Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-29
ANIMAL INSTINCT.
A Little Story Of How II Upset the
Sunday PrOprfety of a Deacon.

Little Story Of How II Upset the
Sunday Propriety of a Deacon.
Star reporter the other day had a
very interesting talk with horse raiser
from Kentucky, in the course of which
the kentuckian told this tale of the in
stinct of animals:
When l was youEgSter," he said, Il
lived in a highly respectable blue grass
town with an old uncle and aunt who
were seeing to the proper bringing up of
their only and well-beloved nephew
Among their possessions were two horses
and a negro boy, who took care of them
and those horses and that boy were my
especial delight. After my first winter in
town. and when the weather began to
soften in the spring, the boy and l We're
accustomed to ride the horses to pond to
water, which vas perhaps three-quarters
of mile from the stable, half of which
distance was through the town. 1t soon
became our custom when the horses had
finished drinking to let them go full tilt
for home, aad the speed they attained was
startling, so fast, in fact, that we soon
had to take to the alleys and run them to
the stable that way. l suppose We had
been keeping this up for three months. and
the horses had got so that they would
scarcely wait to drink before they wanted
to be off, when one Sunday my uncle and
aunt concluded they would go to meeting
in the country-my uncle was a staid and
severe deacon in the Presbyterian church,
and for a change they rode the horses in
stead of driving them AS luck would have
it, they came back TO town over road
that led by the pond where Jim and / wa
tered the horses, and as it was about wa
ttring time as they passed. they stopped
and let the horses drink. OF course, uncle
and aunt had perfect confidence in their
Critters and were not expecting any dem
OF StratiOnS but as soon those horses
had taken good long pull at the water
Il hair hoo. IL
it seemed to occur to them all at once that
that was the time to cut and run for the
stable.
And they did! My eye, how they did
Down the road for the first quarter of a
mile. past the houses of three deacons in
opposition churches, with their families sit
ting out on their galleries in the cool of
the evening: then on past the minister s
house they went like the wind, my uncle
doing all he could to hold his beast and
my aunt frightened out of her wits by the
ureXpectedness of it, doing all she could
to hold herself on her horses back. Uncle's
hat flew off as he turned into the first
alley, or rather as the horse turned him
into the alley, and four boys with three
dogs got hold of it and came bowling af-
ter. My aunts horse always made his
squirt at this point, and as her skirts flew
at the mercy of the wind, he gave wild
plunge and dashed ahead of my uncle. As
they sped up the alley people on the streets
where the alleys crossed hurried out of
as the deacon and his good wife scurried
along on Gathering hoofs. The usual Sun
day quiet had prevailed, and the noise of
the racing steeds seemed to fill all the
town, and people soon began 10 run out on
the streets and inquire what was going on
At last the horses reached the stable, and
there, without any trouble at all, they
stopped and waited to be let in, as usual.
l don't know what would have happened
TO me when my part, though wholly unin-
territorial, In the affair became known to
my uncle, had 1t not been for my aunt, who
had an eye for the ludcrous, and she got
me off with only one application of the
hickory, while the negro boy got twice
as much My uncle wasn't on pleasant
terms with me for several months, how
ever, because he was jollied about his
horse race for a long time, and every fresh
jar he would get on it would react upon
me. 1 may say, in conclusion, though. that
my aunt did not stand by me when he
said that Jim and 1 would suffer severe
pains and penalties if there were any more
running of the horses"