The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-20
BY GEORGE RANDOLPH CHESTER.


 he got made into a centaur. Aggie gave him hark from the tomb, forwards and backwards, sideways and eatercornered. and down through the middle. She never even. stopped to draw breath till it was time to get dinner then Josh tore off his collar and tie and coat and vest, and went down and kicked all the boards off the orchard fence When the dinner bell rang he cantered up to the house as hungry as a horse. but Aggie met him at the door with the look in her eye that always made him dodge.
 No, you don'tI" said she. You'll not eat dinner in this house. Go down to the barn where you belong, and I'll send your dinner down by the hired hand. You get all that's left and 1 suppose the chickens and the hogs won't get any more scraps. While you're waitin' for your own dinner you might eat the hay and oats for poor Dobbin.''
 And Josh had to let it go that way. When dinner was over at the house she came down and filled his feed box with succotash and Irish stew, and then she went out and locked the door on him.
 You jest stay there till make you pair of overalls!" she told him through the stall door. 'Ill measure old Dan | for 'em. He's about your size Drat 1t all, it'll take enough jeans to have made l your overalls for four year to come. | Josh nearly wrecked the barn while she drove to town for the jeans, but it did | him no good The hired hand tried to | get him out, but Mrs Peabody had the l paddock key in her pocket and the staples were clinched through on the inside, so | Josh just stuck his head out through the stall door and smoked and kicked and cussed till she got back. Then he shut up.
 Poor Joshl From that time on he ate and slept in the barn. The best he could do was to build stall up next to the kitchen, with a window through into the kitchen and his feed trough on the table next the window. But she wouldn't call | him Josh any more. He was Dobbinjosh, she said and she made the hired hand | call him that. too, when she was around. 1, If it hadn't been for her Josh would have been happy. The children were tickled | to death with the change and many a l fine gallop they had on his back. l Down in Dozeville the oddity of his | appearance soon wore off. Strangers of | course, opened their eyes to see Josh 1 standing comfortably in front of the post | office, his straw hat cooked on one side his hands in his overall pockets his fore 1 legs crossed and his tail switching while | he smoked ana talked pOlltlcS, put tiS 1 Dozeville folks. themselves, never thought of it after the first few times
 His trips to town were mighty few and far between, though. For the most part he staid at home and worked like a horse. The very first day after his wife came home Josh went out and put the l harness on Dan.
 'Looky here, you Dobbinioshl" yelled Mrs Peabody. "Where you goin' with l old Dan?"
 ''I fingered on cuttin' the hay in the far medder," he answered, meekly, 1 Well then, jest you put Dan back in 1 the barn! Pm meanin to let Wllyum drive him over to Aunt Marthas today and borry her cider press. Put the har- ness on yourself and let the hired hand hitch you up to the mower and cut that hay. We hain't goin t lose the use Of Dobbin jest on account O your foolish nessr'
 And Josh had to do it. It took him two months to get his muscles calloused to the strain, but by the end of that time he was about the most valuable anil nal that ever worked on farm. A l horse that can drive himself and think and do errands and drive hard bargain, and save the wages of a hand while do- | ing the work of a horse. is not to be sneezed at, and Mrs. Peabody could have ! offered her two thousand dollars for him. but she wouldn't sell. She was a mighty smart woman and knew when she had a good thing.
 It wasn't till along after harvest that Josh was driven to town hitched to the ] buggy. All through the summer he'd 1 been figuring to have a carriage built with one side of it let down almost to the ground, so he could stand in there | xrith oOia Sit 1 seat, their heads about of a height. Then they could drive to church and he could | stand outside, in good weather. and lean his arms on the window sill and enjoy the sermon. But when he explained this plan Aggie nearly had a fit.
 'What!' she screamed. "Spend all that money on a new buggy jest to sat isfy foolish pride? Not much, Mary Annl When I start goin' to church again this the children in it. and when we go in you'll stand outside hitched to a post And jest to break ye into carriage work I reckon I'll drive to town tomorry and buy the goods for some new dresses for l me and Caddy.'
 Tomorrow gasped Josh. "Why that's election day and I call1ilated to-"
 'To spend the day guzzlin' over to Dan Legget's, eh? Well you won't! I'll on- | kin go over and vote, then you kin hurry I back and stand hitched till. we're ready to go. I'm glad you told me it was elec- tion day"
 1 There was no use to argue with Mrs Peabody and Josh knew it. So he only sighed, but he did squeal some when she put a bridle and bit on him the next morning.
 | 'I don't look right Aggie," he said. 'I ain't never needed no bit I know 1 Gee and flaw as well as ary man ] livin'--or horse either. for that matter an that's the way I've been drove all summer
 Hold up!' commanded Mrs. Peabody as she showed the snaffe in his mouth You don't need 10 think I'm goin' ( drive through Dozevile bawlin' Gee and | flaw like I was plowin'r
 Such a start as that wasn't likely to put Josh in very good humor and before they got half way to town he jerked the | bit out of his mouth, and stopped to turn around and remark that he'd be dummed | if he wore that any longer. But Aggie cut him across the Hanks with the whip