The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1914-07-11

THE HARD-HEADED MAN
BY DON MARK LEMON.

aug Dy the hardest-headed man in all
creation and Hampshire county.
About ten years ago, and for about
twenty years before that, old Jim
Clark and his son Bill lived here. They
were two of a kind, and that kind was
rocks. They were hard-headed from
the socks up. They had such hard
headed notions about most things that
people around here just concluded that
they were born "sot," and so let 'em
alone.
One day old man Clark thought he'd
like to have his well over nearer the
barn, and II was a blessed thing he
decided to dig a new hole instead of
moving the old one, or he'd have done
it. He says to Bill: bill, I'm going
over to Berkshire to look after some
cows, and while I'm gone you hustle
bit and get the we'll started"
"Where'll l begin the top of it,"
asks BILL kind of sarcastic like, as the
old well his dad had dug slanted a
good bit going down.
Right here" says old man Clark,
pointing at this particular spot.
A hard-headed look came into Bills
face. This amt no place for the
WE'LL he says, and he walks round
to the other end of the barn and starts
the well where he thinks 1t ought to
be.
What are you doing there?" calls
old man Clark.
Digging a WELL" says Bill.
who told you to dig 1t over there?"
shouts the old man.
Common sense" says Bill
Then a hard-headed look came into
old man Clark's face you dig the
well where l tell you to-" he says, "or
I'll make you"
"Shoo, dad" says Bill who was a
great, strapping fellow of twenty.
"You think l can't?" says old man
Clark.
81 do" says Bill.
You'll dig the we'll here" says the
old man, and about a month later he
fills up the new we'll that Bill dug in
the wrong spot. and goes off with the
remark that he'll be back in about FIVE
or ten years.
Bill watches him go over the hill.
and then he goes back and digs out
the we'll that his dad had filled up.
Well, about six years after that, old
man Clark comes home from only the
Lord knows where.
Hello dad" says Bill.
Hello, Bill" says old man Clark
Then he sees that the we'll hasn't
been dug where he wants it, and he
says: Are you going to dig that we'll
where told you to-"
mo" says Bill, 81 amt"
You'll dig that we'll where / want
you to-" says old man Clark, and he
goes into the house and says not an
other word about it for ten years,
when. as he was dying, he calls Bill
in and asks:
Have you changed your mind about
digging that well?"
mo, dad" says Bill, 81 amt"
you'll dig that well where l told
you to-" says the dying man, and then
he turns over and dies.
But first he gives Bill a letter. and
after the funeral Bill opens 1t and
reads that, since he wouldn't dig the
we'll where his dad wanted him to, old
man Clark had drawn out the ten
thousand dollars that used to be in
the bank, and he would now have to
hunt around and find where 1t was
hidden, according to directions. The
first direction was to dig under a big
stone in the pasture, which Bill did.
and found a piece OF paper in a lead
box telling him to go to a place in
South America, up in the Andes, and
dig in a certain spot near a river, and
he would find further directions.
Bill left the farm in the care Of a
neighbor, and after months of travel
and adventure and danger of all kinds
he reached the Andes and dug where
he had been told to, and unearthed an
other little lead box. Inside it was a
strip of paper. which told him to go
to Alaska and dig at a certain place
near Dawson City and he would learn
more.
Bill tucked the directions away very
and when he reached Alas
ka, he found the spot mentioned by
old man Clark and dug for further In
He unearthed another Of those lit
tie lead boxes, and inside, In the hand
writing Of his dad, was the cheerful
Information that, since he had been
SO hard.headed about digging that
well, he would now need to go to
Africa and dig in a certain spot
which he found on the map WAS about
the middle OF that country-and he'd
find where the ten thousand dollars
we're buried.
Well, Bill tucked this information
away careful like, and about three
years later he found the box, and In
side was slip of paper telling him
that II he would go home to New Eng
land and dig the we'll where he had
been told to dig 1t. he would unearth
4 box containing ten thousand dollars
in hundred-dollar notes.
II took him seven years to reach
New England, but finally he got back
home. and after going out to see the
Did mans grave, he got a shovel and
started to dig the we'll where his dad
had told him to dig 1t. After a spell
he came on the box and ten thousand
dollars.
So, you see, he dug the we'll after
Ill. and he's not the only man in Gre
alton that has chased over the earth,