Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-02-24

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from the village of Lansing, traded a
number of hogs and calves ana a COW
for a yoke of oxen. Farmer Johnson
had been a farmer for a good many
years, but had never owned a yoke of
! oxen. He was Il good man and q mem
Der of a church congregation in the
village, and his wife was known far
and wide fer her gentIeness and benev-
olence.
The robins were tuning up their Tyres
and making ready to build their nests
and go in for the simple life when the
farmer yoked up his oxen and hitched
them to the plow and started in to
break the soil Of a five acre lot which
was to be planted to potatoes. The
oxen turned a furrow twenty rods long
and then decided to rest. They were
coaXed and argued with. but they
were obdurate. Not an hours work
was got out Of them that whole day
| The May sun was shining just as
| brightly and the May robins were
singing just as gayly when the farmer
and his oxen started in on the second
| day. Peace on earth and good Will to
men seemed to prevail all along the
! line, but a close observer would have
noticed that the farmers jaw was set
and that the oxen had a defiant toss
Of the head. Things developed early
When two burrows had been plowed
across the land the oxen suddenly
started and ran away, and plow and
20 MN 1xvo1so 1rs0 crCro1 oil FOR, 4nv,
minutes before there was a halt
When the oxen were brought out aft
err dinner the farmer was armed with
a stout club, and the light of Bunker
Hill shone in his eyes. Perhaps the
bovines had premonition of the coming
cyclone, for they logged along in
sober and Industrious way for half an
hour before breaking out; then it was
another runaway and halt in a fence
corner. They had only stopped to
breathe when the farmer was on top
Of them with his club. He also broke
forth into language. He dubbed and
he exclaimed; he pounded and he ejac-
ulated; he walloped and he cussed.
One of the travellers along the high
way that afternoon was the widow
Barnes. She belonged to the same
church as the Johnsons. She drove up
as the circus was in full swing, and,
jumping out of her buggy, she mounted
the roadside fence and shrieked out:
"Stop that! Stop that Samuel John
son, have you gone crazy?"
"None o. your business was shout
ed back.
"But I'll make it my business. Don't
you swear another swear in my pres
ence!"
"By thunder and lightning and lingo
and Peter and Paul!'
"And don't you hit them oxen anoth-
er blown
Whack! Whack! Whack!
81 command you to stop! In the name
of the law I command you not to strike
another blow"
Farmer Johnson struck a dozen.
every well. I know what / shall do
The people around here shall know
what sort Of a man you are before the
sun goes down.
The widow drove to the village and
to the minister's, and the story she told
made the good mans hair stand up. He
couldn't help but feel that it was his
duty to go out and investigate, and the
widow lent him her horse and buggy
| for the drive. He arrived at the John
son farm to find the oxen resting under
a tree and the farmer sitting on the
fence with a straw in his mouth. The
oxen were wondering what further dev-
iItry they could be guilty of.
II am sorry, Brother Johnson, very
sorry began the minister as he heav-
ed a long sigh.
Sister Barnes told you all about it,
did she?"
Everything"
"She said 1 pounded the oxen with a
club?'
''She did, and l can see proofs of it,
"She said l swore?"
"Like a pirate of old, and l can al
most smell the fumes of sulphur
around here. Brother Johnson, until a
man can control his temper he cannot
| be looked upon as a Christian"
"Parson, did you ever drive oxen?
asked the farmer after a bit.
Ell cannot say that l ever did, but
! nothing can convince me that it is
necessary to resort to profanity and
brutality to move a yoke of gentle
eyed oxen along"
"Come along and give it a trial."
The good man hesitated, but the
oxen were attached to the pillow and
headed around, and he advanced and
seized the plow handles and gave
them the word to go. They went.
Their movements for the first five min
utes were as gentle as grease running
across the kitchen floor; then they
stopped, wheeled, turned the yoke and
ran over the pIowman and dragged him
along for ten rods before they could be
| headed off.
"That's the way they have been act