The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-12-15
"ONE NIGHT I'M COON HUNT1NG.n

nth quarter Is the hide an tallow: an also
thars a sixth quarter. the same bein' the
bullets in the stump which makes the tar
get, an which is dug out a whole lot. lead
bein' plenty sparse in them days I'm
dreamin' of.
":As I'm sayin', when Dan lams loose
them thickhead Interruptions. I'm a re-
nowned shot. an my weakness is huntin'
bars. I finds 'em an kills 'em that easy,
I thinks thar's nothin' in the world but
bars. An when I amt huntin' bars. I'm
layin' for deer; an when 1 amt layin' fol
deer. I'm squawkin' turkeys; an when ]
amt squawkin' turkeys. I'm out nights with
a passed. Of misht dogs I harbors. a shakin'
up the scenery for racoons. Altogether.
I'm some busy as you-all may well infer.
lone night I'm coon huntin'. The dogs
trees over on Rapid Run. When I arrives
the whole pack is circkled round the base
of q big beech. singin'; my old Andrew
jackson dog leadin' the choir with the air,
an my Tom Benton dog growlin' base. The
others MARBLES what parts they will indis-
eliminate.
"Nacherally, the dogs can't climb the
tree none. an 30 I has to max the play
myself. I lays down my gun an shucks my
belts an knife. an goes swarmin' up the
beech. It's shorely a Tedious enterprise.
an some rough besides. That beech seems
as full Of spikes an thorns as a honey
locust-it's q sort O. porkypine of a tree.
(which I works my 1acerated way into
the lower branches, an then glances up
ag'in tho ornaments to locate the coon.
He amt visible none: he's higher up an
the leaves an bresh hides him.. I goes on
till I'm twenty foot from the ground: then
I looks up ag'in.
"sGents. II amt nc coon: it's a bar, black
q paint an as big as a baggage Wagon.
He amt two foot above me too; an the
sight Of him, settin' thar like a black bale
Of cotton, an his nearness. an particularly
Q few terse Remarks hese lets drop. comes
mighty clost to astonishin me to death. 1
thinks Of my gun: an lets go all holts to
60 an get It. Shore. I fails outen the tree:
thar amt no time to descend slow an
dignined.
LAS I comes crashin along through them
beech boughs. it inculates a misonderstand-
In among them dogs. Andrew jackson.
Thomas Benton an the others IS convoked
about that tree on a purely coon theory.
They expects me to knock the coon down
to 'em. They shorely do not expect me to
come tumblin' none myself. It tharfore be-
falls that when I makes my deboo among
'em. them CANNES. blinded an besotted as
I say with thoughts Of coon. provinces up
on mo in q body Every dog rends OF 4
specfment of me. They don't bite twice;
they perceives by the taste it amt no coon
an deStsts.
(which I don't reckon their worryfn' me
would have become a continuous perform
ance nohow: for me an the dogs is hardly
tangied up tina away, when we're inter-
fered with by the bar. Looks like the ex-
ample I sets ia Infectious; for when 1 lets
90. the bar lets go: an I hardly hits the
ground an becomes the ragin' center of
interest to Andrew Jackson. Thomas Ben
ton an them others. hen III bar is down
on all Of US like the old Cumberland on a
sandbar dooron' q spring rise. I shore re-
guards his advent hat away as the day of
5edgment-
mo. We don't corral him.. That b'ar
anply rars back long enough to put An