The Press., 1900-02-08


ter buy hay. He was SO ashamed he
wouldn't buy it around hum, for never
before since the Lord set 'em apart in
to families did Staples ever buy hay.
So he drove IL miles to the city an
got baled hay and brought it hum in
Their night an hid it in the haymow an
fed 1t out to the cows in the barn.
Waal, come spring there was dunnin
letters comm in every day, for not on
ly he'd he spent all he had laid by
in the bank, but he'd got trusted be-
sides. After awhile city man he
owed for his black beetle winged tail
coat an his high silk hat come dunnin
an said he'd take up with a cow for
family use, an what did he do but up
and sell him Betty, the best cow in the
barn! l tell you, that struck me
spunky, but didn't say nothin or not
SO very much"
Didn't say very muchw echoed
poor Staples, bracing his shoulder
anew. "'Twan't nothin but kersher-
if, kersheriff kersheriff, from mornin
till night"
"Waal, you came near being ker-
sheriffed yourself when that man came
after you that driv' off Bet to pay for
a buzz beetle tailed coat, razor toed
WALLER shoes, a cane an plug hat.
Why, he even had his linen he called
it, done up at laundry"
"He did make rapid progress laugh
ed the lawyer.
Progress! I thought SO when them
men came an said Bet had got tu-ber-
co-lo-sis. l said didn't know what
kind of tubers they had been giyin
her. She hadn't had nothin on the
farm but potatoes an carrots, an they
agreed with her, well enough. Then
he said we must have the herd inOcu-
lated, an 1 said we'd all been vaccinat-
ed, an guessed that would do for the
cows an ALL So we jawed till Staples
dresseH up an hitched up an drove OIL
| with them. Day an night he was gone
| for two or three weeks, an thought
| I should hev a-went crazy. Farm work
sufferin, old Betty a-dyin, an l said she
should be brought home. So they load
ed her on to a drag an brought her
back one night an put her on some
clean straw in the sheep shed, so the
other critters shouldn't ketch it.
II went out to see her an didn't be-
| lieve in any Of their newfangled talk.
She's pizened or else she's a-swallow-
ed something l said, an they kept up
their talk about prosecutin us for sell
IN COW that hadn't been tested, an
| said we'd been a-testin her milk an
cream for years, but all the talk didn't
save the cow. She died.
'"Then I set up that she should be
cut open, an one O. them men said, as
| pompous as a big dictionary: Very
well. Well have post norton exam
| nation, my good woman 1 said
didn't feel jest then as if l was any
| body's very good woman, but wanted
that cow cut open, post norton or rail
norton, it didn't matter to me. She
never was unruly. An one Of the men
said, kinder laughin, We will pro-
coed with the autopsy an l said
didn't care what kind of Topsy they
proceeded with, she was black enough
to be a Topsy or a Dinah. l knew
what they meant, but didn't mean to
let them know it. So they went on
with the examination, an what do you
think they found but piece of Ca
madam wire foot long. That poor
old critter, starvin on baled hay, had
chanked down an swallowed that wire,
an it had tangled around an punched
through her internal machinery tryin
to digest itself till it had twisted poor
old Betty's heart all up SO it couldn't
beat no longer"
"Well, then they cannot prosecute
you for keeping an infected herdY
mo, but the Society For the Proven
ton of Cruelty to Animals might for
keepin milk cows on copper wire. But
now they threaten to prosecute for
damages and veterinaries an experts
an SO on. So now If you win make the
papers givin me a deed of the farm
I'll give him money to pay up an settle
up all these ker sheriffin bills, but this
has got to end it." E
"But your sheriff fees" said the law.
yer. "Wil they not help to partly pay
expenses ?"
"Feesv echoed the woman contemp.
tuously, and the man added humbly az
the lawyer took up his pen:
II never have had but one case
that writ you instructed me about, you
know; and hain't never got no pay
for sarvin that, but there can't nobody
say hain't dressed up an lived up tc
the dignity of the Office
'That little stub tailed dog is doi1
the same" growled the woman; she's
got ribbon tied round his neck"
And her auditors laughed until the
little dog parked in sympathy and Ste
phen Staples piped: "Jes' so! Jes' soy
Springfield (Mass.) Republican