Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1909-12-02
Memories of Old
Man McNeal

By Caroline Lockhart

bug -nuuleT5 anu tHese spy-bidss
gents is terrible innocent folks" OBJ
served Old Man McNeal apropos OF
tenderfeet In general as he fried the
bacon.
Now there was perfesser from
college back east wrote to Joe Kipp
that he wanted him to pack him up
on the top of some mountain there in
Teton county, Montana, where he could
take observations. Joe wrote him to
git of at Blackfoot.
THE day he was coming Joe got on
the train a piece up the road to meet
him. There the perfesser was sittin
in his skull cap and slippers, and he'd
plumb forgot about gittin' OF. They
had to hold the train in Blackfoot
while he got his traps picked up. Joe
says you never see such an outfit as
he'd got together to take up on the
mountain. The mountain was so steep
twas hard climbin' fer a goat, and
he'd brought No. Charter Oak
cook stove. He had tent that you
could run two-ring circus in, and
hadn't brought enough beddin' to wad
shotgun. He had somethin that
looked like a coffin that he were so
particular about the boys was bettin
it were his wifes corp.
But ii seems he was one of them
git up on the mountain to take look
around with a telescope. Joe says he
never tackled such a job as gittin' that
telescope up to the summit. He didn't
take the tent or the cook stove.
though. You bet the old man had to
sleep 'longside a camp fire while he
was star-gazin' in the Rockies.
Then there was a most amaZin' fe-
male from Chicago hit the Swift Cur
rent country once. Her husband
come out on little huntin' trip and
was guidin fer EN-. Now amt what
you might call bashful, and / don't
make no such claims, but when that
lady from Chicago stepped out of her
tent the morning after we got up in
the mountains | reckon / blushed fer
the first time in fifty years. What she
was wearin wasn't none OF these di-
vided skirts or boomers. | never
seen anything like EN- before. They
was plaid and, | should jedge, some
tighter than her skin. They laced
down around the ankles and they was
layin' in Fuckers up around her waist.
| reckon | come as near runnin that
day as | ever did in my life. My cay
use, Molly" that SHES at nuthin'
nearly bust her picket rope tryin to
git away. Yes, ma'am, she was most
uncommon curious looking tenderfoot.
Once there was a tenderfoot from
North Caroliny got off at Blackfoot.
The snow was somewhere near a foot
on the level, and he wore linen dust
er. He got horse from Joe Kipp and
rode to Browning. | happened to be
stopping at the Chink's hotel. He was
plumb interestin' figure when he
rode through the snow into town in
that buster.
Some entertainin' tenderfeet used
to come over from England to the
ranch when ! punched cattle down in
the Musselshell country. The ranch
was owned by an Englishman, and one
d
break right away by orderin' one of
the cow-punchers to saddle his horse.
DO it yourself, says the cow
puncher, and the lord didn't know
what what to make of il. We made
his life miserable after that. We'd git
him out on the roundup and plague
the life out of him about bein' a lord.
We got him so he was ashamed of it,
and If anybody came he tried to keep
EN- from KNOWN il. But he got to be
a first-rate fellow; could bust bronchos
and cut out a steer with the rest of
EN-.
The meanest cuss | ever seen came
out there to visit him. This cuss had
a box of cigars, and he used to pack
'em around with him on horseback for
fear the boys would take EN-. He
never offered anybody one The boys
stole everything from him they could
get their hands on. They stole his
shirts and his neckties till all he had
left was what he had on his back He
mad half-adozen silk handkerchiefs
that he'd got in India, and he was
mighty choice of EN-. Made a kick
every time he missed one. He hid
'em and did everything he could to
keep EN-, but finally the boys got him
down to the one he wore around his
neck They schemed for a long time
to get this one. and at last one day
they caught him asleep aud they took
ii of his neck. He was sure mad when
he missed it. Pretty soon after this he
went back to England cussin' the
country.
Montana amt no place fer a tight
chested gent. If he amt willin' to
whack up he'd better git out" con-
cluded Old Man McNeal as he laid the
bacon tenderly on a chip and passed
IL around.