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

/ A SinneInahOning Bow
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Tow many boys do YOU s'pos,
there are nowadays. Mackinaw,
said the man from over Sinnemahonins
way, who would go out when the.
were only II years old, get lost in tn,
snow in the depths of the highest anC
widest hills that frown down on tn,
Sinnemahone headwaters, lie there fol
a week or more. and then turn up a
their own home fireside again. fetching
with them 20 wolves and four bears. two
of the bears live, at that? How many
12-year-old-bOys are there nowadays
Mackinaw, who could and would dc
that -
jest as many nowadays, Sinnema
hone. as there ever was any time" sale
the man in the red. blue, purple, yellow
green and pink Mackinaw jacket
jest exactly as many, and that amt {
consarned one!'
But don't you gather from my re
marks, Mackinaw," said the man from
over Sinnemahoning way, that there
must have been at least one boy of thai
kind. some time?"
II gether from your remarks that
you're goin' to say there was setch u boy
some time" replied the man in the
variegated jacket. land you mOwt geth-
er from my remarks that that amt
goin' to be no reason why | should
change en-
Meaning" said the Sinnemahoning
citizen, that you have doubt of my
veracity?"
'Webster's dictionary couldn't a sot
ha ,i,rha,- tn Z no
notch, SinDemahone," replied the man
OF the many-hued garment, positively
and emphatically.
Then it will undoubtedly grieve you
TO know, Mackinaw," said the man
from over Sinnemahoning WY, re-
prOachfully, that in anticipating what
| am going to sdy YOU are not rejecting
on my veracity at all. You are casting
doubt not on the word of me, Mackinaw,
but on that of my late remarkable IA
ther. Reuben Pettibone. 1t will uH-
dOubtedly grieve you to know that,
Mackinaw!"
Not durn Bit" CALCULATED the man
in the red, blue, purple, yellow. green
and pink Maclinaw jacket, reducing
the size of his plug of tobacco by a com
modious and vicious bite.
Then | will melt you by an example
OF juvenile endurance, combined with
fiIial regard and unselfishness, without
a parallel" said the Sinnemahoning
narrator. ''Or, if l cannot melt you, i
will shame you. If | cannot touch you,
l will make you feel that you must go
out behind the barn and kick yourself
for having had ii in your heart to cast
a shadow on the word of Reuben Petit
bone, to dab splotch on the luster of
his memOry-a memory that, wherever
the waters of his own beloved SHINE
malone rush or murmur, shines as
bright as new milk pan in the MONDAY
sun, And what l am going to tell you,
on the word of that remarkable man,
occurred when Reuben Pettibone was
yet three months shy of IL years old.
Mark IL well. Mackinaw, and prepare TO
commune with yourself in self-accusing
words of bitterness.
There was shadow on the house of
Pettibone at that interesting period of
my remarkable fathers career. Ii took
the form of a mortgage on Grandfather
Shadrack Petitioners clearing to the
amount of 5000. The mortgage was on
the eve of falling due. and. as GRANDPA
Their Pettibone hadn't the money to pay
it. the prospects were that the ancestral
acres would soon pass to alien hands;
hence the shadow on the house of Petit
bone. throwing Grandfather Shadrack
Pettibone into the depths of gloom, and,
as nv remarkable father sententiously
expressed it, into the all-pervading
depths The gloom and the dumps
were so oppressive that Reuben Petit
bone. child of nature that he was, spent
most of his time in the woods to keep
his spirits up. One day in the winter
time he shouldered his gun and sought
the hills, the widest and the highest
hills that lifted their tops here and
there about the clearings of Pettibone
and others, that lay along the headwa-
terS. Reuben Petitioners intention and
expectation was to strike the trail or
den of some wolves, and he tramped and
t~anlped. and wandered and wandered,
without having met with sight or
sound of wolf; and then suddenly snow
began falling.
1t showed, my remarkable father
used to say, in relating, after his vig-
orcus stVle. this adventure of his youth.
st showed as if the snow was being
dumped out of more than $4,000 four
horse park wagons
But the brave child Reuben fought
his way homeward through the storm.
He hadn't fought his way far before
he discovered that he had lost it. and
he had no more idea of where he was
going than If he had been tramping
across country on the moon. While
he was fioundering about he ran up
against ledge of rocks. and at the
foot of the ledge he saw hole, an
opening protected from the snow by
overhanging rocks. Into that opening
he crept without delay. The interior