Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1900-01-11

other fellers | was getting acquainted
with all roundabout. didn't wanter
be different from them"
| You'd always been different from
'em in the way that you had owned
| your farm an had money in the bank
an staid ter hum an minded your own
| business while they was alvin on
their wits or their credit"
| well, never'd heu my fling. as you
might say, an when | went a-sheritiin
| got acquainted, an there amt no
| gittin away from it. | did buy new
clothes an a new hat an new boss
an buggy an all the fiXin's."
The iiXin's was gold watch an
chain an gold ring, jest as true as
you live an kid gloyes-drivin gloves
he called 'em-an he driv' in 'em no
doubt, fur he rid an he rid. carryin
| them fellers he he'd got in with around.
He went off with 'em to a politics con-
vention year ago an left the hay all
| down. A rain blew up-I told him |
| felt in my bones thet twas comin-an
it raiAA an it rained, an when he got
| but twas muSty, an the critters
wouldn't eat il, au cum winter he he'd
| ter buy hay, He was so ashamed he
wouldn't buy it around hum, for never
| before since the Lord set em apart i'll
to families did a Staples ever buy hay.
SO he drove II miles to the city an
| got baled hay and brought it hum in
al, L. Il =,
fed 1t out to the COWS in the barn.
Waal, come spring there was dunnn
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 a city man he
owed for his black beetle winged tail
coat an his high silk hat come dunnn
an said he'd take up with COW for
family use an what did he dc but up
and sell him Betty, the best COW in the
| barn. | tell you, that struck me
spunky, but | didn't say nothin or not
so very much"
Didn't say very much?" echoed
poor Staples, bracing his shoulder
anew. "'Twan't nothin but kersher-
if, kersheriff, kersherifl, 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
a buzz beetle tailed coat, razor toed
yaller shoes, a cane an a plug hat.
Why. he even had his linen he called
1t, done up at n laundry
HE did make rapid progress laugh
ed the lawyer,
Progress, | thought so when them
men came an said Bet had got tu-ber-
co-lo-sis. | 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 | said we'd all been vaccinat-
ed, an | guessed that would do for the
cows an all SO we jawcd till Staples
dresse' up an hitched up an drove off
with them Day an night he was gone
for two or three weeks, an ! thought
| 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.
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-
10 ant mn
their talk about prosecutin MS for sell
in COW that hadn't been tested, an l
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 Wen have a post norton exam
nation, my good woman. | said l
didn't feel jest then as If ! 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 | said /
didn't care what kind Of Topsy they
proceeded with, she was black enough
to be Topsy or Dinah. | 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 II had tangled around an punched
through her internal machinery tryin
to digest itself till it had twisted poor
old Bettys heart all up so it couldn't
beat no longer"
"Well then they cannot prosecute
you for keeping an infected herdF'
/ mo, but the Society For the Proven
ton of Cruelty 10 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 viii make the
papers giyin me n deed Of the farm
ryit ..s..1 bf,,, ,,,,pax- a nav I'M settle