New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-04-28

and many free ride he gave us. One
OF the regular passengers used to stand
at his gate every morning when the
stage was late with his watch in his
hand. Josh used to call him Colonel
Minute, but his name was Colonel
Ringgold, veteran Of the Mexican
war He had been shot all to pieces,
being minus an eye, an ear, a leg and
an arm. I do believe that the only
spur that forced Josh to keep any sort
of time was the thought Of the colonel,
watch in hand, standing at the gate,
his single eye darting between it and
the driver
We boys were in great terror of Colo
mel Ringgold. We told each other aw-
full stories about him which we invent
ed ourselves, but which in time be-
came real to us. One was that his
house was fortified with an unlimited
number of guns, pistols, sabers, and
the like. 1t was averred by one boy
that he had killed man with his
wooden leg. There is no one like a
boy for making real things out OF
dreams, and all we had to do was to
fancy these things, tell them to each
other and they had happened.
Colonel Ringgold was the owner OF
the dog Shep. Shep was collie, and
the collie is very intelligent dog
Shep stood. as remember him, about
two feet high, his color being a mix
ture Of white and brown. During the
night Shep was expected to be lin" by
s o'clock, but during the day he wa:
free to romp with us boys. l think ht
loved Ned best. That was because
Ned loved him best, for Ned, you know
was the boy who wrote the compost
ton mentioning Shep so affectionately
We were all very careful that Shet
should not get into trouble, first, be
cause we loved him and, second, be
cause we feared that his owner would
blot us from the face of the earth i
any harm came to the dog while il
our company. Many bigger dog W,
beat off when he was driving our com
rade to the wall.
One afternoon when we were all to
gether teaching Shep to jump a rop,
we saw the colonel coming toward us
walking with the limp occasioned b.
his wooden leg. Every boys hear
sank into his boots. Had the Who'll,
| United States army come down on u
| we could not have been more terrified
What caused us the chief alarm wa
| the thought that he was coming to or
| der US in future to leave Shep out o
our fraternity. I can see the old maj
now making his way across a corn
field, trying to walk erect, his sterl
countenance making up for his dilapi
dated body. We would have all run
but we were paralyzed.
what do you boys mean by stealth
my dog?" he asked in his stentoria
| voice.
I scarcely distinguished what
said. I thought it something like
Column forward; guide RICH
Charge!' Every boy was too fright
ened to answer
Some one is keeping him nights,
added the colonel 'Whoever is dom
| II Snail De put Ill tue-l mean Ue
serves to be punished" Again Their
was silence, ended by little tren
bling voice. 1t was Ned's:
''I'm the one who has been keepin
Shep," he said 81 have locked hi1
in, and he has come up and slept O
my bed" a....-
you locked him in Don't 70
know that he is not your dog?'
Eyes, sir, knew that
| well, don't you ever do such
thing again. 1 want my dog in til
house nights: Eight O'Clock is tap
for him-S o'clock precisely, not fiy
minutes after or five minutes b.
fore s, but s. As punishment you,
addressing Ned, '.are forbidden t
have anything to do with shep in fl
ture. Do you understand"
eyes, SIR came faint tremolo.
''Why did you keep the dog?'
Because I love him and he love
me-"
The colonel stood a moment lookin
at the boy, something evidently dawr
ing on his bachelor BRAIN Then b
turned away.
The next morning he sent the dog t
Ned to have and to hold as his prop
erty forever.