Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-06-18
KILLED BY BARLEY.
Major Ponds F.r-t Experience In Plow-
Ing With Oxen.


ing With Oxen.
In St. Nicholas Major j. B. Pend,
the we'll known manager, tells a bit of
autobiography entitled My First
Gun" Major Pond says:
A good many years ago | was small
boy living on the farm of my father,
who was Il western pioneer, in the state
of Wisconsin. When | was about II
years old, l was hired by q neighbor to
work ut II job of blowing, and for it. |
was to receive 50 in money and pair
of geese The oxen which l was to have
charge of were 4-year-old steers and
Mr.. McLaury, my employer, thought
great deal of them. Mr.. McLaury work
cd at making his garden while man
aged the oxen and plowed ten acre
lot l was instructed not to whip tho
oxen, but to allow them their own gait,
and this they soon found out. and it
mado my journeys behind the pillow
very easy. At night the animals were
! left in the stable, and we always fed
them carefully and groomed them as If
VllcN lluQ petll uOlSCS LII OuO Ciitt VI viz
stable there was Il bin of barley.
My instructions were TO see that tho
cattle were securely tied in their stalls
at night, and l was to give each one of
them two quarts of barley and plenty
of hay Onemorning found one of the
oxen had slipped his halter during the
night and was comfortably lying near
the barley bin put him back in his
stall and gave them both their usual IA
lions.
When it was time to yoke up for the
day, Mr.. McLaury came with me to tho
stable, as was not large enough to put
the yoke on the oxen He noticed that
one of the steers had not eaten the bar
ley in his feed box and suggested that
perhaps he was not feeling well. So he
told me to drive slowly, and if the OK
showed symptoms of illness TO let him
know.
On the way to the field we had to cross
creek, where 1 was accustomed to stop
and let the team of oxen drink all the
water that they wanted. l noticed that
this OK hurried and almost pulled his
mate into the creek i'll his eagerness to
drink. and | could hardly whip him
away from the water after he had been
drinking with all his might for ut least
10 minutes.
Finally l got him across the creek
and started to pillow, and then noticed
that the OK was beginning to swell. He
swelled and swelled until he was more
than double his normal girth, and pres
emily he crowded his mate out of the
furrow, and Mr.. McLaury saw it and
came running into the field. was
frightened and was almost inclined to
"cut" for home, for knew then that
the OK must have been feasting ut the
barley bin and that had done wrong III
not telling Mr. McLaury of my suspi-
cions when | found the animal free from
its halter in the morning. knew very
we'll how much Mr. McLaury loved the
first and only team of oxen he had ever
had
He asked mo Immediately if the OK
was loose III the barn when | went ont
III the morning stlu US, eApe0llHS W
be Knocked down, for he seemed TO be Il
quick tempered man. But he was very
gentle and spoke kindly, saying: My
boy, you should have told me he was
loose. Then l could have kept him away
from the water and might have saved
him. Now my beautiful steer is lost.
My heart was broken. l believe l
would have given my life to save that
OK, but he died right there, and we took
his mate home and turned him out to
Craze. was set to chopping wood, and
my employer and his wife went away
for the afternoon Soon all the neigh
borhood knew that Mr.. McLaury's OK
was dead. and felt as though they all
thought that WAS the cause of it.