Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1908-12-05

nervous-like, with his foot.
Come on, Van,'' he says. ct want
the walk
Not much" says Van. "Walking's
almost as bad as running. I'll be here
when you get back
1t may be that Hartley did want
| that walk, same as he said, but he
| didn't seem to get much fun out of it.
Went pounding along. his cigar tipped
up to the visor of his cap, and his
| eyes staring at the ground all the
| time. And he never spoke two words
| till we got to the fair grounds
There was a dickens of a crowd,
five or six hundred folks, I should
| think, and more coming all the time
Everybody that could come had Dor
| rowed the horses and carryalls of
| them that couldn't and had brought
| their wives and mothers-in-law and
their children's children unto the third
| and fourth generation. There was con-
| siderable many summer folks-not so.
| many as there is at the cattle show in
| August-but a good many, just the
| same. 1 counted five automobiles, and
| 1 see the Barry folks from Trumet
| riding round in their four-horse coach
and putting on airs enough to make
| 'em lop-sided.
Hartley gave one look around at the
| gang and his nose turned up to IL
O'Clock.
"Gad!" says he, this, or something
like it, is what I've been trying to get
! away from. Come on, Sol. Let's go
| back to the boat
But hadn't seen SO many shows as
he had and I wanted to stay.
| You wait a spell, Mr.. Hartley"
| first"
| So we went showing along through
| the crowd, getting our toes tramped
on and lodging peddlers and such like
| every other minute. There was the
test-your-strength" machine and the
| merry-go-round and the "ossified man"
in tent: Walk right up, gents, and
| cast your eyes on the greatest marvel
of the age all alive and solid stone
| only two nickels a dime ten cents
| and all the rest of it. Pretty soon
we come to where the Teller was sell
| ing the E Pluribus Unum candy-red,
white and blue, and slab as big as
| brick for dime.
Hartley stopped and stares at it.
| For heavens sake!' says he.
What do they do with that?"
do with it?' says l. Eat it, of
course
MOP" he says. Not really?"
| "Humph!" 1 says. You just wait
a shake
| There was little red-headed young
| ster scooting in and out among the
folks knees and 1 caught him by the
| shoulder. Hi, Andrew Jackson,"
says l. Want some candy?"
He looked up at me as pert and
shoulder.
BET your natural!" says he.
| jumped.
Lord" says 1; 81 cal'1ate he knows
you"
Hartley smiled. How do they sell
| that-that Portland cement?' says he
Give me some,' he says, holding a
| half dollar to the Teller behind the oil
| cloth counter. The man chiseled off
| enough for fair-sized tombstone and
| handed it out. Hartley passed it to
the boy. He bit off a hunk that made
| him look like he had the humps all
on one side, and commenced to
crunch it.
"There!" says /. That's proof
enough, amt it?'
But he want satisfied. tfWait a
| minute says he. 81 want to see what
it does to him.
Well, it didn't do nothing, apparent
| ly, except to make the little shaver's
jaws sound like rock crusher, so we
| went on. By and by we come to the
| fence alongside of the place where
| they had the races. The sack race
| was on, half dozen fel1ers hopping
| around tied up in meal bags, and we
see that. Then Hartley was for going
home again, but 1 managed to hold
| him. The creased pig was the next
wanted to see it.
Maj. Philander Phinney, he's chair
| man of the Eastwich selectmen and
pretty nigh half as big as he thinks
he is; he stood on tip-toe on the
judges stand and bellered that the
creased pig contest was open to boys
under Is, and that the one that caught
the pig and hung on to it would get
five dollars. In less than three shakes
of behring's hind leg there was boys
enough on that field to start reform
school. They ranged all the way from
little chaps who ought to have been
home cutting their milk teeth to
boys that had yellow fuzz on their
!. chins and plug of chewing tobacco
in their pants pocket. They fetched
in the pig shut up in box with laths
over the top. He was little and black
and all shining with grease Then
, they stretched rope across one end
of the race field and lined up the pig