Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1911-12-09
SOME THEORIES
and A BEAR TRAP
About Them All the Lovers
Had Nothing to Say.
BY c. 3. LEWIS.

lost his good wife. and his daughter
Jennie kept house for him. He. had got
to be City years old and finicky. while
she had got TO be twenty and was call
ed one of the incest girls In Adams
county.
Tom Barlow. the youngest of the viii
lage merchants, agreed with all others.
He had driven out to see Jennie on
half a dozen occasions on Sunday aft
ernoons. and 1t was whispered around
that marriage would come of 1t. The
father had scratched his head and said
nothing. but In his own mind he had
regarded 1t as a good match.
All was going well when an Interrupt
ton suddenly occurred Mr.. Barlow
dealt In hoes. rakes and shoveis as well
as in dry goods and groceries. Uncle
Peter bought hoe of him and started
into the corn6eld one morning to make
the dirt fly. The hoe pleased him. the
air was balmy and the corn was knee
high and still growing. He was hum
ming to himself and wondering how
long before he would lose Jennie when
he pulled over q sod with his hoe and
caught sight of big fat mole under
meath.
The life or death Of that mole had
little to do with the future prosperity
of Adams county. but Uncle Peter
jumped In with intent to slaughter.
He made three or four blows with the
hoe and finally one tremendous blow.
The mole was inundated, but at the
same time the handle OF the hoe was
broken and the old man fell forward
and plowed his nose into the ground.
He got up mad. He was mad ut the
mole. the hoe and himself. and he
jumped up and down and used cuss
words.
One does not remain mad at himself
very long. He finds some one else to
blame for the whole thing. In this
case Uncle Peter put the calamity on
the shoulders of Mr.. Barlow. He had
sold him a hoe handle that was weak
In the back sold It with intent to de-
fraud and deceive. Uncle Peter had
sold short tons of hay more than once.
but when any one cheated him he look
ed upon it as wrong to all humanity.
He was near the roadside fence when
he massacred the mole. and he had
Just got the dirt out of his mouth after
the fall when a man he knew came
driving along in his buggy.
He naturally asked what was the
matter, and the old man cut loose. He
called the merchant cheat. fraud and
swindler and vowed by the whiskers
Of his ancestors that he would never,
never buy ~aught more of him. He
wanted his words repeated. and they
were.
When the father went up to the
house after anoth her hoe and the daugh-
ter asked what was the matter he had
more to say about the merchant and
something particular to say to her. He
made more fuss about that broken hoe
handle than the county commissioners
had in building bridge over Goose
creek. and he ended of with:
Now. you gal. listen TO me. If that
swindler ever sets foot on my land
ag'in I'll CRUSH him as I would a-a-a
mouse"'
Jennie argued and protested and
tried to soOtbe. but the father was OBJ
durate. He told her Of the message
he had sent to town, and she wrote q
few lines of excuse to MIR. Barlow and
sent them by II passing hoy. That aft
ernoon several persons had several
theories to advance to themselves.
Uncle Peter held to his anger. His
theory was that Mr.. Barlow would
drive out In the evening and try to get
speech with Jennie and seek to excuse
his disgraceful conduct In selling for
IS cents n hoe not worth dime.
Jennie's theory was that the mer-
chant would drive out with half doZ-
en- hoes In his buggy and tell her ia
Their to take them all. but she feared
the result. The old man was mad all
through. and 1t always took him at
least week to get over one Of his dts.
Old Mrs. Davis. who lived just across
the road. heard something about the
broken hoe. and her theory was that
there would be q row OF some sort and
that she would be there to hear and
to see.
The merchant didn't have any par.
ticular theory. He simply made up his
mind to drive out to Uncle Peters and
tell him to come In and help himself
to hoes. rakes and shovels without
stint.
Nothing further OF moment happened
during the day. II was after supper
when Uncle Peter was milking the
brindle cow that he got another thee.
ry. It might have worked well had not
his daughter observed him half an hour
later oiling up the springs Of bear
trap that had hung in the barn for the
last twenty years. Then she got new
theory. Her father hoped and intended
that some one should walk into that
trap. It must be the man who sold
him the deceptive hoe that he was lay
ing for. Old Mrs. Davis kept her eye on
the Scott homestead between shutdown
and dark. and. though no tragedy took
place. she turned TO her husband and
said:
Andrew. something il goin' to hap
pen. I feel II in my bones. I've got Al
theory that there's goin' to be awful
doin's across the road tonight"
Father and daughter sat on the porch
till the clock struck 8. and then the girl
arose and entered the house to go to