Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-07-12
TRIPPING UP ICY"
Job Is Done to Entire SatiSfac-
ton of His Hearers.
Spinner of Yarns, Always More Re.
markable Than Those Told by
Others, Is Beaten at
His Own Game.

Sour John Marvin glanced out of the
window Of the shop where he was MAX
ing an afternoon call. Coy Pelton is
headed this way" he announced, "and
l will make prediction. If anyone
here present ventures to speak of any
thing out Of the ordinary that he has
heard or read about, Cy will follow
with something in the same line, only
a little more remarkable, that he has
been an eyewitness Of, and he'll be
sure to place it in some place pretty
far from this town. But Cy Pelton
needn't fiatter himself that he ever
fools me. I have sense enough to
know that he always makes up his
story as he goes along, and I live in
hopes Of seeing him tripped up some
day."
At that moment the door opened and
the reputed spinner of "yarns" walked,
in. At his heels came Uncle Noah
Briggs, the acknowledged oldest in
habitant
GIVE just been reading an inter-
/ SSllLS lJICIC IDOuL ADIdIdIu LlI1cOIu,
Uncle Noah began, as he accepted the
easiest chair.
when he was young man clerk
ing in q store, someone stumped him
one day to pick up a barrel of rum
off the floor and hold it up to his
mouth and drink out of the bunghole;
and he did it. But after he laid the
barrel down again, he spit every drop
Of the liquor out Of his mouth That
goes to show how strong Mr.. Lincoln
was in his arms and also how strong
/ temperance he was"
Uncle Noah would have continued,
but he made a fatal pause, and Cyrus
Pelton got the floor.
81 had an uncle, on my mothers
SIDE" he said, "that I guess was full
as strong in his arms as ever Mr.. Lin
coin was, and even stronger in tenn
perance. He was a blacksmith in the
town of Industry.
zone time, when I was a small boy,
Hiram Quint, one of Uncle Life's near
neighbors, was building a big barn, and
he had asked a lot Of men to the rails
ing
"1n those days almost everyone
drank hard cider, and thought nothing
of it, but Uncle Life was dead set
against it. When he came along that
day and saw the big barrel of cider
that Mr.. Quint had provided for re-
freshment, he says, Hiram, your rails
ing would come on full as well, and
some chaps here would be better off,
| If you would carry that cider down to
the brook and dump it,
81 saw Hiram wink at the bystand-
ers, and says he, TIM hardly strong
enough. But if you are says he,
you're at liberty to do it,
"'All right says Uncle Life and he
made for his blacksmith shop. In a
few minutes back he came, bringing
! horseshoe that he had hammered out
in such a way that he could make the
heel calks fit into the bunghole Of the
barrel as it lay there on the ground.
| Then, with the horseshoe as handle,
he lifted that barrel of cider as if it
had been carpetbag and carried it
to the brook and emptied it."
'Now, if you will give me a chance,
| should like to put in a word" said
| Uncle Noah, with a show Of impa-
thence. "It so happened that was at
the raising of Hiram CUNTS barn."
81 didn't know that you were &C.
quainted in the town Of Industry" said
Cyrus in evident surprise.
John Marvin's eyes sparkled. $50
there was such a raising" he said.
''Well, that bears out Cy's story, so
far. l suppose the rest Of it was
equally correct, Uncle Noah?'
''No, it wasn't replied the old man
emphatically; WhereupOn one of John
Marvin's rare smiles lighted up his
grim features.
'Now, I always try to be accurate"
said Cyrus, hitching uneasily in his
chair. "but I was only a little shaver
at the time and mebbe my recollection
is little at fault"
mo you were wrong Cy," said
Uncle Noah firmly. "When you broke
in on me, I was about to tell the story,
and tell it as twas. It wasn't a barrel
of cider that your uncle carried down
and dumped in the brook in the way
and manner that you described it. 1t
was two barrels of cider-one in each
hand."-Youth's Companion.