Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1895-05-21
NEW SERIES, VOL. xxx. NO. IL.

killing. He felt hurriedly all over his
armor to see that it wasn't wrinkled
nor unbuckled any place-he was such
q skeezicks among the women that way
and as she went by he tipped his
hand mp to his iron helmet that was
covered with an inch of frost, and as
he started to salute her the hand didn't
come Froze fastl And the lady, she
huns as she passes. Where Did You
Get That Hat?' / thought the Lion
Heart would just burst his breastplate.
he was that mad But he pretended
that was the way he always done, says
the best people was all doing that way
holding their fingers TO their helmets
after saluting lady I didn' say moth
ing 1t wasn't my cue to come in. So
I Just helped the old man up the palace
steps and pulled out to tell the boys "
Anew slate was brought, and the mar
rative went on.
well, sir, when got there, what do
you s'pose 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 'em, 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 plate every minute-
was still in working order, so sets
out to find the blacksmith. When ]
found him. he was silly drunk. a-drop-
ping the last monkey wrench on the
whole European continent into hole in
the ice on 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 nut or bolt nor to loosen hinge,
and the blacksmith so drunk he couldn't
tell straight from horizontal. |"
At this the corner of the slate creaked
to simulate q chuckle that Mr.. Potts
desired to make vocal Then the story
went on:
"well, done all 1 could. / pulls
out and tells old Dick, and also tells
him that thought old Reddy, the Dutch
king, had did it by getting his head
man to git tho blacksmith full We
couldn't do nothing. Dick and 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 shame. told Dick so.
but he didn't say nothing. He knowed
where he could get plenty moro men,
and he found 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 that night. From that ON he had
it in for Frederick, and so the crusade
that had started out so fine and gay
busted wide open in the summer of 1893
ON account CT 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 died. That
job lot of iron was no good for winter or
summer"
And here the pencil fell on the slate
with short, sharp click and would
write no further. r.-Kansas City Star.