Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-12-11
Humorous department.
A Disciple of Truth.

there, ST." the store clerk ventured.
We'll, rather" and Silas looked with
fond admiration at the pair Of old pei
ters he was driving.
Buy 'em or swap for 'em?" the cal
leo measurer inquired.
Traded fer um-traded a gun fer
um."
"A gun? Must have been pretty good
gun to bring in a team like that, 81"
WAS it a good gun? Well, rather,
Silas assented TT was a good gun
when 1 first got 1t, but 1t got strained
in shootin' once. and he'd to git rid OF
II. 1t was the prettiest silver-mounted,
gold-lined old Kentuck you ever saw.
Regular intellectual gun: cud shoot
anything with it. Jest tell 1t what you
wanted to hit, pint it up, and blaze
away, and down I'D cum your game.
Used to shoot wildcats and catamounts
in the dark with it. My old woman
cud shoot it as good as any one
Whenever she wanted ter kill chick
en- for Sunday dinner she'd pint out
the one she wanted, lay the gun on tn
doorstep, and then drive the chickens
around that side Of the house, and the
old gun nd pink him every time"
But should think you could have
made more money by keeping such
gun instead Of trading it off for horses
Si?" the clerk suggested.
That's Jest the pint thet I'm COM
in to: 1t warn't such a good gun when
I made tn trade. 1t was like this: I'd
been out haulin' some wood one day.
and when I drov' up to the house long
toward sundown my old woman came
a-runnin' out to the wagon. and says:
"'Si, there was drove Of deer went
by here bout half an hour ago, and
they amt more'n three miles away
now
81 got off the load of wood and went
for. the rifle. put in three-mile
charge of powder, and then l stood IN
tn doorway and looked, and shur'nuf
there was five deer jest comm to the
top of a knoll about three miles away.
I Jest spoke a couple Of words to the
old gun, and then rested her against
the door-jam, and I says to my old
woman:
You watch, while l shoot
THE mint 1 pulled the trigger the
old woman sings out:
you've got him all right, ST. and
shurnuf there was the biggest, fattest
buck in the lot rollin' over on his side
stone-dead. But it spilled the gun
strained it, yer know. The deer
was further away than they looked
and in reachin' um the gun strained
itself, so that it couldn't ever shoot
again. You cud put in as big a charge
of powder as yer wanted to, but 1t
couldn't throw a bullet across tn road.
1t was strained and spilled. So trad
ed it off fer this team-and got good
thing too"
ITS a good lookin' team all right
ST. but can they pull?-thet's the real
question" some one suggested.
Silas spat contemptuously. on the
wagon wheel.
kin they pull? Well. rather! Why
last week was down in Cerro Gordy
county, haulin' sand, and in one Of the
coal-mines down there they he'd an
elevator stuck in tn shaft. The boss
miner offered to bet me ten dollars thet
my team couldn't pull it up. 1 took
1t up.
l Jest hitched tn rope on behind
the nags. and took up the lines and
spoke ter them, but before they'd pull
ed fer three minits the mine boss Of
fered me a twenty dollar bill If I'd
stop um. Yes. sir. they was simply
ruinin' thet shaft. You see, tn 10
fernel elevator was everlastin'y wedg-
ed. and when the old hosses found tibet
they couldn't bulge it by itself, they
jest began haulin' up the shaft and all
-pullin the shaft right out Of tn
ground. Befor' / could get um stopped
they had shortened thet shaft twenty
three feet by actual measur'. The fell
lers workin' in the fur ends was pulled
up toward the top a couple of rods or
So" And Suas again expectorated up
on the wagon wheel.
Obadiah Sutton, seated on an empty
salt barrel, had been an attentive lis
tener Il don't call thet any proof Of
real pullin' ability" he said. 1--WE got
a team that can really pull. 1 had um
in the stun-quarry hauling stun two
weeks ago, and some Of the quarry
hands fixed big stun so thet nothin'
could move it. l reckoned I'd try it,
and so ] hitched a chain onto 1t and
jest teched the horses up little, and
they started to pull. I was watchin'
the rock that wouldn't bulge, and did
MT notice until the team he'd pulled for
a couple of minits, but when 1 looked
round there they was, pullin' stiddy as
clockwork. sunk up to their ankles in
solid stun. and sinkin deeper and
deeper every mint. Thet was real
pullin'"
Silas picked up the lines and slapped
the horses on the back. Il think it's
time for me ter be mOvin'." he said,
glaring at Obadiah. When it comes
ter a pass where lies is bein' told I
don't care to remain. Git ap."-Ed-
ward Huntington Williams in Harper's
Magazine.