The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-07-24

THE HARD HEADED MAN ::
BY DON MARK LEMON.
. eOossoSooesesOeeeeosose
(Copyright)


(Copyright)
The water in this here well is as
hard as rocks, but that amt to be won
dered at, seeing as how the well was
dug by 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 kind, and that kind was
rocks. They were hard-heade6 from
the socks up. They had such hard
headed notions about most things that
people around here just concluded that
they were born "sot."
One day old man Clark thought he'd
like to have his well over nearer the
barn, and it was a blessed thing he
decided to dig 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 well started"
t'Where1l / begin the top of it,"
asks Bill, kind of sarcastic like, as the
old well his dad had dug slanted
good bit going down.
Right here" says old man Clark,
pointing at this particular spot.
| A hard-headed look came into Bilrs
| 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 we'll where he thinks il ought to
| be.
What are you doing there?" calls
old man Clark
Digging a WE'LL" says Bill.
''Who told you to dig it over there?"
shouts the old man.
Common sense" says Bill.
Then hard-headed look came into
old man Clarks face. you dig the
well where I tell you to- he says, "or
I'll make you"
"Shoo, dad" says Bill, who was a
great, strapping fellow of twenty.
''You think / cant?" says old man
Clark
81 do" says Bill.
You'll dig the well 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 filed up.
Well, about six years after that, old
man Clark comes home.
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 well
where told you to?"
mo-" says Bill, 81 amt
You'll dig that well where 1 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, "I amt"
You'll dig that well where l TOLD
you to-" says the dying man, and ther
j he turns over and dies.
! But first he gives Bill a letter, anC
after the funeral Bill opens it anC
reads that, since he wouldn't dig the
: well where his dad wanted him to, OLE
man Clark had drawn out the tel
thousand dollars that used to be IL
the bank, and he would now have t.
hunt around and find where it was
hidden, according to directions. Th'
first direction was to dig under biz
stone in the pasture, which Bill did
and found piece of paper in a leat
South America, up in the Andes, ant
dig in certain spot near river, ant
he would find further directions.
Bill left the farm in the care of
4 neighbor, and after months of trave
: and adventure and danger Of all kind
4 he reached the Andes and dug wher
/ he had been told to, and unearthed an
;. other little lead box. Inside it was
:. strip of paper, which told him to g
to Alaska and dig at certain plac
> near Dawson City and he would lear
more.
Bill tucked the directions away yer
:. carefully, and when he reached Alas
= ka he found the spot mentioned b
n old man Clark and dug for further in
formation.
He unearthed another of those Iii
tie lead boxes, and inside, in the hand
writing of his dad, was the cheerfu
information that, since he had bee
y so hard-headed about digging tina
y well, he would now need to go [
Africa and dig in a carfain snaf-