The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-07-14
FORJERICHO'S HONOR
HOW 'kIsh BILLINGS UPHELD HIS
TOWNS GOOD NAME.
Old sQuar' Henshaw Thought He Had
an Easy Time, but Pluck and Strait
egy Proved a Little Too Much For

e8y ffOVe0 a Little TOO nuch For
Him.
copyright, 1900. by c. B. Lewis.l
Fur a year or more old Squar' Hen
shaw of Goose Creek had ban comm
over to Jericho once a week to make
trouble. He was known as the great.
est checker player In four counties, and
men had come a hundred miles to play
with him and been downed. That's
whar he hurt our feelin's. He'd drap
into the postoffice in a keerless way
and talk about the weather and butter
and eggs, and bimeby, jest as he pear
ed to be goin home, he'd pull up and
say:
"Oh, by the way, mebbe this town of
Jericho has got a critter who knows
a checkerboard from a corr shelter"
We had a few checker players, but
non of EN- dared tackle the squar',
and the way he Dragged and blowed
and trod us into the dust was painful
to bear. One day be bore on harder
than usual. After his usual bluff he
turns on the crowd and says:
"Mebbe thar's one man in Jericho
with n drap Of patriots blood in his
body-one man and one drap. Mebbe
hat man would hev fit ag'in tyranny
If he'd been livin in 1776. Mebbe that
man, bein as he wasn't alive in 1776,
but is now, Is willin to pour out that
n drap Of blood fur the honor of this
town. If thar be SIGH a critter here.
let him speak up!"
We all knowed that he meant check
ers, and thar vas an awful silence fur
a mint or two. Then 'Lish Billings
keerfully picks a cobweb off his hat
and softly says:
"Squar' Henshaw, I'm that critter.
I've got that blood, and I'm willin to
shed her fur Jericho as ag'in Goose
Creek"
"You don't mean it!' gasps the
squar'.
"But do"
"And you'll play me a game of check
ers?"
II will"
The squar' spected to win that game
in half an hour. He kept gruntin and
gurglin. like q hog scratchin his back
on a barbed wire fence, but bimeby
that balmy look went off his face.
'Lish was holdin him right to it and
not even breathin hard. Thar was a
bet of a bushel Of turnips ag'in a bag
of carrots as to who would git the fust
king, and long about noon, when 'Lish
got it. SIGH cheers went up from the
Jericho side that the water in some of
the town wells riz a foot higher than
was ever known before. Deacon
Spooner couldn't be held. He went out.
doors and waved his cane with one
hand and his hat with the other and
sobbed:
"It's a pint in favor of Jericho!'
The game had skassly more than be.
gun up to noon. The squar' then made
up his mind that he had a job on hand
and when play was resumed after din.
ner he kept talkin to 'Lish in a keer
less way to confuse his mind. He
asked him about that Alaskan bound
airy dispute, the Darwin theory, the
surrender of Burgoyne and heaps OF
other things, but 'Lish just sits there
with his tongue out a leetle farther and
| hCfCl iClc vi ~ ucdI IL WOIu. Al Z
o'clock at night he was one king ahead
and as they stopped the game fur sup
per the town Of Jericho was wild with
enthusiasm. When they begun ag'in.
Squar' Henshaw started up that grunt,
in and gurglin. We seen it was meant
to make 'Lish nervous, and Deacon
Spooner calls half a dozen of the boys
outdoors and says:
1.-THE squar' is maxim a pint, and
we've got to offset it. Do any of you
know what 'Lish's favorite tune Isl"
"It's the Sweet B%imeby,'" says Enos
Johnson. "'Lish has bin singin thai
hymn fur the last 20 years. He sings
1t to his cows and hens and sheep and
hogs, and it allus Gains him like q
cold fatiron laid on his SPINE" D..
"Then go in and hum it," says the
deacon. EVERY time the squar' grunts
and gurgles you hum that tune anG
offset him."
Enos did so, and it was wonderful
to see what the effect was. 'Lish haC
begun to sweat and git red in the face
but the mint he heard that "Bimeby'
he grew as calm as sand and jumped
another of the squar's men. After ter
minits thar was no more gurglin. Thu
squar' realized that it was up ag'iI
him, and he quit. Long about mid
night, when the game was about hall
finished, he said he was willin to wal
till the next day, but 'Lish wouldn't
let go. He said he'd play right on til
Saturday night without sleepin, an(
they went ahead. They was thai
when daylight come, and they was
thar when noon come, and all the time
'Lish was gittin a leetle the best of it
About 5 o'clock in the afternoon We
seen that things was comm to a eli
a The squar' realized that he mus
do somethin or go to the wall, and ht
suddenly begun gruntin and gurglin il
that same old way. Enos johnson was
not at hand to stop him, and 'Lish go
confused and lost a king. 1t vas {
critical time, but Deacon Spoonel
saved the day. He rushed out ant
got Abner Jones, and Abner come il
and started up that "Bimeby" at the
top of his voice. 'Lish fetched a Ions
breath and settled down ag'in, and tel
minits later he had the squar's las
man penned up, and the game wa!
won. He tried to crawl out Of it b.
sayin he had a lame leg and his farm
was under mortgage, but 1t was n
use. We rung the bells and fired til,
anvil and histed the flags, and jericho
broke loose and w%hooped till nobod,
could sing In PRAYER meetin fur til,