St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-12-24

Il
There was farmhouse at the to]
of the hill, with stables and outbuild
ings, and a boy Harvesting young
horse in q shed. lobe had observed al
this as he passed by, and it had givel
him homesick feeling. The house
knee-deep in the grass of the yard
looked SO cool and inviting; and thu
crooks of milk. on bench on the bacl
porch, made him think of Ida May
mother, who had prided herself on mel
skill as butter-maker.
The boy came through the gate will
the horse, and a rooster crowed and bal
anced on the garden fence, as Tobt
climbed down from the wagon seat and
walked toward the spring.
makes me think of the time when
was a boy going out to pillow in the long
corn rows down in the creek bottom,
thought lobe, pushing his hat back
from his hot forehead. "A fellow cam
be boy but once, though; never but
once!"
There were in his mind other pictures
of those unreturning days. as he kns!t
on the rim of the stone basin, ignoring
the gourd dipper and drinking direct
from the bubbIing spring, because that
was the way he used to drink from the
spring in the springhouse on the old
farm up in the Knox county hills. which
he had not seen for so many years.
lobe Springer had not enough imag-
ination of the fearsome kind to make
him timid and nervous, but he had
enough sentiment to make him soft
hearted.
The boy rode the horse clatteringly
down the hill. He was coatless, mus
cular, round-faced country boy, going
out to furrow off some corn ground, in
the little square field beyond the or
chard, where the blackbirds were al
ready calling and quarreling over the
anticipated planting of the grain. The
swinging harness chains 'clinked" and
"clanked" about the horses legs; and
the boy. imbibing the spirit of June,
began to whistle.
That noisy, but not unmusical "clinl,
clank, clinkety" of the chains was a
new sound to the team hitched to the
wagon. lobe Springer,
who had driven the team SO long. would
have told you that it was not possible
to scare those horses. They were rec
ognized, as the embodiment of sober
For that reason they were
chosen for use in this work. The shrek
Ct a railway whistle, the blare of a
bugle. the rush of an engine, even the
shrill cry of flies and the "rat-tat" of
drums, had never moved
them; and as for the futtering of
leaf or the wrinkIing flight of a bit of
paper across the road, they were quite
above paying attention to anything like
that.
Nevertheless, when lobe lifted him.
self from the spring, with the water
dropping in a jeweled shower from his
grizzled mustache, he saw that the
steady old team was going to scare at
those clinking chains. The boy was not
4 dozen yards behind the wagon when
lobe looked up, and was unobservant
Of the fact that stabbed into Tobe's
heart like lance of ice.
lobe dashed away the water that
chung to his mustache and ran toward
the horses. His heart came into his
as he saw the ears of the of
horse give nervous twitch, and he
cleared almost a third of the distance
II q bound.
'Whoa!" he cried "Whoa."
But the command came too late.
The off-horse gave a sidewise leap
way from that clinking sound, push |
ng its mate sharply round. whirling
he wagon as if it moved on a pivot;
nd almost in the twinkling of an eye
he two horses were racing down the |
cad, dragging after them the wagon
With its awful load of explosives. and |
'obe Springer's little daughter. Ida |
day, in the bouncing seat.
As the wagon was jerked round, the |
10Y saw those ominous letters on its |
ide, "Nitroglycerin." Then he heard
da Mays frightened cry and saw lobe
pringer's face turn CHASTITY white.
whoa! whoa!" lobe painted, rush
ng in blind pursuit. "Whoa!"
The boys heart chilled, and for an in
tant he pulled in on the bride rein
ut only for an instant; though he
new well enough the meaning of that
ed-lettered sign on the wagon. lie
we'd in the gas belt and had seen nitro
lycerin wagons before. The terrible
eril of the little girl in the drivers seat
rove the color out of his ruddy cheeks.
"Oh, my poor darling" he heard
ODE exclaim; then he struck his heels
gainst the sides of the horse and
hased madly after the dust cloud
trough which the nitroglycerin wagon
as bounding.
He quickly passed the frenzied, hat
SIS and breathless father.
stop 'em, if you cant" cried lobe.
Stop 'em! Stop 'em!"
The young horse was feet. There
as no fear of that awful nitro
ycerin to freeze its blood and be-
umb its energies. 1t liked race as
ell as anything in the world, and at
Re word OF command it went down the
vel country road, stretching away
ON the base of the hill, with a speed
lat was astonishing. /;
The boy hoped at first to overtake
I'D stop the team. He believed IL he
'uld get his muscular right hand on
e bit of the near horse he could safe
bring the wagon to a standstill. The
lst cloud lifted moment as he gained
l the wawgon, and revealed the white,
ightened face of Ida Maya pitiful
&c. in its deep fear. as she chung to
e springy seat. /!
60. Billy! Go, Billy!" the boy {
aSed; do your best. your very best.
}! Go!"
His voice had in it a quavering thrill I
at stirred the young horse to its ut
ost speed. With ears bent back to
.ch the Gghtest whisper. it swept q
er the road like a trained hunter. e
The horse hitched to the nitro
ycerin wagon were now runningi
ray in downright earnest. They con-
lued to hear that frightening 'clink,
INK" behind them. together with q
pid clatter of hoofs. and they ran :.
- md y