River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-05-21

lnule?'
fThe Teller had jest sot down on one
end of an empty shoe box, and he give
setch a shout when said mule that
| the end o. the box caved in, and, kerr
slam! he went sprawlin' on the floor.
Job, he busted out laughin' SO that
his chaw of terbacker few outen his
mouth like a cork outen a sody water
| bottle, and hit Nose plumb in the
| eye, when he squatted on the mack raj
| kit, and stopped his grin quicker than
it had started Simon he riz up often
the roll o. calico, lookin' madder'n
wet hen, and hollers out TO the Teller,
who was scramblin' to git up:
"'That's right he hollers. That's
all I keep store for, jest for folks to
come in an jump on things and smash
'em! Shall | git you an ax?' he hol-
Lers.
THE Teller got up, and first along
] thought he was goin' to pitch in and
give us all ough-and-tumble, but he
compromised it by sayin' to Simon,
ugly as a bear:
II come in here to git five cents
worth o. loose chewin',' says he. If
you'll jest dish it up I'll git out ag'in,
and pull for Jersey. And l can't git
there none too soon!' says he, stickin'
up his nose high ag'in the Knob coun-
try.
while Simon went potterin' after
the loose chewin', I says:
YES l says. 1 guess | forgot to
ho Ia
And slick one he was, too. Old Joe
riz him.
He was comm eight year old when
Old Joe sentenced him to go down in
Jersey, and I'll bet his ears was foot
and half long. His tail wasn't as
long as his ears says, but it had a
tuft onto it like cannon swab.
''Ebenezer was fat as a buttermilk
calf, but he wasn't reliable. He'd kick
and bite and fight, whenever the sper-
rit moved him, and the sperrit was
movin' him most o. the time.
"'Ebenezer sort o. got the idee in
his head that he was goin' where he'd
mebbe have a wider field to let his
cussedness loose in, and he went trip
lamb frolickin' and went into the car
hee-hawin' as though he'd bust his
VIXEN, he was so tickled over the
prospects. 1 think they said it was
somethin' like 200 miles Ebenezer had
to ride fore he got there, but when
they unloaded him down there in Jer-
sey he come out smilin'.
l. 1a lol IN for
that country and was goin' to make his
mark But he hadn't looked around
him much, so Shorty said, before he
begun to git way down in the dumps.
"'Shorty hadn't never see Ebenezer
that way, and he got skeert. And
when Ebenezer went to the pillow
without a word, and yanked it all day
without once liftin' his ears or them
heels O his'n, Shorty made up his mind
that Ebenezer was playin' it on him,
and he said he'd be willin' to bet that
farm ag'in the roe of shad that
hadn't ben ketched yit that there was
an arthquake workin' in that mule,
and that when it busted it'd lift Shorty
clean to t. other side o Jordan!
"'But it want so, stranger says I
to the sour-lookin' Teller who was
feedin' hisself loose chewin' like COW
eatin' hay. 1T want so strange.
Ebenezer got down in the dumps worse
and worse every day and after he had
been in Jersey a week Shorty went to
the field after him one day and there
was nc mule to be seen.
"'Shorty hunted all over that coun-
try for three days, but couldn't find
no trace of Ebenezer. Then he sent
word back to old Joe that the mule had
gone off somewheres and died. Old
Joe was glad to hear it.
'Somethin' like two weeks after
gittin' that word, old Joe was reused
out of his sleep, along about three
O'Clock in the mOrnin', by noise that
sounded consarned familiar. 1t rat
tied the windows. 1t echoed among
the hills. 1t walled, it yooped, it hee-
hawed.
"Ebenezer, by the gander goslin'
o. Wild Goose creek!'' old Joe hollers,
iumpin' out o. bed and runnin' to the
door.
"'A mule was leaning ag'in the
front fence, jest about on his last pins.
He was thin and scraggly, his eyes was
holler, and his ears hung clean to his
knees, like a yeller hounds.
"'When this mule see old Joe he
lifted up his voice ag'in and actu1y
wept. 1t was Ebenezer, sure enough.
Ebenezer back from Jersey.
cts somethin' like 300 miles by
road from where Ebenezer was to the
Knob country, and so old Joe couldn't
help but fgger out what Ebenezer's
idee o Jersey must "a been to take his
overburdened heart with him, as it
were, and pull out for the distant
Knob country on hoof.
"'Ebenezer was as slick as ever in
week after he got back, and started
right in to be as sassy and cussed as
ever, and to run the place as he had
done before, but one day old Joe SAYS
to his wife, when Ebenezer was BY.
gittin' ready to boss the doin's for the
day:
." Mandy" says he, ''I'm goin' to
send Ebenezer back to Jersey ag'in,'
says he.
"'Ebenezer dropped his ears to
wunst and walked away, and ever
sence then he's been the best mule that
ever made music in the hull Knob coun-
try. and old Joe wouldn't take $500 for
him.
$50, says l to the sour-loollin' fell