River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-08-28
Copyright by the BObbs-Merrill compan.

special providence if they ever was
one So mild and barmy from Sep
TENDER to March that the prairie-dogs
forgot to hole up, an'--Mrs. Elkins
served Thanksgivin' dinner in the
open air on the piZZiazzy at the
Ranch. An she rode the range with
Jim consecutively, an said she'd found
her 'fnity in this cattle biz. AS for
| him, the main thing the matter was
| that failure o. his a-millin' through his
mental facilities. But this was their
| honeymoon, we found, an that, an no
| losses on the range, helped his case,
an by spring he begun to shoot the
persifage into the gang, an set up
an reach for things to beat tours. AS
for the dogies, none Of 'em had the
faintest show fer heller. The grass
was like new-mown hay; every little
snow was follered by a chinook; the
water-holes was brimmin'; an all
went merry as a marriage bell.
"The fact is, Aconite," says Mr. Ell
kins, addressin' me, "I knew when /
heard that burst Of phonetic lava
from your lips at Belle Fourche, that
there'd be no fear of low temperatures
if you could be induced to stay by the
cows, and blow off once in a while"
He had the hot air under wonderful
control, hisself, an felt good at the
way the stock was comm on-March,
April May, an fresh feed, ponds full
O. ducks, cute little young wolves
about the dens, an every one O. the
ten thousand dogies stretchin' to see
hisself grow. But the fall-the fall
was sure bad one fer both feed an
water The dogies, however, couldn't
fairly be called such any longer, hav-
in recovered from what Jim called
their acute nostalgia, an bein' pref
near's good rustlers as natives. An
well It was fer 'em, fer grass was
sca'ce, an son-of-a-gun of a while
between drinks. After you got away
from the crick-an' you fist had to git
away FIR grass-it was good days
ride to water, east, west, north, south,
up'r down. On the hay-slews we had
to prime the rake with old hay fore
we could make windrow. Laff If you
with less hay than some folks has
cover ment bonds. We had about
enough to wad a shotgun, an was
merchant princes in the fodder line.
The steers, lookin' like contaminated
hat-racks, as the Old Man said come
through the cold weather in a shrink
in an sylphlike way, so thin that you
hill ko3I
sight furder'n I'd trust some folks, an
that's no dream!
By this time Mr.. Elkins was a sure
enough cowman, president of the as
sociation and the biggest man from
Spearfish to Jackson's Hole. He knew
some COMPOUNDED joke on every man
in the COW country, an not only called
'em all by their fust name, but had
one of his own FIR most of EN- Mrs
Elkins, havin' pulled him through his
own doggy stage, dropped out of the
COW business, an devoted herself to
kids. / knew that shis doggy PROPOSE
ton was sort of a straw that Jim
Elkins grabbed at as he went under,
an it done me an all the fellers good
even if the brutes wasn't putin on
weight as they orto, an the price was
away down, an we knew we shouldn't
be ready to sell when the mawgitch
got ripe. Old Macdonald was Jim's
friend, though, an would sure extend
the note when it come of age; an
fur's we could see, these dry seasons
was only delayin' the cleanup.
So l thought, an so thought the FL
kins family, as peaceful as a Injun
summer morn, an as happy as skunks
But along in June of the third year,
just in the last of the roundup, out
comes what Elkins called our Nemmy-
sis in the form of jackleg lawyer
with news OF Macdonald's death. and
papers to prove it, an him appointed
eXecutioner Of the estate of A. Mac
donald, diseased. He wanted to see
the cattle the estate had a mawgitch
on. l was app'inted as his chaperon
to show him the stock, an it bein' a
/ hurryin' time O. year, l exhibited to
him ten r leven thousand head of
mixed pickles, and called it square
He didn't know cow-brand from one
plucked from the burnin', an credited
us with a township or two of OZARK
COW stuff l run him into the first day
out. l didn't feel that he was with
payin' much notice to- If he hadn't
had the say about the Old Mans nav
glitch.
gathered from him that he was
In Rn
fall. 1 went so fur as to pint out
what a grave-robbin' scheme this was,
an how this doggy stuff had been KEEP
in the Twin SKELETON department FIR
two years by drouth an hell-slew of
other troubles, an couldn't possibly do
more than pay off the mawgitch, an
leave us holdin' the bag in the wust
country FIR snipe outside of the Mo-
jave desert.
They'll pay out" says he. IAN
that's all I'm required to look out fer"
swear, / was prospectin' FIR a
good hole to plant him in all the rest
O. the trip. 1 goes right to the ranch
when we pulled in. The Old Man an
Josie was a-sittin' in the freight, an
she had the baby, a yearlin' on her
lap, and the boy, long two-year-old,
in the crib. Outside of a nest O.
young wild ducks, I never seen any
thing softer and cutter. l reports an
asks instructions as to the best way
of disposin' of Mr.. Jackleg's remains.
"Quicklime," says he ruminatin 'ly,
'is good and well-recognized