The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-06-04
TIE EVENING STORY
Some 11leories and a Bear rap
LbX . b LEWIS. ]

while she had got to be twenty and
was called one Of the incest gals in
Adams county.
Tom Barlow, the youngest of the
village merchants, agreed with all 9TH
ers- He had driven out to see Jennie
on haIf a dozen occasions on Sunday
afternoons, and it was whispered
arund that q marriage would come of
it. The father had scratched his head
and said nothing. but in his own mind
ne had regarded it as a good match.
All was going well when an inter
ruptlon suddenly occurred. Mr. Bar
low dealt IN hoes. rakes and shovels
as Well as In dry goods and groceries.
Uncle Peter bought a hoe of him and
started into the cornfie1d one morning
20 make the dirt fly. The hoe pleased
MIN, the air was balmy and the corn
was knee high and still growing. He
was humming to himself and wonder
ing now long before he would lose
enrie when he pulled over a sod with
mole underneath
The life or death of that mole had
HItie 70 do with the future prosperity
OF ADAMS county, but Uncle Peter
Jumped In with intent to slaughter. He
MADE three or four blows with the hoe
and finally one tremendous blow. The
mole was inundated, but at the same
TINE the handle of the hoe was broken
ana the old man fell forward and
ploWed his nose into the ground He
the hoe and at himself, and he jumped
up ana down and used cusswords.
one does not remain mad at him
SCI very long. He finds some one else
10 Dlane Tor the whole thing In this
case Uncle Peter put the calamity on
Ine shoulders of Mr.. Barlow He had
sold him a hoe handle that was weak
IN the back-sold it with intent TO de-
Lrduo ana deceive Uncle Peter had
sofa snort tons of hay more than once
put when any one cheated him he
looked upon it as a wrong to all hu-
manly He was near the roadside
renee when he massacred the mole
and he had Just got the dirt oI1t ~
| his mouth after the fall when a man
ne knew came driving along in his
buggy.
He naturally asked what was the
mater, and the old man cut loose He
ca4ied the merchant q cheat fraud and
sW1ndler, and vowed by the whiskers
OF ms ancestors that he would never.
never buy aught more of him He
wanted his words repeated, and they
When the father went up to the
mouse after another hoe and the daugh-
ter asked what was the matter he had
more TO say about the merchant. and
something particular to say to her. He
made more fuss about that broken hoe
nandle than the county commissioners
had in building a bridge over Goose
creek, and he ended off with:
Now, you gal, listen to me- II that
sw1ndler ever sets foot on my land agin
III CRUSH him as I would a-a-a
mousei"
Jennie argued and protested and tried
TO soothe, but the father was obdurate.
He told her Of the message he had sent
to town, and she wrote a few lines Of
excuse to Mr.. Barlow and sent them bv
passing boy. That Afternoon. several
vance to themselves
Uncle Peter held to his anger. His
theory was that Mr.. Barlow would
orlve out IN the evening and trysto get
speech with Jennie and seek to excuse
his disgraceful conduct in selling for
20 cents a hoe not worth q dime
Jennle's theory was that the mer-
chant would drive out with half dozen
to take them ALL but she feared the
result. The old man was mad all
through, and it always took him at
least week to get over one of his
/ fits. Old Mrs. Davis, who lived lust
across the road, heard something about
the broken hoe, and her theory was
/ that there would be row Of some
/ sort and that she would be there to
hear and to see.
The merchant didn't have any partic-
ular theory. He simply made up his
mind to drive out to Uncle Peters and
tell him to come in and help himself to
| hoes, rakes and shovels without stint.
| Nothing further of moment happened
/ during the day. It was after supper
when Uncle Peter was milking the bril-
die COW that he got another theory It
might have worked we'll had not his
daughter observed him, half an hour
| later, oiling up the springs of a bear
trap that had hung in the barn for the
last 20 years. Then she got a new
theory. Her father hoped and intended
/ that some one should walk into that
trap. 1t must be the man who sold
1 him the deceptive hoe that he was law
/ Ing for. Old Mrs Davis kept her eve
on the Scott homestead between sun
4 down and dark, and though no tragedy
took place she turned to her husband
and said:
Andrew. something is goin' to hap
| pen I feel 1t in my bones. I've got
a theory that there's goin' to be awful
doin's across the road tonight
Father and daughter sat on the
porch till the clock struck nine. and
then the girl arose and entered the
house to 60 to bed. That was his
chance. He jumped down on the grass
and ran for his bear trap and set it
just inside the gate, and ten minutes
| later was winding I'd the clock with
an innocent expression of countenance
calculated to deceive the cat
Now, why did father linger be-
| hind % asked Jennie of herself as she
went upstairs. and pol1ing her head out
of a front window she saw him engag-
ed IN some nefarious business on the
path-Som ethtng that she investigated
fifteen minutes later and dragged to
one side on the lawn.
The merchant had been detained
He had forgotten that farmers retired
to their beds when the hens went to
roost It was ten o'clock when he
came driving out. Jennie heard him
coming and walked down the road to
meet him Knowing her father as
she did. she knew that a present Of a
dozen new hoes that night would not
suffice TO soothe his injured feelings.
It would be best to notify Mr.. Barlow
of this fact and turn him back and say
goodnight.
At about the hour mentioned above.
Uncle Peter reused I'D out of a doze
with a new theory. 1t was to the eff
feet that some lightning men
might come along in the night and
sealZ to arouse the house for lodgings