Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1900-05-01
Il ND to once. It WASN'T no coon tall,

rlZ UP 10 once. IL WASH ! ITO COoH tuiis
but one of the biggest wildcats l ever
laid eyes on. He hadn't bin hurt by
the fall, but he was mad 'nuH to eat
nails. | had skeercely made out what
the varmint was when he lit OH me and
got to work. | don't reckon you ever
met up with 20 pound wildcat with
teeth and claws in good trim, but II
you ever do you'll find that buZZsaws
mint in it with him. The varmint
knocked me down at the fust jump,
and he had torn off half my clothes be-
TO l could git up. Then we went at it
hammer and tongs. | had denied the
children Of Israel and so had to de-
pend upon the club. 1t wasn't much
of IL weapon to fight wildcat with.
The critter lodged half the blows, and
the other half didn't seem to hurt any.
l yelled fur my dawg, but he didn't
cum. l yelled fur the old woman, and
'hout the time yelled / cotched sight
of her two rods Off lookin on. She had
my rifle in her hands, and hollered
fur her to cum cluser and shoot the cat.
"'Zeb White seq she, it amt fur me
to mix in this fout. You went out in
defiance of the Lawd to cOtch a coon,
and if you've cotched wildcat in
stead it's proper punishment
"IIer words made me mad and
teched my pride, and l determined to
kill that cat without her help or be
clawed to death a-tryin. | got in two
or three good blows and sorter evened
up things, but it was nip and tuck.
Bimeby, when | begun to weaken,
says to the old woman:
81 amt akin you to shoot the var.
mint. but you might shoot off Il paw or
tao and gimme Il far show
"How about Sunday? she asks,
never movin a foot.
cts purity good day.
"Is it the Lawd's day or coon's
day"
"'Thc Lawd's day, reckon. Gwine
to stand thar till the meat is clawed
off my bones?
"'Can't tell yt. When the Lawd
brings about calamitous calamity to
punish man fur denyin him it's fur
folks to be kecrful how they mix in
Nobody has aXed you to mix in
says l, and then | went fur that cat
like a hawk fur chicken. Fur the
next five minutes l had the advantage
and was beginnin to feel peart, but the
loss of blood began to tell, and found
myself CROWN weak. The old woman
noticed it and called out:
"'Zeb, how about the Bible?
"I'm a-bclievn in it, says l as ]
makes an awful blow at the cat.
"And how about the children Of
Israel"
"I'm a-believin in them too
"'Did they cross the Red sea dry
shod:'
"I'll bet they didn
"'Was PhariO overwhelmed"
"IIc was, and I'll lick any man who
denies it,
"'Jest one mo- question, Zeb,' says
the old woman as she Gums forward.
'Are thar gwine to be any mo- coon
huntln on Stntlays|
Not if we never hev another pint
of 'lasses in the cabin" says l as the
cat rakes me across the shoulders.
THAT ended the fight. The old wo-
man mixed in and shot the cat through
the head, and tumbled down and lay
thar fur half an hour befo' she could
help me hobble home. Bout all the
clothes l had left on me was one boot
and shirt collar, and it was TO weeks
befo' the bites and scratches let me cit
around az il. ON the fuSt Sunday I
could sit out | saw bar up the noun
ting and started fur my gun. but the
old woman held up her hand and said:
"'Zeb White, take a cheer and 'sot |
down. Yes; | know it's bar, and we
are powerful short of meat. but we've |
got somethn else to do. AS soon MS I !
git my hands out of this dshwater I'll !
fill my pipe and sot down, and you'll |
read to Inc bout them children and the |
Red sea. If you read slow and don't |
skip anything, mebbe you'll find some.
thin bout wildcats too""