The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-09-09

Irishman il America ever owned 4 herd
Of sheep. Z
Winter came and passed, and the only
Irishman prospered. BY roofing in a
cut with brush he had lcommodious
sheds, and cross sections Of poles di-
vided the broad ditch into as many cor
rails as he chose. The sheep were fat
and carried heavy fleeces.
Whalen had for help two boys who
had wandered there and asked for work.
He had proposed to hire one OF them,
but the boys protested that they had
never been separated. and that II they
go: jobs at different ranches ..the other
one wouldn't know where the other one
was" a contingency which they could
not abide. So Whalen offered to take
the two at the price of one, and on that
basis they shared with him the shack,
herded the flock, and cooked the grub.
They soon knew as much, Or as little,
about sheep as Brick himself; and the
proprietor found opportunity to break
the monotony of camp life by occasional
trips to the railroad and once to San
Francisco. E.
"I'm going to see my friend Martin"
he told the boys. Now tend to bust
ness and don't let any get away" And
the boys gave their word that not one
should escape. ~
During Whalen's absence in the city
+, 4f$ oh
more abruptly than he went into it the
previous autumn. The instruction to
the boys was fulfilled to the letter-not
any got away. r:#
1t happened on hot day in june
when, contrary to usual custom, the
boys brought the flock to camp and the
shade of sheds at noontime. It never
rains in that arid region, but some
times pours. This was one of those
times. Charged with ice and water a
great black cloud came drifting down
the wind, and emptied out it's load upon
the camp and the hillside above it. The
canal, curving around it's base, formed
an cave trough for the whole mountain
and poured several thousand inches of
water into Whalen's improvised sheep
sheds. The flood very soon subsidized,
but when the cloud had passed and the
sun again shone forth, there were no
living sheep. Not many minutes are
required to drown a rat in hole.
Meanwhile the boys, greatly fright
ened by the sudden storm, and with no
thought for the safety of the flock,
were in the shack. The hail pounded
and the wind shook it. Water covered
the floor.
pray, Billy" said the one on the
barrel.
mo, you do it" he answered from the
table top.
The shack had no window, and, with
the door closed, it was pretty dark in
there. When Whalen reached home two
hours later, the floor was still wet and
the boys were yet roosting on table and
barrel, but outside, in the bright sun
light, the ground appeared already al
most dry. A solitary goat stood upq6
the shed roof; he had been among ths
sheep in the pen.
you can't keep good man down any
more than you can a goat" was Bricks
comment on the catastrophe.
| While Whalen was working the boys
double time at pulling the wool from,
the dead sheep, he had the happy
thought of stocking his ranch with
bees. Having money enough from the
proceeds of his wool sale to buy 100
stands, he promptly carried the thought
into effect. -.
Again he sat down in the door of his
shack to double his money"
''This is better than sheep" said he;
"for they herds themselves. And they
are like mules in one thing-you are
liable to get hurt if you fool with EN-
This wave of prosperity broke up as
soon as former ones had done, for he
had imported bad case of foul brood
and within year the hundred swarms
had petered out. When we went down
there last summer in the interest of a
new company which has taken up the
work of completing the canal, Whalen
gathered the bones out of the old shed
in the cut and hauled them to the rail
road, where he sold them for fertilizer
realizing enough to buy two more
mules. With his four-mule team he is
al work in the ditch for days wages
Somewhat grizzled now, and not 50
brick-red of hair and whiskers as for
merly, he is happy as ever, and sanguine
that he will double his money.
"Here's hoping that he may.-Sau
Francisco Argonaut.
| Where a Receipt Was Necessary.
| When Renaud, the French senator,
came from the Pyrenees to Paris he paid
months hotel bill in advance. He.was