Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-03-30
CHAPTER x

VIII WOulO drive a lTeSIl-DTOkG mule
to a spring-wagon with women in it.
That was the difference between
Pa and Newt. Pa was always safe
and conservative, but Newt wasn't.
Newtd do anything, as Pa put it.
But Newt never got hurt and nobody
was ever killed.
In few minutes our yard would
be filed with laughing and talking
people, and Kaiser would be bark
ing his head off, just as excited as
I was to have company.
The women would 60 into the
house to change into their swim
ming clothes, while the men sat on
the front porch and on the benches
and talked. When the womenfolks
were ready, we would all start down
through our orchard to the horse
pond which was two or three times
as wide as a house and eight feet
deep. 1t was supplied by a spring
and by water pumped from the
windmill and was the only one in
the neighborhood. People said we
were lucky to have pond.
When the women would start in
they had to inch, because their
Mother Hubbards would fill with air
and 60 straight over their heads if
they didn't watch out. If one of the
Mother Hubbards went a little too
high, the men would screech with
delight. 1t was manners, when all
the women were in, for the men to
60 back to the house and let the
women swim alone.
After a while we would hear the
women coming through the orchard.
1t was all right to walk down to the
pond with the women, but it
wouldn't do to see the women until
they had changed into dry clothes.
After the women were in the house,
Pa would say, II guess we'd better
60 down and see if they splashed
all the water out" and down through
the orchard we'd go.
The men would peel off their
clothes. Newt would give a run
and 60 in with terrific plop! but
Pa would walk slowly in, because he
wasn't wild like Newt. Now and
then, when there wasn't any splash
ing, we could hear a night bird 60
by with swish of its wings, or
calf would bawl, or the bull would
give a short little run toward a COW.
At last the swim would be over
and we'd start back through the or
chard to the house. The women
would be sitting on the porch, and
everybody would begin to talk at
once. Pad say, "Homer!" and I'd
60 down into the cave and begin
bringing up the melons. Ma and
Phebe would light the lamps and
set them on the porch and Pa would
hang our lantern in the cherry tree.
I could hardly wait.
He would rest the point of his
knife on the melon and say, SIS it
going to be ripe, or not?" 1t was
always ripe, because Pa knew mel
.ons.
AS the slices were finished they'd
60 into the wash boiler. More
work for me tomorrow.
When everybody had had all they
could eat, they would sit around and
talk, me still able to take few
more nibbles. At last it would be
time to 60. Pa would still be worry
ing about Nevis mule. Don't you
think, Newt, it's kind of risky to
drive him at night loaded with wom-
emf"
'Mules amt as much inclined to
run at night as they are in the
day, Amos"
At the very bottom was the ma
nure shovel which hung on a peg
In the stable and was dull and dirty
and foul and never cleaned from
one years end to another-a pa
riah. Sometimes mule would step
on it; but that didn't matter. Some
times he would break off the hand
grip. That was all right, too; we'd
60 ahead using the shovel anyway.
Sometimes the handle would become
loose and we'd nail in any sort of
stick. No one had any respect for
a manure shovel; in fact, I'm sure
it didn't have any respect for itself.
When a farmer had a sale, he
"ouidh SFCH put IL up, IL De
tossed in with lot of other odds
and ends; sometimes the man who
had bought it wouldn't even take
he thing home.
A step above this-but only step
was the long-handled general util-
ity shovel. 1t was never cleaned
and never sharpened and was left
standing any old where Sometimes
it would be left in the granary,
sometimes it would even get into
the smokehouse. Sometimes it
would be left lying on the ground
and 4 wagon wheel would cross it.
But it didn't matter. It was just
"the shovel" And that was the way
It was always referred to. as if there
had to be one on a farm and we had