
whole European continent into a hole in
the ice Oh the river, which he'd cut to
see if the fish wouldn't bite. The goose
grease, which we used to Timber up the
hinges OF the army when they creaked.
had gone ahead Of the monkey wrench.
And there we was. Ten thousand men
or SO froze in the armor, and nothing to
turn q nut or bolt nor to loosen q hinge,
and the blacksmith so drunk he couldn't
tell straight from horizontal"
At this the corner of the slate creaked
to simulate a chuckle that MI. Potts
desired to make vocal. Then the story
went
well, l done all / could. l pulls
out and tells old Dick, and also tells
him that l thought old Reddy, the Dutch
king, had did it by getting his head
man to git the blacksmith full. We
couldn't do nothing. Dick and l went
out, and the minute we'd get a man
away from the stack to thaw his hinges
out he'd fall over. He couldn't walk,
and when we got three or four off of the
south side the wind blew the whole pile
over. And there they was. A whole
ship load of iron gone to waste, as you
may say. on account of armor plate
frauds. 1t was q shame. told Dick so,
but he didn't say nothing. He knowed
where he could get plenty more men,
and he found a ready sale for the iron
in the spring.
but what worried him worst was to
think how that redheaded Dutch king
would give him the laugh at the wassail
bout hat night From that on he he'd
it in for Frederick, and So the crusade
that had started out SO fine and gay
busted wide open in the summer Of 1872
on account Of the lack Of confidence OF
the leaders. But it was all that trick OF
Reddy's in getting Dicks blacksmith
full in the cold winter of 1889 that
started the row. Dick always after that
seemed to side with Philip, who was
just no account on earth. Me? Why,
the CRATE of my base burner burned out
in the summer Of 1191 under the scorch.
ing sun Of Palestine, and I died. That
job lot of iron was no good for winter o,
summer"
And here the pencil fell on the slate
with a short, sharp click and would
write no further. kansas City Star.