Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-04-14
Hesltatlng Sim
He Never Knew Exactly What
He Wanted.
By KENNETH HARRIS.

There had been an undecided Gus
toner in the store who had wav-
cred for ten minutes between two
grades of draw shaves and had ended
by saying that he would look around
while and see if there wasn't some
thing over at the hardware store which
would suit him better.
Hes like Sim Hoisington," remarked
Wash Hancock when he had gone "Sim
was that kind of Teller. He'd start to
build fence around hawg lot an
use up the best part of week figgerin'
whether to go to the sawmill an get
him load O. eight-inch stuff or to
split rails. He'd start in with the rail
idea an then a neighbor 'ud come
along an allow that by the time he'd
got all the rails split he'll wish he'd
jest hitched up his team an got boards.
"'You get a board fence an you've
got suthin' that's hawg-tight,' the
neighbOr'd say. Put up a. rail fence
an mebbe you'll keep your hawgs in
side of it an mebbe you won't, an
you'll waste more time chasin' 'em
than the lumber'll cost you
"Then Sim I'D scratch his haid an
he'd say, BY jucks! l reckon you're
noon. I've ben needin' bunch O.
shingles, anyway
"'Erlong about noon Sans hired
man 'ud come along up from the field
an Sim nd tell him he'd changed his
mind about them rails, an he'd fence
with boards.
1T don't make no difference to me-
the hired man 'ud say, but I hearn
tell they're askin' $40 thousand for
rough boards now an you'll need
couple O. thousand foot. The rail
amt goin' to cost you nothin,' but the
work o. gettin 'em an the roads is
bad betwixt this an the mill
"Sim 'ud scratch his haid again an
study. Then he'd say, L dunno but
you're right, Bill. If l don't use up
that there white oak for rails there
amt nothin' l can use it for. 1ess'n
it's firewood. I'd halter buy nails, too.
/ never thought O. that Well grind
them axes an put new handle in the
maui first thing after dinner
"Then while they was grfndin' the
axes the schoolmaster d stop to gas as
he went by an he'd nachally asst 'em
where they was goin' to chop an what
they wanted the rails for.
"'Well,' he'd say, course I hain't no
farmer, but seems like to me that a
rail fence is the wastefulest kind of a
fence. You take 12-foot rail and lay
it at an angle O. As degrees an then
count in the lay an you're wastin'
about three foot OF it. Three foot
morn if you were building a straight
fence If you stake and rider it you've
wasted Fl foot O. rail on each panel.
Then you count your land wutn soth-
in don't your
Il cert'nly do Sim 'ud say.
"'Then you've got the jog on each
side o. the fence to fgger in That'Il
make strip O. land four foot wide
that you can't use. You take the Zenith
O. your fence an see how much that
comes to at $50 an acre.
"Sim nd stop right there an send
Bill off to harrer or suthin' while he'd
go into the house an put in the rest O
the day f1ggerin'.
That's how Sim was about every
thin'--politics, religion, temp'runce,
horse tradin', food for his stock an
food for himself, an gals an curing
hams, an hail insurance an the race
problum an bone fertilizer Sometimes
somebuddy nd come erlOng an talk
to him an he'd change right over an
take the op'sit views. Finerly he got
married"
"How did he make out to settle on
the woman that he wanted?" asked
Hank Tulliver.
well, that's suthin' Teller don't
allus settle on himself" replied Han
cock. Seems like Sims woman done
the settlin'. Sim was kind O. sochuble,
an one night he was calm on her an
he allowed that he wasn't right sure
whether a Teller wasn't better off sin
gle than he was married.
"'Well, you take my word for it this
time she says There's some that's
better married an you're one o. that
kind
"Mebbe you're right says Sim, but
who'd / marry? I've thought of it, but
/ dunno as there's any woman around
here that nd suit me-
"'You don't need to go no further
than this place. she says, I'd suit you
first rate, an l willin', too, so as your
buggy's outside an the preacher is
over to his house we'll jest hop right
I in aOs drive Ovnr fhnra
well, she put on her bonnet while
he was studyin' on it an the next
thing he knowed he was in the buggy
| with hpr A flor while he saws tC