Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-07-06

with joy, because now he coulu lift his
father out OF the all-perNading dumps
and save his childhood's home And
while he was jumping and yelling he
heard a noise behiad him, and looking
round, what should he see tumbling out
of the opening in the cave but two
bear cubs that he hadn't known any
thing about.
'Twenty-nine wolves!' Reuben Pet
tibone was fond of telling me he shout
ed. ''Thirty-two dollars more than
enough, besides two dead bears and two
live bears that hadn't seen! No more
all-pervading dumps for pap.'
And there wasn't either, and | SUP
pose that when that long-lost boy got
home with all those skins there was
the
''Sinnemahone," said the man in the
red, blue, purple, yellow, green and
pink Mackinaw jacket. breaking in on
the narrative; land that tremendous
snowbank that shet this amazin' young
ster from gettin' home? Did the heat
o that battle melt it off the face o the
mountain or did the dyin' kicks O them
wolves dig it up and scatter it like
chaff before the rOarin' hurricane? Or
was that sloshin' 12-year-old father o
your'n so burnin' with thirst arter the
battle that he jest fell to and gobbled
all that snow before he could cool that
ragin' and consumin' fever down -
The expression on the face of the
man with the variegated jacket was ag-
gravating. and for moment the man
from over Sinnemahoning way looked
as if he had left something at home and
was inclined to go right away after it;
but only for moment. Then he seemed
to remember that he could get along
just as well without it, and said, bland
ly, but with reproach in his tone:
Il had hoped, Mackinaw, to be
spared the recital, because the way that
the child Reuben got home with the
skins, and the scene when he got there,
always touches me, and is tender. How
ever, since you seem to yearn for it, |
will tell you how it was. While Reuben
and the old bear were fighting the boy
discovered something. If he hadn't
made that discovery there would have
been no point in his jumping and shout
ing with joy. The discovery he made
was that the surface of the great snow
bank that stretched away between him
and the home of his childhood had
taken on crust that was almost one
glare of ice. So, before the bear had
given her dying kick, Reuben had laid
his plan, and as soon as he got through
jumping and shouting for JOY he be-
gun to carry it out. He tied the two
dead bears together with strips he cut
from his moccasins and tied the wolves
TO the bears with thongs he cut from
his powGerhorn straps and his buck.
skin breeches. Then he dragged the
lot to the edge of the glaring, slippery
slope of snow. Taking q bear cub I'M
der each arm. he lay down among the
wolves and the bears and pushed them
to the sloping glare.
II remember so Reuben Pettibone
used to SLY, that there was whiz and
Il WHO'D and ske-wush, and / never knew
another thing until | come to. sitting IN
the kitchen at home. They had heard
me come and found me in the back
yard, mixed up with the bears and the
wolves. The house was full of neigh
bors. and pap, low in the all-pervading
dumps as he was-for the import of it
all hadn't struck him vet was brag-
ging on me and how l stood up. only
u years old at that. against and gath
cred in 20 wolves and four bears. and
two of the bears alive
And here, Mackinaw, is where comes
the part that touches me in a tender
spot. and which l hope will shame you
if it doesn't melt you. When Reuben
came fully to and heard his father brag-
ging that way he rose and said:
Pap said he land he has told me
so many times), L never thought any
thing about wolves nor bears. Wolves
nor bears were nothing to me. WASN'T
lighting wolves nor bears. l was fight
ing your all-pervading dumps. | was
fighting the mortgage, and wholloped
it. It's wholloped, and $32 to spare.
besides the four bears, two of 'em
llive,'
There was filial regard and I'M
selfishness without a parallel. 1t
touched me. Mackinaw, and it disOoses |
Of that snowbank. And it ought 10 |
send you out behind the barn to com
mune with yourself in bitterness and |
kicks"
Saying which, the man from Slime |
way went home. The man |
with the red, blue, purple, yellow, green |
md pink Mackinaw jacket did not go |
,ut behind the barn and kick himself. |
He watched the man from Sinnema- !
lone until he was out of sight. Then |
lie said:
''Sinnemahone is wastin' of himself |
lie orto git himself and his father to-
rether and write histories of Napoleon
5onaparte and Alexander the Great!"
N Y Sun