Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-10-31

preacher told this story at we'd
,;n, sunper on the South Side the other
evening;
~ was riding along a country road
,oar Bloomington, he said, when I
not;ced group of sheep in a pasture.
rbere was u large open space in the
.,;dst Of the flock, and at either end of
,be space stood ram. In the center,
bnt standing little at one side, was
,h;yd ram. The two rams had evidently
had n falling out about something, or
n,sa they had come to settle in friend
L. contest which was the better ram.
pom No. seemed to be acting as
;ndre. uripire--what do you call it?
Referee? Yes, that's it, the third ram
was the referee. / don't know under
what rules the meeting took place. 1t
may have been Queensberry or Rosebery.
Yon see | am not up to these technical
matters
"When all the preliminaries had been
arranged and both contestants had been
cautioned apparently that there was to
NJ no 'fouling'-I think | have seen
that word in the newspapers occasional
IL and therefore / suppose it is COR
rect word to use in this connection
each backed off to the farthest limits of
The circle, which, by the way, was not
a squared circle. The referee stepped
ont Of the way, and the rams dashed to-
ward each other When their heads
came together, there was terrific crash,
and the force Of the conclusion threw
them as far apart as the length of this
table
All the guests looked the full length
4 Of the table from the passion flowers at
one end to tho BRIDES cake in the far
perspective, and then at the preacher i'll
4 the middle distance, but nobody said
anything.
Then, continued the preacher,
. "they took their places, apparently none
. theworse for the encounter. Again, evil
IDENTIFY at a preconcerted signal from the
referee, they dashed together. This time
4 the shock was even more terrific than
. the first, and | noticed that as one of
. them went back TO his-ah, what do
4 they rall it, corner?--he was little I'M
steady on his legs.
"Groggy' ventured the bride.
Il believe that is the technical term,"
replied the preacher, although, as l
have minated, am not at all familiar
with sporting phraseology. When time
was called for the third round-ahem-
that is, mean TO say when the rams
had recovered strength for a third col
lision - there was another rush, a
crash and one Of the rams. the one you
81 aptly described as 'groggy with an
acknowledgement TO the bride) fell TO
his knees His adversary did not seem
inclined 10 follow up his advantage, but
3poSsibly he may nave been restrained by
the rules Of the meeting. At any rate,
.afterclntempiating his fallen foe grave
" for a moment he walked back to his
place Tic other ram, after resting
briefly, struggled to his feet. The third
ram-the one l have called the referee
looked at him rather inquiringly, rs
~ ctNulAtl w Inc plLb TITO wall SuOW-
ID 30 sign Of recognition. He ambled
70 his side of the ring and faced about.
a murmur Of some sort seemed to 90
rhrough tho flock The odds were APP
reutly 3 70 ! in favor of the other
Fam-that is to say, it seemed to be the
general opinion that the ram with the
Neak knees had been outclassed, as the
Fther one was decidedly the heavier Of
ae two
However, the smaller ram seemed
2 have wonderful recuperative powers.
Nhen the proper interval had elapsed, |
came NJ smiling, as it We're even
hon2ht | could see a twinkle in his eye
or was quite close to the fence, and
pms thing took place only little dis
anee away. As the referee stepped back
rom the center Of the ring, where he
u his position between the meetings,
ne ether two rams drove at each other
!mell At the Very instant when
neg hard horns would have met, how
Ne, lhe smaller ram suddenly changed
Us course to the right, and the other
ttft3t4-4l ltRi lhIlhS llhb u Ghb1lJult.
Jast as he turned about, evidently
ahs ever with indignation at the
ea winch had been played on him,
.Eerne, with the added force given
q longer run from one side Of the cir
POINT several feet outside Of it,
mere the larger ram $ momentum had
Hf1ed hlm, SHOT at him like a cannon
siusng him full in the face and
AHg Exam several feet away, where
lay hmn and helpless The third
'4t "ha WINS promptly on the spot, as
pose every competent referee should
4S'ael h- head several times-in.
'.It i92Aed TO me as if he was count
aHd then the fallen rain failing to
Whole flock marched away to-
WI III another part Of the
he victorious ram at the
My the defeated ram got
AID made his way to se-
d5Mn b, little run, where
reellning in the shade of a
tree as | rode away.
interesting study natural
aid the brides grandmoth-
listed her glasses,
led, said the groom i IA
Ms behind his napkin. Chi