Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1895-04-24

Fer cows was COWS III SitCAA oSyS'
an. But, Lord! what be I a-sayin'?
''Twa'n't Susan that got the wust OF 1T,
cause Susan want home that night
She was down to Parks clearin', i've
mile, Parks havin' come up tearln'
that day, an asst her if she wouldn't 60
back with him, his Sally Ann beln
sick, an Susan jest went, warnln' me
to keep an eye on things an not to let
anything git away. So twas me, an
not me an Susan that got the wust OF
it that night. Why, there amt no
more doubt than there is that I'm
twistin' this willer twig this minute
that if Susan had a ben home nobody'd
got the wust of it but the wolves!
'Stoundin', womanl 'StoundinI
Eyes, sir Cows was cows IN those
DAYS in the wildernest. The highest
neighbor we had was the Parks, five
mile, an the next was Benson's, seven
mile, with nothin' but woods an bar
an wolves an painters betwixt us.
That COW of our'n was one Benson had
got way down on the West Branch, an
he had led her more'n forty miles
through the woods to git her to his
clearin', which was big un an old un
for them days, Benson havin' ben
there five years when me an Susan
come down from York state, chopped
a hole in the woods, and put up our
log cabin. That was our weddin'
trip, too, mind We! That cow that Ben
son fetched up from the West Branch
made three cows for him, an that was
an amazin' drove fer one man to hev.
He was regular cattle king.
Benson was a good man, an you
better blieve that there was rel icin'
time on that little clearin' of our'n
when made dicker with him in the
way O chopin now an then fer him,
and he turned the cow over to me, an
I led her home Not only the cow, but
Il new calf at her sidei Now mabbee
we want rich. A cow an calf, a log
cabin We could see through most any
where, an three-acre clearin'! Rich?
/ should say so! Richer, l bet you,
than many one is nowadays ez has
farms they can't walk around in a day,
an cattle on thousan' hills! Cause
we was happy, me an Susan was, down
there in the wildernest! We didn'te
aev no pastur', an we didn't hev no
feed nor fodder fe. our cow 'cept
browse cut from the trees, but we KEEP
her goin' fust rate on that
Nov, if I'd toll Susan I was goin
to git the cow an calf from Benson,
she'd up am said: q
'Nothin' 'cept news from home
could be better news than that. Mos
,es: She alluz called me Moses, cause
Cuthbert want no sort of name to be
IN the wildernest with. 'Nothin' 'cept
news from home could be better news
than that, Moses. but fore you fetch
''em over, you jest shake up a barn O
some kind to put 'em in. There's too
many bars an wolves an painters
:looISin' fer setch meat.as that to hev it
layin' right open fore their eyesv'
'.Susan'd. said that, or sumpin' like
it, sure's yer born, cause she was SO
.astoundin', but wanted to s'prise her
with the COW an the calf, an was so
anxious to git 'em that never thought
.nothin' bout no barn, nor no bars, nor
mo wolves, nor no painters. I was just
'thinkin' bout Susan, an how glad
she'd be. An she was, too! She cried,
an Rugged me, an said: .a
''Now if 1 jist had onlya little news
from home Idon't7 think Heaven could
be much nicer'n this here clearin'!
Susan want homesick, mind We!
But her mother was old and poorly,