The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-02-05
"Husshons" to he trotted out. ct,

"HusshOns" to he trotted out. otis
an awful sin to have on your sOul-.the
Contamination Of a race O men. even
If they want nOthin' mOre'n so many
ignorant ~cOckrOaches. Them was the
great days for figltin'! The HusshOns
was the biggest men | eve seen on the
field, most Of EN- standin' six feet
eight in their stOckin's-but Lord! how
We wallOped 'em! Once we had a can
non mounted an loaded for EN- that
was SO large We had to draw the ball
into it with a yoke Of oxen!'
Bill paused from force Of habit. just
as he had paused for the last twenty
years. There had been times when
roars of i%ncredulOus laughter had
greeted this boast, but most Of this
particular group had heard the yarn
more than once and let it pass with a
smile and Il wink. remembering the
night that Abel Day had asked old Bill
how they got the oxen out Of the can
non on that most memorable occasion.
"Oh," said Bill. that was easy
enough. We jest unyoked 'em an
turned 'em out O. the primin' hole!!'
1t was only early October. but there
had been a killing frost. and Ezra
Simms, who kept the brick store. flung
some shavings and small wood on the
hearth and lighted Il blaze. just to in
duce a little trade and start
ton on what threatened to be a dull
evening. Peter Morrill,, Jcd's eldest
brother, had lately returned from a
long trip through the state and into
New Hampshire and his adventures by
field and flood were always worth lis
tening to. He went about the cOuntry
mcnding clocks and so many an old
timepiece still bears his name. with
the date of repairing written i'm pencil
on the inside of the door.
There was w any lack of sub.
jcctS ut the brick store. the idiosyn-
CRASHES Of the nei"hborS being the most
prolific source Of anecdotr and com
mrnt. Whenever all else failed there
was always the latest stof.; of Deacon
Raxter's parsimony, in Which the vii
lage traced the influence of heredity.
"!1e can't hardly help it. inheritin' il
on both Sides" was Abel Days opin
ion. "The BaXters was alters snug |
time memorial, and FoXy's the
suggest Of 'em. When l look at his
ugly mug an hear his snarlin' voice |
thinks to myself, he's gOin' the same |
way his father did. When old Levi
was left a wilder man in that |
house O his'n up river he grew wuss |
wnss. If you remember. till he
want hardly human at the last. and
don't believe Foxy even went up to his
own fathers funeral"
"Twould "a served old Levi right if |
nobody else had gone," said Rish Blk
by. when his wife died he refused to
into the house till the last min |
ute. He stayed to work in the barn till
all the folks had assembled and even
the men were all settin' down on
benches in the kitchen. The parson
sent me out for him. and I'm blest If
the old skunk didn't come in through
the crowd with his sleeves rolled up
to the sink and washed. and then
set down in the room where the coffin
was, as cool as a cowcumber."
II remember that funeral WELL" cor.
Abel Day. AN Mis- Day |
heerd Levi say to his daughter. az
0 as they'd put poor old Mrs. Bax- |
ter int the grave, Come on, Marthy: |
there's no use cryin' over split milk: |
we'd better 60 home an husk out the
O that corn Old Foxy could have
inherited plenty O. meanness from his
that's certain, an he's added to
his inheritance right along. like the
man he is. l hate to think O
them two fine girls wearin' their fin
gers to the bone for his benefit"
"Oh, well. 'twon't last forever said
Itish Bixby. They're the han'somest