The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-08-04
TRIPPING UP "CY"
Job Is Done to Entire SatistaG.
ton of His Hearers.
Spinner Of Yarns, Always More Re.
markabIe Than Those Told by
Others, Is Beaten at
His Own Game.

!
window of the shop where he was max
ing an afternoon call. 10y Pelton is
headed this wny," he announced. land
/. will make q prediction. II 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
! little more remarkable that he has
| been an eyewitness Of, and he'll be
sure to place il In some place pretty
| far from this town. But Cy PeltOn
needn't flatter himself that he ever
fools me. have sense enough 10
| 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
eSting piece about Abraham Lincoln"
Uncle Noah began, as he accepted the
easiest chair.
when he was a Young man clerk
ing in a store. someone stumped him
one day to pick up a barrel of rum
off the floor and hold il up to his
mouth and drink out of the hunghoe +;
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 fatal pause, and Cyrus
Pelton got the floor
81 had an uncle, on my mothers
side" he said, "that guess was full
as strong in his arms as ever Mr.. Lin
coin was, and even stronger in tenn
perance. He was q blacksmith in the
town Of Industry.
Zone time, when I was q small boy,
Hiram Quint, one Of Uncle Lies near
neighbOrS. was building a big barn, and
he had asked lot Of men to the rails
ing.
"In 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 he better off.
If You would carry that cider down to
the brook ard dump it.
81 saw Hiram wink at the hysiantl-
ers, and says he, I'm hardly strong
enough. But if YOU are says ne,
you're at liberty to do it,
"'All right says Uncle Life, and he
made for his blacksmith shop. In
few minutes back he came, bringing a
horseshoe that he had hammered ont
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 a handle,
he lifted that barrel of cider as if 1t
had been a carpetbag and carried II
to the brook and emptied It,"
"Now, if you will give me chance
I should like to put in word" said
Uncle Noah, with a show of impa-
thence. "It so happened that I was at
the raising Of Hiram CUNTS barn"
II 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 q raising" he said.
swell. that bears out Cy's story, so
far. l suppose the rest Of it was
equally correct. Uncle NoahT
"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 / was only 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, / was about to tell the story,
end tell it as twas. 1t 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
Companion.