Lower coast gazette., 1913-12-27
Old Plantation Days,
BY Archibald RutIedge.
III. BIG ABEL

On the plantation we had a fine
yoke of oxen named Cain and Abel;
but by some p~erversity of nature, it
was not Cain but Abel that was the
wicked one Bulls are usually consid.
cred dangerous animals; a COW with a
young calf is likely to be fractious-
as she should be; but the OK has be-
come a symbol of harmlessness, DELHI
Grafton, and pastoral peace. Yet when
an OK does acquire %truculent traits.
he is one of the hardest brutes in the
animal kingdom to manage. He, has
the stubborn spirit of the mule, the
uncertainty of a colt, and the cum
ming of a swamp pony.
Big Abel was a handsome creature,
with a frosty gray coat, a fine neck,
a lean but powerful body, and the wild
est and longest horns / eve saw;
some of his ancestors probably lived
in Texas. This OK had a sinister repu-
tation among the negroes, and con-
'sequently we looked upon him with
distrust and just a little superstitious
dread. When we mentioned this dis
trust to Prince, the negro boy would
laugh in his quaint manner and say
that Abel just looked ugly and could
not help the way he looked. But we
doubted Princes judgment; all the
cattle feared Abel; only recently he
had rushed a young steer against the
straw-rick, and had gored him cruel.
ly.
Plantation fields are wide, and plan.
tation fences are far apart. Along the
banks of the bitches there are heavy
thickets where an OK could browse
unnoticed until you came face to face
with him. And it was one of our fears
that some day Big Abel would catch
us off our guard or corner us; we
could guess what would happen then
On a small farm there would probably
be persons within call, but the chance
of such a thing on the plantation was
remote. Some of the negroes would
be far out in the pine woods, dipping
turpentine or splitting rails; others
would be down in the rice fields, OF
across ON the island. We had to learn
dependence from those great spaces
and those generous distances; from
the vast forests Of pine on the one
lside. sud he,hroad river and huge
Hracts of delta land on the other.
Late one afternoon in February Ton
and / were down at the, stablelOt
which at that time of day was the
liveliest place on the plantation. Thu
horses were being fed, the cows were
being MIXED, and the hogs were fight
ing and squealing over their share o
rice flour and chopped sweet potatoes
Even the half-wild hogs that we hat
caught in the woods, and that ordinar
lily were silent in their pens, were nov
bold enough to grunt with the othe
hogs.
Father usually let all the stray cal
tel from the woods come into the en-
closure and spend the cold white
nights beside the big rick Of ric
straw. The poor creatures were gla
to come; during the greater part 9
the year the woods are lush and greer
but in midwinter they yield almost n
food. Among the hungry, furtive new
Corners, Big Abel was the ruler. On
evening a large, unmarked bull cam
in from the woods and disputed hi
title; but after a pitched battle, tn
stranger was willing to withdraw, an
accepted with cringing Difference tt
permission of his conqueror to eat
little straw out at, the windy end
the rick.
!, On this particular afternoon, To-
and I had determined to test the b
: ox's temper, but we we're uncertaI
!, how to proceed. We had been talkir
about it for several minutes when "
heard Prince, who was in the stab
loft racking down the horses, talkir
: to his father, who was milking tt
butt-head COW in one of the spa
: stalls below.
dat Big Abel is a mean OK" w
said, from beside the COW. Dem wit
y horns signify dat he jest expatiate al
prevaricate all over the country"
3 Prince chucked. Il don't 'fraid him
he said. "Abel and Prince been frien'
ever since Ratchet was a hammer"
!; Some Of these days he's gwil
hammer you," was Willis answer.
/ When Prince came down from t
"t-.E. --E.. I'll . -
q loft, we called him out. He had be-
i a boon companion in all our escapad
: and adventures, and was usually rea'
g for anything that we might sugge
But our plan surprised him.
Prince, we're going to tackle T
n Abel tonight" said Tom.
u Tackle him?" Prince asked.
I'VE want to find out whether h
bad or not" 1 explained. I'VE KIN.
: you aren't afraid of him, and we wa
to see whether he's afraid of "
II What do you Think"