The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-04-18
How Eph Won the Shoot

hearn bout how Eph Tucker won the
rooster shoot last Decoration Day. I'm
s'prised enough. disposed everybody he'd
heard bout tibet. The Weekly Patriot
he'd full count on it, but then l don't
S pose you take tibet paper in NJ York, du
ye?
"Wa'al, anyhow, twas like this. Every
body round here thinks Eph's kinder half
witted; he's deafs post yer know and can
only un'stand what you're sayin' by watch
in the motions O. your mouth. When
there's rooster shoot he's always round,
and is purity fair shot. Wa'al, last year
the boys concluded they'd put up job on
Eph, and how in time he ever found out
they was goin' tn, nobody has ever knowed
tn this day. The evenin' fore the shoot,
there was dozen O. US, 1 guess, down tn
Lute's store kinder talkin' it over, and Eph
was there, and, as l said before, he can't
hear nothin' tall. s'pose you know tibet
the rules lily is tibet every one puts in
three cents apiece and has one shot at the
target, and the one tibet puts the most shot
into the paper on the target gets rooster,
and then they start another round until the
roosters have all been won. This time,
though, in order tn make little more ex-
citement, it was agreed tibet each one who
got a rooster should sell him fer fifty cents,
and we were all tn chip in enough apiece to
buy up the lot. and then hev one more
round. Then the winner was tn hev the
hull lot O. ROSTERS. So this evenin' at the
store the boys fixed it up tibet when we got
ready fer this last round, some one was tn
call Eph tn one side tn tell him somethin'
while another Teller would draw the charge
o shot from his gun, so when he fired, O.
course, he wouldn't hev single shot in the
target; and as his shootin' was 'bove the
average lily, O course, he'd be some
s'prised, and it would be a good joke.
Wa'al, Decoration mornin' all hands was
on the ground at ten O'Clock; Eph was
there with the rest O. 'em, includin' me.
| Bout ten PAGES back of where we stood tn
shoot was an old post and rail fence, and on
the other side O. it was clump O. barberry
bushes, There was some good shootin'
tibet day, and l kinder s'prised 'em some
myself, cause they never s'posed l was
much on shootin'. 1 remembered Job
Huckins, tine constable, kinder LATED when
l got up tn take my place. Josh, you 60
in tn shoot, S e? 'Sartin sure be, s.
l. Lord Massey s. e, you couldn't
hit thousand feet o lumber at fifty yards.
| 'Wa'al, l said, 4 don't know as l can,
but I'm goin' tu try tn git one O. them air
boosters, land, by gosh, got three! How
some-ever, tibet amt neither here nor there.
| Joe Bluscom he'd the roosters, twelve o EN-
in all, and bout half past eleven we got all
through. Eph had been shootin' with the
rest and did fairly we'll; he got tew.
"Wa'al, then, as was a-tellin' ye, we
all put in thirty cents apiece, which paid
the last shot. The one tibet got the most
shot in the target this time was tn hev the
hull twelve. Wa'aI, we was all ready tn
start, and, as we he'd arranged, some one
called Eph over quite a distance from the
shootin' stand tn show him partic July fine
rooster in the coop, and while he was over
there, Eben Tucker took the paper wad off
the top o the shot and drew the charge
from Eph's gun. We started in, and Eph
said if we didn't mind he'd shoot last, So
he'd know how many shot he d hev tn put
in the target, cause he cal'lated he'd hev
to win tibet bunch O roosters. Everybody
kinder smiled, o course. Finally, we'd all
shot, and it got round tn his turn. The
highest number O. shot tibet he'd been put
in the target was six. Eph says. Now,
boys, just fer fun, m goin' tn try an old
single barrel muzzle-loader tibet I've brought
down. O. course, no ones goin' tn COM
plain if stand back further than the rest O.
you, is there?' O. course, no one could
object tn tibet, so he went back to the fence
and drew from the bushes on t'other side an
old-fashioned, single barrel muzzle-loader,
with a barrel on it at least five and half
feet long. Everybody begun tn feel purity
cheap, but he'd got to put more then six
shots in tibet target anyhow. So Eph took
his position, with his shoulder right up
ag'in one O. the fence posts, drawed his old
gun up in place, and let her 60. Wa'al,
sir, amt never heard such a noise since
one Fourth O. July, bout five years ago,
when we sot off an old cannon thet's been
| in the town ever since the war. It's won
der it hadn't blown the shoulder right off O.
Eph. Anyhow, it busted tibet old post off
he was leanin' az inst, and he was knocked
over backwards all in heap. Wa'al, sir,
he he'd the barrel O. tibet old gun more than
one-quarter full O shot and powder, and he
filled the paper on the target so full O. holes
tibet we didn't stop to count m, and O.
course, he won the hull coop O. roosters.
"Eph never would admit that he knew
they he'd put up job on him, O. course,
but he amt used that gun since"
From AU Outdoors.