Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-01-24
A Dreadful Man

Wne0 Itllld anu 1 were lltllc SilAo'
our parents sent us to board some
weeks at a pretty country house. we
must have been troublesome. We did
not want to pick the daisies or listen
to the birds. We wanted to get back
where we could ride in the street-cars!
But one day Mrs. Smith was canning
peaches. Should you be afraid she
asked, Ito take Old Dolly and my lit
tie canopy carriage and drive to the
store and buy some more sugar.
All at once we were very happy.
Drive carefully" said Mrs. Smith.
1--WE value Dolly all the more because
she is old and has served us so long
"Cluck! cluck!' Lila held the reins
on starting.
Don't hurry her" said I. Dolly Is
very valuable horse
But Dolly was not to be hurried. She
kept stopping to eat the tops OF green
bushes along the road, and was so slow
that the peaches were all canned with
out the sugar when we got back.
But after this we were allowed to
drive out often. Mrs. Smiths carriage
was light pretty thing, with dainty
fringed top and two little side-seats
and but two wheels. We called it our
fairy car We always took our dolls,
and once the kittens, wrapped in our
best pink handkerchiefs.
One day we went farther than usual;
and, coming down hill, Dolly slipped
and fell. We managed to get out Of
the carriage, but we could not start
the horse. Down across field l spled
man at work, and over stones and
through mud holes eagerly ran to call
him.
20 sir" gasped, as soon as I was
within hailing distance, please come;
our horse
He raised his hand. Stand back!
Don't come near me-" he shouted.
He was large man, with a red
handkerchief on his head and face
like flame of fire. He was stamp
ing with his feet and waving an old
vest in the air. But poor Dolly" l
thought; and stepped nearer.
20 sir! our valuable horse l be-
gan.
go back, tell you! Go back this
minute!' he shrieked, and snatched up
a pitchfork stuck in the ground beside
him.
What more he said I could not hear.
Did he mean to kill me! l thought of
fairy-tales ogres: and, turning, ran,
ran, ran for my life.
Dolly, when I reached her, had man.
aged to get up herself, and was eating
bush-tops, as usual. Once more in the
carriage, seized the whip and urged
her to her utmost speed. Hurry!
hurry I cried, and gasped out my
story to Lila.
Then we met, one by one, a boy on
the butchers cart, two girls going for
berries, five school children, and the
minister's wife; and 1 told them all
that "a dreadful, dreadful man was in
the fields. ready to kill people with a
pitchfork.
"Perhaps," said Mrs. Smith, when
we got home, 1T may be some crazy
tramp. I'll ask Deacon Salter-he's
selectman-to see if he should be TAX
en- up"
We went to Deacon Salter's that ev'
ening. He lived in very nice white
house: and he was sitting on the lawn
in red chair, with his coat off. How
white his shirt sleeves looked, and his
face how kind and pleasant! hand
some. too, except for some very red
| S"elllnSS Oh HIS lOIcuedu.' DcloIo VIC
had done our story. he began to laugh
and he kept laughing and laughing till
he cried.
WELL" he said, 81 went to NOV
some brakes in the field, and out came
some hornets and stung me; and
while I was beating them off, straight
toward the very worst place came this
little girl who wants me taken up fol
a dreadful man because I kept her of
from a hornets nest"