The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-08-05

A country auction IS one Of the

A country auction is one OF the d1-
versions of city folk in the summer.
The chance at old furniture and irons
and ancestral clocks is as alluring as a
will-o' the wisp. and about as unreal.
But who shall estimate what a
country auction is to country people |!
The opportunity of seeing one an
Others belongings in the unsparing
light of day; the chance of getting
things cheap, for bargaining is the
beginning of all intellectual exercise.
A country auction never comes of
as scheduled. Time must be allowed
for the farmers chores, for distances
to be traversed by horses just from
the plough, for the farmers wife to
do her dishes and dress the children
too young to be left at home. They,
too, come in the clothes Of leisure
and the bonnets of ceremony. The
women move about the household
goods, talking in subdued tones with
formality as do early comers at
funeral. The men after their kind
congregate about the stables. It is
only when the auctioneer mounts the
corner of the porch that the hilarity
begins. The women seat themselves
on the chairs awaiting their turn and
the men throw themselves on the
grass ready for the entertainment.
This auction was an humble affair.
There were no ancestral cupboards,
no high post bedsteads. The furni-
ture was the sort that suggested that
domestic life is the most hopeless of
all careers.
When the household goods had
been disposed of, the assembly moved
down to the barnyard, where the
farming implements and live stock
were congregated. The summer
boarders mingled with the crowd.
With unerring instinct for the worth
while, they 6shed out from a pile of
scrap iron and old junk battered
piece of Sheffield plate.
"Will you have this put up,
please?"
The auctioneer laid down set of
harness and held up the disreputable
piece.
"What am bid for this handsome
cake dish? Now, don't all speak at
once"
A man laughed. "Ten cents to
help along"
Fifteen cents" said the lady, her
convictions challenged.
''It's yours, miss. This property
goes to the young lady in the red
waist singing her carefully out for
the benefit of the crowd.
'And I've been married thirteen
years" she laughed to her compan-
ion. Then they were lost in the
crowd, while the sale went on.
At length a laugh arrested their
attention. A boy was leading up
white mare. Lame before and be-
hind, she hobbled along, while her,
head bobbed up and down. Time
and i'll treatment had done their worst.
While the crowd laughed the old mare
vaguely looked on, no CLEAN of sense
in her dulled eyes.
"Here's your chance, gentlemen,
for something cheap. What'll you
bid /? Speak up, now. Who'll give
me bid? Plenty of work in her left. "
1.-TWO dollars said man tenta
lively.
"Two dollars 1 am offered. Two
dollars do hear --'
1.-Two dollars and a half if anybody
will shoot her," broke in the young
lady in the red shirt waist.
The auctioneer was the first to re-
cover.
"I'll kill her for you for So. so,
miss"
His assurance helped the crowd to
recover.
"Three dollars" bid another voice.
"Three-6fty," returned the lady.
"Three-seventy-fve."
''Four dollars"
"Four and half, I have it," said
the auctioneer.
"FIve dollars she lifted her head
with slight defiance.
Come" said her companion.
They're bidding it up on you" She
shook off the light touch.
do / hear you Thank you,
$5.25. Don't go, miss, give US an
other bid. Six dollars and she's
yours"
''Six dollars"
"Six dollars. Six dollars. Going,
going. gone. She's your property,
miss"
The crowd broke into little groups
discussing in undertones the incident.
Never in the history of the auctions
of the country had there been such an
unexpected and thrilling diversion.
Come, I must get somebody who
knows how to shoot her." said the
new owner.
A farmers boy thought he could
do the trick.
"I'llpay you for it. But I'd rather
you'd do it for humanity and not for
pay" she said.
.Of course don't want any pay,
lady. But the law'll get hold of me
unless / bury her."
Thus complications began to cluster
about the fate of the old mare. An
elderly farmer added another.
Lady, it's my guess that mares
in foal. It's agin natur' to kill a
mare in foal."
"Do you mean that poor old thing
that has had the life worked out of
her is going to have a colt?"
That's my guess. f"
"Alice, now you'll have to get Dick
to buy that place. Already you have
the beginning of stock farm on your
hands"
"Look here" said the woman in
the red waist, as she turned on the
farmer. If you are willing to gam