Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-07-12
Jerry loves Fool Luck.

git along in this world without
years ago, an the end amt in sight
yet. An yaller dog started 1t. What
old man Bascom saw in the dog, an
what the dog saw In old man Bascom
Is more'n l know. 1t jes' seemed to
be sort of mutual admiration society;
one Of them beautiful an touchin' IL
lnstrations Of a dogs devotion to man
that folks are always talkin' about,
losin' sight of the fact that it some
times shows a lack of common sense
on the part of the dog.
"Old man Bascom an Jerry Lowe
used ter be ez thick ez two feas on a
dogs tail. Like every self-respectin'
community we have a story of buried
treasure, an them two was always
lookin' fer it together. 1t was a com
mon sight to see the old man diggin
fer dear life with Jerry sittin' not far
away playin' Down in Coal Mine on
cornet that he had. 1t never seemed
to occur to the old man ter let Jerry do
some of the work, an folks said that it
was jes' some of Jerry's fool luck.
But one day the dog got under Jerry's
feet an he gave 1t kick. That started
the feud an they never hunted fer the
treasure together again. Old man Bas-
come swore that he would git even
with Jerry; but somehow or other 1t
did not seem ez If he never would, jes'
because Jerry had so much fool luck.
Once the old man threw a dead cat
under Jerry's house, an when he
crawled under ter git it out he found
hens nest with sixteen eggs in 1t. An
once Bascom tied cord across a path
when Jerry was comm with pail of
water, an he fell and split the water;
but I'm blowed If the water didn't
wash up two-bit piece that somebody
had lost But Bascom stuck to it that
he would git even.
1T did seem ez though the old man
had trouble enough of his own without
worryin' Jerry, fer it was his misfor-
tune ter be married to female buzz
saw. If man ever wanted an excuse
to remain single old man Bascom's
wife furnished it. The way them two
MT an fout was awful to see. Jerry
lived near them an when he heard the
racket start he would git out his cornet
an play Home, Sweet Home an Jes'
Before the Battle, Mother an, tunes
like them. 1 amt denyin' that it was
sort of aggrevatin' to have a neighbor
THROWN out insinuations through a
cornet; but that's what he did. Folks
got so that they knew from Jerry's
playin' jes' how things was goin' on
down at Bascom's. An when they
heard Jerry playin' See, the CONQUER.
In Hero Comes they knew that the
fight was over an that the old man
was sum fer peace.
We'll, one day the neighbors heard
Jerry playin', We Shall Meet Beyond
the River That wasn't in the code. an,
nobody knew what he was drivin' at
till they heard that old man Bascom
was dead. Assumin' that Jerry was
right, an that they do meet, 1 give If
out ez my humble opinion that there
will be a fight!
well, after the funeral was over 7
was called upon in my official capacity
ez justice Of the peace ter read paper
that Bascom had left. knew what it
was, cause l drawed it; so l gave ont
the tip, an everybody was there. in
cludin' Jerry. 1t read like this:
Ito all those present 1 wish to SOL
emnly declare that believe In the
sacred bonds of wedlock; that I don't
believe that it is good for man for
woman either to be alone. It is nv
last an most sacred wish that nv wife
should marry again, an / hereby do
clare that have no objections TO her
SO doin'. To hasten this end l leave
to the man who shall marry her the
contents of the brass box that is in tho
corner OF the room. 1 make but ono
condition, an that Is that the man
must play the cornet. To my neighbors
with one exception l leave nv kind |
regards an this advice: Waste no moro
time lookin' fer the buried treasuro
My dear friend Seth Bugby has the kew
to the box an command him to hand |
1t to the man who shall meet all these |
conditions.
Hold on" said l, ez everybody start. |
ed talkin' at once, this here paper has
an error in it! / drawed it an know,
This paper Is in old man Bascom,s
handwritin', an guess that when he |
copied 1t from the one that wrote he |
dropped out word. What wrote an, |
what he wanted me particularly to
write was: That the man must mot,
play the cornetw
"T'm thinkin'," said Jerry, 'that the
'dockymint stands"
There amt no gittin' around that,
said 1, but it amt what Bascom |
meantp
''Well, sir, it did beat all what rum
pus that dockymint kicked up. The |
single men an the widderer was fer |
goin' ter law an try an have it cor
rected. But the married men grinned |
an said 1t was no use tryin' to buck |
agin Jerryss fool luck, an they give t
up. OF course everybody saw at once
that Bascom had found the treasure.
an In tryin' ter keep Jerry from ever
- 4