Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-05-20

She didn't learn this until the goat had
almost completely devoured a wash left
within his reach. On that occasion he
consumed two sheets, a calico dress and
a flannel shirt, a table cloth, half a
dozen napkins, a pair of boys trousers,
and three cotton stockings. He un-
doubtedly would have cleaned the line
and deyoured the rope had he not been
discovered by Mrs. Hillhouse before he
had reached next to the last garment,
for he made brave fight against the
broomsticlz that was brought into requi-
sition and tried to get at bosom shirt
and sun bonnet that were still on the
line. Thereafter the clothes were hung
SO high that Mrs. Hillhouse was obliged
TO use stepladded to reach them, and
Sam satisfied himself with walking
around, now and then up on his hind
legs and shifting wistfully.
The wide scope of the goats appetite
was not understood even then, but it
was revealed to Mrs. Hilhouse one day
when she hung hall mat over the
porch rail to let the wind blow the dust
out of it. The mat never was seen again,
but Sam was found lying on the porch,
near the spot where it had been hung,
| with look of supreme contentment on
his face and a few woolen ravelings of
various colors dangling from his jaws.
A few days afterward, when she wanted
to hang some tides out on the porch rail
to air, Mrs. Hillhouse first tied Sam to a
| tree, but, unfortunately, she tied him
with rope. 1t happened that the
tides were in plain view of the goat, and
they made tempting display in the
eyes of the creature that so constantly
hungered for novelties, whether raw or
cooked. Some of them were of fine
linen, richly embroidered, and others
were combinations of scraps of silk and
satin of various pleasing colors. Sam
| turned upon the rope that held him and
ate it. Then he tackled the delicacies
displayed on the porch rail, and soon
had them slowed away in his stomach.
Mrs. Hillhouse demanded that he be
killed at once, but her husband was
warmly attached to the animal and re-
fused to end it's life. So Sam lived, and
lived to eat. The goats intrinsic value
increased. One day when Hillhouse's
hired man left his vest hanging on
bar post Sam took notion to go out in
the helotwhere the men were worl1ing,and
while nosing around espied the vest.
When the owner went to get it at noon
it was missing, and only few bits of
lining had been left to indicate it's fate.
The hired man did not take kindly to
the loss of his vest, because in one of the
pockets was brand new $40 open face
watch, to which was attached three
dollar chain. The matches, tobacco, and
other stuff in the pockets he could
spare, but he couldn't give up his watch
without protest, and he suggested to
Iillhouse that there was only one way
to recover the timepiece, and that was
by killing Sam and laying bare the in
terror of his food pouch. Hillhouse
stubbornly refused to have the goat
killed, and satisfied the hired man by
buying him new watch and chain.
Sam showed no signs of regret over
the watch exploit and kept on hunting
for unusual things to devour. One day
he indulged In meal that caused him
considerable physical discomfort. An
insurance agent rode out from Trenton
to see HilIhouse on business He came
on bicycle, and, leaning the machine
against the fence, went into the house
to look over some papers. Sam never
had seen bicycle before, and he imme-
diately began looking it over to find out
if there was anything about it that he
might safely add to the varied assort-
ment already in his stomach. The tires
were soft. Sam began work on them
and in an extremely short time had
nfbbled them from the wheels. The In
surance agent was hauled back to town
by Mr.. Hillhouse's horse, and Hillhouse
paid for q new set of tires for the BIZ
cycle The rubber tires did not set so
well on Sans stomach as they had on
the wheels, and the day after he had
eaten them he gave indications of In
ternal disturbance. He was not himself
at all. He refused to eat and lay
stretched out i'm a corner of the wood
shed. Hillhouse doctored him, and in
two days the animal was well enough
Mrs. Hillhouse had laid on the grass to
bleach, thinking that it was safe be-
cause Sam was sick.
One day last summer Hillhouse went
TO Trenton to draw money with which
to pay his help. He drew $100 from the
bank, SIS in five-dollar gold pieces and
silver and $25 In bills. He put the money
in a shot bag and showed the bag into
his coat pocket. When he reached home
he took off his coat and laid it ON box
while he embarrassed the horse. Sans
eye fell on the coat, and when Hillhouse
disappeared in the barn he walked UP
and proceeded to devour it. By the time
Mr.. Hilhouse came out of the barn the
goat had swallowed one-half of the
coat, and it was the half that contained
the pocket which had the money Gold,
silver and greenbacks were in the goats
stomach. Then it was that Sans life
came near an end. Hillhouse got his
gun and was about to shoot the goat
when his daughter objected.
II must kill him, Carrie" said her
father, because he has swallowed 500
and can save the coin"
''It'll be just as valuable when Sam
dies as 1t is now," replied Carrie.
Hillhouse could not get over the ar
gument, and Sans life was spared. AL
though the animal Is walking around
to-day with $2s worth of jewelry and
$75 in hard coin In his stomach, he puts
on no airs. He is the same simple, un-
pretending creature that he always has
been and is just as hungry as he was in
his youth. His owner figures that Sans
intrinsic value Is upward of 500, but he
would not part with him for house and
lot.
The winter in Europe.
While England enioys such a mild