Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1912-01-12
SAM AND
THE BULL
BY M QUAD.
Copyright, 1911, by Associated Liz
erary Press

lie was an OIu man VINO na0 come
down from the mountains one sum-
mer's day. and US we sat on the steps
of the village postoffice he told this
story:
MY naybur, Jim Filkins, Is havin'
heaps of trubble with his two boys
just now. One Of 'em was over to
the railroad t'other day and wanted
to fight the bullgine, and t'other went
to town and got his eye almost put
out in fight. Reckon they'll grow
up to be a cantankerous pair. had
n sOn-Sam, the only child We ever
had-and he died some five vars ago.
In one way I'm sorry and In another
way glad. 1t made me kinder lonely
to hev him go, but l could figger up
that 1t was fur the best.
THAT boy had powerful good
heart in him as gineral thing. but
thar was days when the devil seemed
to hev possession of him. It wasn't
no good to switch him. and when he
was outer sorts 1t wasn't no good to
argy with him. He was fifteen vars
old when l cum home from the wah,
and his head was swelled up big 'nuff
fur a man of fo'ty. He finally got so
that he felt like rubin up agin me.
I was at work in the garden one day
when he Gums home from the Co'ners
a-spittin' right and left. and bimeby
hn TO nd
"'Pop. mebbe yo' calls yo'self the
best man on this yere mounting
"'Mebbe I do sez l as l looks at
him outer my left eye.
"'But you amt, though, and I kin
prove it.
Then who isr
"'He stands right here befO yo',
and his cognomen ar Sam. Dad. I'm
goin' to whop yo'.'
Better git into the house. boy, and
hev yo'r mother gin yo' some bread
and butter and 'lasses on it.
But that boy had the wust kind Of
swell head" said the old man, "and he
was airnest in thinkin' he could whop
his pop. He gifts higher and higher.
and bimeby he sails fur me. knowed
what was cumin'. and before be could
wink twice Topped him on his back
and then whopped him till he hollered
fur mercy. He lived two vars arter
that, but he didn't try that game on
me any mo-.
"The older he growed the more cam
tankerous he got. and one day the ole
woman cum to me with tears in her
eyes and sez:
"'Sam's a-gittin' wusser and wusser
all the time, and I'm almost hopin' the
Lawd will take him away
1.-The Iawd couldn't manage him II
he did git him. sez l..
"'Mebbc he could Mebbe he's got q
pen up thar In heaven to pu. Sam into
and keep him till he's bin made over
I'm goln' to dye my shawl black and
fix up mcurnin' bonnet. fur that hoy
of ours will he brung home dead befo'
he's n month older
''Well. SO he was-s0 he was" said
the old man. with a touch of pathos in
his voice. HE was down to the Co'ners
one day to blow and -brag with the
crowd a-hangin' out thar in them days,
when a man Gums ridin' on a mewl to
say that Bill Clark's bull had broken
out of the field and was comm up the
road. That bull was big un and had
hooked two bosses to death. AS the
man was givin' the alarm the bull
showed up down the road. He was
PAWN the airth and maxim the heav-
ems quake with his beller, and sich as
had hosses tied up was mighty spry
to. turn 'em loose and git 'em away
Nobody didn't propose to git in the
way Of that bull and take chances
nobody but my son Sam. 1t was a
chance fur him to show off. and he riz
up and Yelled
This is the day l hev been livin'
fur. I'll 60 fo'th and take that bull by
the horns and flop him on his back
.'The men tried to argy with Sam,
but he was sot, and, pullin' off his
coat and fingin' down his hat, he
walked out and begins to paw and bel
Ter same as the bull. The critter stops
to look at him. and fur a mint or two
he must hev wondered what 1t was.
Then his eyes began to glare and his
tail to stand out, and the crowd hol-
Tered to Sam to git over the fence.
He never minded 'em. but with a roar
and beller he run in on the bull, was
tossed twenty feet in the air, and when
the animal got through with him there
wasn't much left to bury. A man
cum up to break the news to us. I
wasn't home at the time. and he sez
to the ole woman:
"'Mrs. Sneed. ar yo'r son Sam home
todNyY
HE ain't.' says she.
land do yo' know why he ain'tY
"'Not exactly, but I reckon it's kase
he's sumwhar else.'
That's right, Mrs. Sueed-perfeck-
ly right and proper. Yo'r son Sam
amt home and amt comm home, kase
he's got bizness up thar In the land of
angels and golden streets. which will
detain him fur sum timer
ut was a sad case. but me and the
ole woman hev allus reckoned that
Providence had a hand in 1t. Sam
had got that cantankerous that thar
was no holdin' him back He'd got to
fuss around or bust If he hadn't
tackled the bull he might hev got Into
a row in town on 'leckshun day and