The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-04-10

er, my boy Jim had a bay mare that
he traded a yearlin bull an a cross tooth
harrow fur. She was a good critter an
no mistake. / wanted that mare the
wust kind an made Jim a heap of good
offers fur her, but he wouldn't bite.
Last Wednesday he come to my house
kind O. carelesslike and sot down on the
front stoop. / was a-choppin kindlin
wood fur mornin. Jim sot there a-lookin
up an down the road whistlin the
Sweet By an Bye kind O. to hisself.
When I carried in my kindlin, I sot
down on the stoop by him.
Jim l SEE, you better let your
old father have that bay mare o. yourn,'
SEE /.
Jim had jest started the second
verse o. the Sweet By an Bye, but he
whistled her all the way through afore
he answered me.
"'I ben a thinkin o. lettin you have
the mare, pap, SEE he, 'seein's you got
yer heart sot ON er So SEE he, '~pervidin
we kin git up a dicker, SEE he.
Jim had been goin to camp meetin
pooty steady fur a week back, an I heerd
he was gettin serious. He hadn't been
whistlin nothin but hymn tunes fur two
Or three days, al when he come around
30 nice on the mare question I made up
my mind that me an the old woman
would see him jinin the mourners fore
long.
Jim, I SEE, 4 kin stand $50 fur
the mare seq I.
Jim looked up the road, an hum.
med a verse of Come ye sinners, poor
an needy Then he seq:
Pap, sez he, L know / orto let
you have that mare fur them figures
SEE he, 'but you know I've refused dou-
BILE that fur her, seq he. An SO he had,
boys, sure.
'Jim,' SEE I again, Il think I could
raise the eighty about twenty more,
maxim a hundred, SEE I, but that's all
I kin do. Remember, Jim,' seq I, that
I am your father, an I'm gittin old,
N my hearts sot on that mare, seq I.
"'Plunged in a gulf of dark despair, ,
hummed Jim, lookin plumb up to the
sky. I guess he got away with two
verses afore he said anything to me, an
I didn't interrupt his singin. Then he
SEE:
Pap, SEE he, I'll tell you what
I'll do. Give me $780, SEE he, AN
throw in them two Berkshire pigs, an
the mare is yours, seq he, Jest as she
is
GA bargain!' seq L. The pigs is
yours, an I'll be down after the mare
tomorrow seq /.
II counted out the 500 an give it to
him. He druv the pigs home with him.
They was worth $15 apiece, easy. 1
could hear Jim whistlin Hold the Fort
| till he got half a mile away.
'Jemima,' / SEE to the old woman,
'Jemima, sez 1, L never thought Jim'd
git pious, did you? But I've got the
bay mare sez /, IAN what the old boy
| Jim was thinkin of I can't see. She's
worth $3.50 any day in the week. I sez.
Religion is maxim a fool o Jim,' seq I.
well, next mornin early I went
down to Jim's to git the mare. Jim had
gone to town. / saw his wife.
"'I've bought the bay mare, Nancy,
SEE /.
"'Yes, know you have, seq Nancy,
GRIMM all over her face.
Where is she?' / SEE.
"'She's down in the stone lot, SEE
| Nancy, GRIMM more'n yer
81 thought it was funny that the
mare should be down in the stone lot,
but I went down to find her. Boys, l
found her. She was layin behind a big
stone heap, deader'n a door nail. went
back to the house.
"'Why, Nancy, sell, the bay mares
dead!
'Oh, yes sez Nancy, laughin as
if she'd split. She died yesterday morn
in with the collie, SEE she.
"Boys, for a minute l was mad.
Then I come to, IN SEE to myself: I'll
be glued if l don't git the mares shoes,
anyhow SEE I. So I went back to the
stone lot to draw her shoes off. Boys,
I'll divide my farm up between you if
Jim hadn't drawed them shoes hisself,
and the mares feet was as bare as when
abe was born.
"Now, 1 amt no ways mad at Jim,
boys, for it was a fair an square dicker,
III it shows there's stuff in him; only
he mought "a left the shoes on the mare.
What 1 want to know is, can't / gel
back at the camp meetin folks SOM
way for damages? If it hadn't "a ben fol
them hymn tunes Jim larnt at the meet
in's, I'd a ben a-lookin out fur him,
But they throwed me off my guard
The way I look at 1t is that the CAM
meetin society is responsible for me los
in my 800 and two $15 pigs. Can't
git back at 'em for trespass, OF fals'
pretenses, or excessary afore the fact
or somethin? Can't l do it, boys?"