Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-07-18

terested All StOrkvilIe Centre; Then Only ] Strangers Paid Attention to It-A Flood | Ended the Contest.
 'Deacon Penguin, said Colonel Cal liper, ''had a farm on tho outskirts of | StOrkvillc Centre, Vt He raised consid-
 erable truck, and he was at the Centre | most every day. Ill fact, he and his | horse and wagon were about as familiar
 as any objects ill Main street, and ill 1852 something happened that drew at tentlon to them more than ever.
 In that year the deacon bought q
 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 a 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
 q good deal of trouble and drOvo 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 tho horse dealer of whom Deacon Penguin had bought him had forgotten to mention when ho 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 a broad canvas belt, and when tho 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 a 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'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 a sort of gal lows frame-two uprights with a cross
 beam between. Right in the middle of the CrOSSbeam on tho under side there was a stout iron eye. Tho deacon went back to the wagon after he had set up
 this derrick and reached under the seat and pulled out a tackle, one block of which he hooked to the eye set i'll the crOssbeam, while the other block he hooked into the ring ill the belt. Then he carried the free end of the rope from the upper block along to block attach cd to one of the uprights and then down to and around drum, to which was at tached a 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.
 It would seem as though Billy ought to
 have known better Of course he knew that the deacon w,5 bound to get him | every time, but l.e was mulish about that one habit. He wouidn't give it up. And some people said the deacon was
 mulish too> He vas certainly very
 persistent, patient man. He kept the
 derrick ill 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 a 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 sup pose that, all things considered, the lift
 ing of Billy, which was continued ill
 that way for eight years, was really the
 most astonishing thing that ever hap pened ill Storkville Centre. But after
 week or two people scarcely paid any l moro 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 n man rolling bar
 rel of flour into wagon on pair of
 skids. But it was always of interest to l 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 ill Stolkville Centre.
 There was a little brook runningthrough Deacon Penguin s farm right back of the
 barn ill which old Billy was stabbed.
 Nobody ever dreamed of this little stream ever being anything more than Il
 brook in any kind of weather, but ill the great food it rose to q torrent, and
 it carried away the old barn and old Billy down into the larger stream that
 runs through Storkville Centre. The big
 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.