The Carlisle independent., 1920-08-05
THE CURE OF A COWARD

The open space about the stove in
 McAllister's stove was crowded with
 decrepit chairs and upturned boxes and manor boy was planted firmly on each. It was cold weather; too cold for almost any work except keep ing warm, and the old stories of the , neighborhood were suffering rehear- sal. But one man told new story
 new to almost everyone at least. It was, as he said, the story of how a coward was cured. K
 "lt was this way" he said. "He was so timid that he could not be in duced to hunt for bigger game than rabbits, and he did all the chores be- fore dark because he feared some ami nal might attack him. You see, he had never lived in the country before, and 1t was all strange to<him.
 "One night he heard his two dogs start maping TOW, and soon they stepped under the big oak tree t'ose to the barnyard fence. He ;'at up in bed and listened till he felt sure that,
 whatever it was, it had treed in this oai. l.ls wife thought it was a coon i; so he pulled on his trousers, lighted a lantern, picked up his axe and went outside.
 About twenty yards from the tree was a big pile of brush that had been put there by the hired man when he cut down tree for firewood a month before. As the man went past this he scratched a match and touched it to the pile. It caught at once, ana he walked down to the t,ee and stoopted to look for the coon by the light of the burning brush. He did not see i., so he stepped few feet to the left. Just as he did so he roUiced big, hor- izonta' limb change it's appearance. It looked as if it had suddenly grown I huge hump, and, stranger still, the hump moved.
 While he looked at it and wonder ed what it was, there sounded the meanest snarl he ever heard. It was a panther! He gripped his axe and stood still, paralyzed by the danger. As he hesitated, the brute seemed to move with little rocking motion of its hips. It was working it's hind legs into position for a jump. He tried to run, but his feet seemed nailed to the ground. He tried to yell, but his breath was gone. All at once he heard the sound of air expelled from the cats lungs as it jumped-and here It was, coming straight for his breast. A frenzy of fear seized him, and he swung that keen, double-edged axe as he had never swung it against a tree, in one wild, desparing blow at the awful thing that was coming to tear and kill him. He felt the axe go into and through something, and a great weight hit him in the breast; hot fluid filled his face and soaked his shirt, and he was knocked rolling. As he scrambled to his feet he saw the body of the horrible thing bouncing, Jumping, rolling, exactly as the body of chicken does after it's head is cut off. Then he knew that this one blow had gone home. And he walked calm ly back to the house.
 When his wife saw him, she shriek- ed, for he was soaked with blood. But he quieted her and said: My dear, I have been through a transformation tonight. I am thankful for this ex- perlence, for now I am no longer a coward. l was coward because T did not know what I could do or what my danger was. l will no longer be timid."
 And 1 will leave it to you men whether he was right. That man was my father, men,"
 Every man drew deep breash and nodded his answer, for every man there knew that Jacks father had