The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-07-31

sides. After awhile a crty man ne
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 muchY' echoed
poor. Staples, braeing his shoulder
anew. "'Twan't nothin but kersher-
if, kersheriff, kersheriff, from mornin
till night"
"Waal, you came near being kerr
sheriffed yourself when that man came
after you that driv' off Bet to pay for
buzz beetle tailed coat, razor toed
yaller shoes, a cane an a plug hat.
Why, he even had his linen he called
it, done up at a laundry~
"He did make rapid progress" laugh
ed the lawyer.
Progress! 1 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 givin
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 said we'd all been vaccinat-
ed, an guessed that would do for the
cows an all. SO we jawed till Staples
dressed up an hitched up an drove off
with them. Day an night he was gone
for two or three weeks, an l thought
1 should hev a-went crazy. Farm work
sufferin, old Betty a-dyin, an said she
should be brought home. So they load
ed her on to 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.
Il went out to see her an didn't be-
lleye in any of their newfangled talk
She's pizened or else she's a-swallOw-
ed something 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 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 l said l
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 I 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 1t. So they went on
with the examination, an what do you
think they found but piece of Ca
madam wire a foot long. That poor
old critter,. starvin on baled hay, had
chanl1ed down an swallowed that wire,
an it had tangled around an punched
through her internal machiaery tryin
to digest itself till it had twisted poor
old BettX'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 will 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,"
"But your sheriff fees" said the law
yer "Will they not help to partly pay
expensesY'
"Feesw echoed the woman contemp-
tuously. and the man added humbly as
the lawyer took up his pen:
81 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 to
the dignity of the office"
THAT little stub tailed dog is doin
the same" growled the woman; ''he's |
got a ribbon tied round his neck"
And her auditors laughed until the
little dog barked in sympathy and Ste
phen Staples piped: "Jes' so! Jes' SOL"
(Iass.) Republican.