The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1895-11-07

L tUt tOtIhECs Dun fAVliCth ~ iVhpiN ~
tears trickie down his fathers face,
He jumped up and threw his arms
around his fathers neck. He was
frightened and he did not understand
i just what WINS the matter .=.;. ~.
Presently Mr.. Singer unclasped the
boys hands and looked him in the face.
"Ben,r he said, "I'm afraid we arc in
for hard times YETI
.2t'What do you mean, Dad?" asked
| Ben.
THE house is only rented" said Mr..
Singer slowly; "they can't take that,
but they can take all our furniture
and everything else"
why, they belong to u.s." exclaimed
Ben
$50 they do, Ben, but the law gives
another man the right TO sell them and
take the money they bring If we owe
him money and can't pay it."
And we owe somebody money! /
thought DR.. James was paid?"
80 he was. But there is some one
| else to whom / owe money! man l
borrowed from when your mother was
sick. l owe him one hundred dollars.
He has what they call my note. l
haven't been able to pay him, and now
he says he must have it. He is entitled
to it right off, and will get as much of
1t as possible by selling what we have.
He was here to see me about it the
other day, and l tried to get him to
wait. But he says he's tired of wait
ing and the sheriff'll come and sell us
out"
Ben had a fairly good idea now of
the situation. He tried to comfort his
father, but it was of little avail. Mr..
Singer felt his helplessness and the
disgrace keenly, and did not know
what would become Of them. Ben
worried over what he had heard all
night long, but he could find no way
out of their difficulty.
The next day he took ten of his
biggest chickens to the village store.
He had already arranged with Mr..
Bassett to have them sent to a COM
mission merchant at Waynesboro and
sold. After he had delivered the
chickens and Mr.. Bassett had prom
ised to get him the money for them as
quickly as possible, the idea struck the
boy of asking the storekeeper about a
sheriffs sale. The thing puzzled him
a bit yet. and he INDUCED a faint hope
that, if he knew just how it was done,
he might be able to hit on a way out
of it. mir. Bassett," he said, "how
does n sheriff sell you out?"
Perhaps the storekeeper had an idea
of the trouble. But if he did, he gave
no sign of it, and tried to explain to
Ben how such sale was conducted.
And the people at the sale" he con-
cluded, offer to buy what is offered,
and the sheriff sells to the one who
makes the highest bid"
Ben asked several questions before
he left. Then he walked slowly home,
and all the while, in his mind, he was
turning over a dimly defined project
which had been suggested to him by
what he had heard.
A week later Ben received the money
for his chickens three dollars and
eighty cents. He was proud boy. and
he would have shown his satisfaction
more if it had not been for the impend
ing trouble, which made his father so
miserable that he could not leave his
bed. Ben bought some fruit for TWEEN
ty-tive cents, and took it home to him,
but Mr.. Singer was. feeling so bad that
he ate of it only sparingly.
On a Monday in the early part of the
next month the sheriff, in pursuance
of formal notice, arrived at the house
to make sale to satisfy Mr.. Singers
creditor. Quite a crowd had gathered
about the cottage, and there was not
one present who did not sympathize
with the carpenter and his son. Ben's
father was very ill that morning and
could not leave the bed. The sheriff
mounted a box in the yard and began
n description of the goods to be sold.
1t was pitiful array, after all. A
few tools, a miscellaneous assortment
of cheap furniture, a kitchen stove
with some cooking utensils and china,
and some linen and blankets. But one !
item in the lot-the chickens-the |
sheriff counted on as his drawing card. |
Half hundred of fine hens and mar
ketable chickens were cooped in near |
by pen, and upon the value of these |
the county officer dwelt at length. |
Then, when he thought he had the |
crowd sufficiently around, he named a |
starting figure in default of an actual |
bid. .1,".4,.. a. ~.
Sixty dollars for this choice lot of |
chickens and household goods" he
cried " d 90
There was no response. He repeated |
the announcement, then dropped the
figures to. fifty dollars Still no one
spoke. r..
The sheriff made some further re.
Il Il.