Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-04-22
(copyrieht. BY Joseph B. Bowles.)


house, just for the exercise. He was
an old soldier, SCARED with wounds,
and a natural born fighter. Everyone
IN the county knew him, and if he did
as much battle in the war as he did
during the years Of peace, he must
have made it interesting for his enc
mics. He was not a man who sought
trouble; far from it. But If anyone,
young or old, started any trouble with
him, the old man was distinctly up-to-
date. He always carried thick stick
and II occasion demanded, he was
generally otherwise provided. He
was for peace until peace was out of
the question. And then, like Harte's
hero, Judge Phinn."
HE drawed a 'leven inch bowie-knife,
l tries to be peaceable all my life,
But III carve a slice O. liver or two,
MY bloomin' shrub, with you"
He had dabbled in politics, taken
sides with all controversies which
arose in the neighborhood, and was
an energetic farmer and stock raiser,
noted for his imported stock, and for
his success as breeder of the best.
He and l hooked up on the same side
of neighborhood feud, and were the
best of friends always.
One of the men I met during my
stay in the country was country auc-
tioneer. He was as taciturn man as
you would meet in a days journey
until the time came for him to adopt
professional tactics. And then he was
whirlwind in speech and veritable
marvel in vocabulary. Every spring
ahd fall the farmers stick up printed
bills in the trees and fence posts, an
nouncing sales of stock, farming i'm
plements, household goods, growing
crops, ETC., and at these sales the auc-
tlOneer is the man who is looked to
for entertainment. It is he who can
wheedle some dry old farmer into
raising bid on corn half q cent a
bushel by some happy retort or good
story, and he knows every man who
attends the sales, and the peculiarities
of each individual.
He stands in the middle of a COW
lot, hatless, with white handkerchief
folded about his throat, and rattles
away of the business on hand like a
talking machine. What am bid for
this Jersey bull, this bully bull, you
all know him, imported stock, there's
only one like him, and he's the boy,
the prize-winner, the blue-ribbon
taker, the only reliable bully bull, this
Jersey bull"
"A hundred am I offered; it wouldn't
buy his tail, let alone his horns; come
now, we're off again, this blue blooded
bull from over the water, his sire the
celebrated Aladdin, his mother the
equally celebrated Rosamond, and him
the pick of his daddy's get, the best
bull that ever paved the dirt or
hooked heifer, the Jersey winner,
the lightning bull, the bully bull, the
BULL
1.-TWO hundred l am offered, and
now we're off once more, for a calf
of his is worth two hundred and-two
fifty-make it three hundred for the
only bull, the willing bull, the friend.
ly bull, the bull with the horns, the
hoofs, the head, the tail, and the pedi.
gree. Three hundred, and now you're
coming into the home-stretch; look
out now some of you, here's the simon.
pure and nine-by-tive, the gaudy bull,
the bull they all gather round at the
county fairs, the finest bull that ever
bulled, the handsome bull, the naughty
bull, the premier Jersey bull"
THREE hundred-Tm a comm
I'm a-comin', I'm a-comin', get a-goin',
get a-goin', three hundred, three, an
a-once, an a-once, an a-twice, three
twenty-five, do 1 hear a tifty?-a-fifty
a'fifty, three-fifty, we're givin' away
a bull to-day, three-fifty once, twice,
three-sixty, sixty, sixty, sixty-five
sixty-five, an seventy, seventy, seven.
ty-f1ve, five, five, three-ninety, ninety
five, ninety-five once, twice an'-fou,
hundred goin', goin', four hundred
four hundred, four hundred once, four
hundred twice, and four hundred three
times and out and sold. Uncle Tommy
you've got bargain, and you know
it."
Uncle Tommy meanwhile looks be-
whereby at the animal as it is led
of, and shifting a straw he has been
vin ~
marks: why, dern me, if
couldn't bought that bull last week
for three-eighty, but I'm cussed If I'm
goin' to be outbid by any O. them
Hick'ry Ridge bunch. Meanwhile the
auctioneer has jumped from bulls to
boars and is stringing out a lot OF
eulogistic remarks about the wonder
full qualities Of a Poland China hog
which has been led into the lot.
Down in the edge of the timbe,
lived old Bechtold, the honey.man
All alone in a little log cabin, with his
hives scattered around in among the
apple trees, and shed where he kept
the treasure the bees brought him
In chest under his bed was the uni
form he had worn as a young fellow
in the Prussian army, and two scars
across his face told of something more
fierce than his present pastoral life.
"Not now" he would say, as he
swung the heavy cavalry saber above
his head, his long gray hair floating
from under his glazed fiat cap. "But
one time. Yes. l see 10000 men come
together like -clapping his
hands together as he spoke-"and all
with the saber. But not 10000 tc
come back. But come back!
don't know howl 7 don't know Whv!