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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1914)
1 ' 1 1 "' - Mme and farm magazine section 91 The Feud in Hickey Township Begun by a Calf and Ended by Fire. JR. L. Ketchum in San Francisco Argo naut) ' IT -WAS certainly a first-rate tend, and a source of much pride to the ' settlers in and about Hickey Town ship, just as a haunted house, or a mur der mystery, or a long-lived scandal might have been only the feud was much more satisfactory, because it had been on for four years, and hardly a month had passed during all that time that had not witnessed some new epi sodo in the affair, and each one seemed more startling than its predecessor. And so it was that tho good people of Hick ey Township held their heads just a lit tlo bit higher than their less fortunate friends who resided in more peaceful portions of the country. It tho feud all started on account of a yearling calf than which, permit me (a stock-raiser of" limited but fruit ful experience) to interpolate, there never was nor can there ever be a crea ture more hopelessly, unreasonably "ornery," and one more productive of sinful language and display of sultry temper on the part of its keepers. Year ling calves have caused the recording angel moro trouble, broken up more old friendships, produced more family jars, and, in the form of veal, begotten more indigestion and the insomnia resultant therefrom than but this is not an es say on tho sinful, sportive stcerlet and his shortcomings. Tho Walkers and the Benedicts had been old neighbors for years, "back in loway." In fact, the" elder Walkers and the elder Benedicts had been mar ried about the same time, at the be ginning of the war, and had iust set tled on adjoining homesteads when the first gun was fired on Sumter. The men enlisted in the same company, fought side by side, ate and slept and suffered together; and at home their young wives waited and wept together. When the little Walkers and the little Benedicts grew large enough to run about, they were playmates and bj)on companions; the children of one family felt as much at liberty in the home of the other as they did in their own for twenty-eight years the two families had lived in peace and amity, and then that miserable calf precipitated an irrepar able row. It was too bad, all the noieh- bors said, but it is a noticeablo fact that none of them attempted to patch np a peace life in Hickey Township and Jlickey Corners would have been dull, indeed, but for the feud; so cverv body sat by and watched each new phase of the affair with nervous, nior bid interest, and commented thereon, but not in a manner likely to prove con ducive to a truce on the part of the dis put ants. It was in this way. The Benedict and Walker houses had been built on adjacent corners of the homestead quar ters, and were quite close together; in fact, one well, sunk on the quarter-sec tion line between the two homesteads, had furnished water for both families for the first four years after coming to Dakota, ana it was only a short dis tanco from either house. But it came to pass thr-t on the Walk er domain there was born, and grew, and waxed fat and "sassy" a brindlc calf, with a right smart chance of white in its eye and a plethora of deep-dyed mischief in its soul and he (for it yas a young gentleman "critter"), while yet of tender age but tough, engendered the feud, Ho had wandered away the day before, and when he returned at Bight the gate of the calf-pen was shut against him; and in the morning, when Papa Benedict arose from post-break fast family prayers and, followed by the younger male Benedicts, hied him toward the stable, he beheld his neigh bor's' incipient steer nipping in the bud sundry young and toothsome cabbages and kicking out of the earth, in his bovine abandon, all he could not eat. Then was Papa Benedict wroth, and thereupon did he give way to naughty, profane words while the young Bene dicts surrounded the offending calf and brought him up for judgment. Now, Papa Benedict was a man of lasty temper, but easily cahncdj so when the calf was tendered him at the end of a long picket-rope, his wrath had decreased several degrees, and he wound the rope aronnl his hand and started to lead the ealf home. It was while h waa pondering on what to say to the calf's owner that the calf suddenly remembered a previous engagement and started, in tome baste, to keep it, heading directly across the croquet ground. Papa Benedict wished to follow with more dignity than the calf desired; and presently his feet were scraped from under him by a wicket and he was being handled the way the vaqueros in South Africa are supposed to make butter at the end of a lassoo. He did not look very neat when, a few minutes later, he reached the Walker residence and called his neighbor out. He was holding the calf up short, but his temper had slipped its tether and caused him to say bad words, to which Papa Walker replied in kind whereat Papa Benedict seized a conven ient neck-yoke and killed the cause of the trouble. Of course there was a fight and con siderable ill-chosen language; then, as soon as possible,. Papa Benedict sued Papa Walker for the damage to his cab bages, and Papa Walker sued Papa Ben edict for the value of the calf. After that they prosecuted each other for as sault and battery; the younger mem bers of both houses "sassed" each oth er at every available opportunity; Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Benedict did no more "neighborin' "; and Mort Benedict and Nellie Walker "busted up" with each other. That is, Nellie broke with Mort, who, for his part, had a whole some contempt for feuds and such non sense and would feign have ignored the state of affairs, so far as Nellie was concerned, except for the opposition any overtures from him would have re ceived on all sides, and especially from Nellie. So he had to grin and bear it. leaving, however, all hostilities to the others, and speaking pleasantly to any of the Walkers he chanced to meet. But finally, through a rash act of his own, ho was forced into the feud. There was a husking beo of the good old fashioned sort at Thompson s one night and the younger members of the hostile houses attended. During the evening Mort found a red ear in his pile, and he never knew what impelled him to do it, unless it was that Nellie looked so pretty and tempting he took his form er sweetheart in his arms and kissed her, not once, but three times. As soon as it could be done without the girls knowing of it, Bud Walker and Harvey Free invited Mort and Pel Horner out into tho moonlit pasture, where Bud insisted on "having it out." Mort demurred,, but in vain, and, much to his regret, was forced to "lick" to a standstill not only the man he hoped some day to call his brother-in-law, but the latter 's second as well; Pel Horner being a erippla and unable to accom modate young Free, who wag "pinin " on account of his principal's defeat. That settled it. Thereafter even ten der hearted Mrs. Walker who, like Mrs. Benedict, sincerely but silently re gretted the trouble that kept her apart from her old-time friends these four long years, and who had always had a pleasant greeting for all the family, es pecially for Mort, who was a great fn- vorite of hers cut mm acaa wncn sin: happened to meet him, and even the frigid inclination of the head with which Nellie had been wont to recog nize his presence on those rare occa sions on which' they mot was now de nied him. All this cut Mort deeply, but he was made of too tough a fibre to show it; so till the end of the feud he tried to act as-though he did not care just as did Nellie, who, howover, was obliged to confess to herself once in a while that she did care, "lots." The spring of 188 is a memorable one in the history of many portions of the DaEotas. The amount of rain in the fall and the snowfall of the winter preceding had been very slight indeed, and there were no spring rains to en courage the farmers. The creek-beds and coules were dryjHhe lake-beds and sloughs were as innocent of water as powder magazines; and the matted grass and reeds standing in them were as dry as was the grass on the prairies. Everything invited the fire-fiend, whose work on the plains is so swift and thorough and he accepted the in vitation. From the wheat regions op north came tales of bis deadly work of coun ties almost entirely laid waste, of hun dreds made homeless and penniless, with nothing left, even wherewith to wring their bread out of the soil. In C County and its neighbors, however, all felt secure; the fire woe far north of them, and being gradually exterminated. Besides they were in the Jim River Valley; it is curious how much confidence the proximity of a riv er will give to the settler who is threat ened by prairie fires. Mort Benedict and his father were re turning from the county town one day, having been in to leave "mother" for a two days' visit and to have the breaking plow repaired. For a day or two there had been rumors of fires only twenty miles or so to the north, and they were talking of this as they cross ed the bridge, four miles from home. As they reached the top of the hill on the west side of the river Mort glanced at the northern horizon, which was not distant, on account of a range of hills running east and west, and Bid his eyes deceive him, or was that smoke, just rolling up above the line of hills f "Look, father!" Startled, the elder man did so. "Great God, Mort! She's a-eomin', an' comin' t' beat hell, tool We got t' race, t' save anything!" And race they-did, but the fire was racing, too; and when they drove their panting horses into the dooryard, the flames were only a few miles away and coming down at lightning speed. While Tom and Roy saddled their ponies and rounded up the livestock, Mrs. Benedict and the three elder boys and Bessie in an incrodibly short space of time put into the two wagons every thing that it was possible to save, af ter which Hal and George saddled their ponies, joined Tom and Boy with the herd, and the whole procession, beaded by the two wagons, driven by Mort and bis father, moved off at a rapid pace toward the river. Then, and only then, did Mort notice that there was no sign of human life about the Walker place. His heart gave a leap. "Bess!" he said, sharply; "did did they git awayf Did ye notice 'em movin' 'round'!" The girl's eyes opened wide. "Ob, Mort! I haven't heard or seen a sign of 'cm all day!" "Take them reins. I'm goin' back an' see." Ho leaped from the wagon and ran back, noting as he did so how hotf the" air had become and how near the big wave of smoki was. Mrs. Walker, singing softly as she bustled about the kitchen, was a bit startled to see who her unannounced visitor was. "Mis' Walker, Where's all yoor men folksf No, I dido 't come fer trouble only th's a prairie-firs only a little ways off, an' comin down like mad!" Mrs. Walker sank into a chair. "Ob, heavens! An' father sick a-bed an' all tb' boys over t' Berry's on a breahin' boe!" "Good Lord! Ain't I glad I come back! Where's th' bosses 1" "Oh, Mort! They're all loose in the paster! " "Git what things ye wantuh save t' gcther real quick! They ain't no spare time. ' ' And Mort tore out of the house like a madman, and Uown to the pasture, not noticing that Nellie had entered the kitchen and was staring at him open eyed. Both Mr. Walker's wagon-teams were composed of animals usually as docile as lambs; but today, bunched together in a corner of the pasture, they sniffed tho coming flames, and it seemed to put wild imps into their lumbering car casses, and it was a long, trying time before Mort could catch two of them, swear, pray, try as he might and tho great firo rolled swiftly nearer. The wind had shifted from northeast to KING OF THE WOODS" DRAG SAW With or Without Bun Saw Attachment Will law 20 to 40 cords of wood per day at a cost of $1.00. PULLS ITSELF op the steepest HILL and over the roughest ground, Costs lets then other unlet. One man write to sawed 56 rick in 10 hours. Another tiwed 40 cords in 9 boon. son vou ousht to know. Write lor FREE cat alog containing full description with testimonials1 from enthusiastic users. wimie. iuwi. northwest. Mort saw, with sinking af bis heart, that there was an even ehane4 of getting cut off from the river. Mr. Walker was on a feather-bed on the- floor of the wagon and Mrs. Walk er erouc&ed beside him. Nellie ran back into the bouse for the family Bible, then climbed np beside Mort. , "Git up I Clkl" The heavy whip came down hard on the horses' flanks,' and the race was begun. ' Faster came the flames; the billow ox smoke rolled over them, now and then' dropping feathery grass-emders as it passed; they could hear the roar of the fire and feel its hot breatn wnenever the wind increased in velocity and Jim River so far away! Nearer came the great wave of flame; the air was dense and suffocat ing. Mort in his frenzy lashed the volt. running horses incessantly, cursing, praying, saying ho knew not what. Mrs. Walker wept and prayed; Mr. Walke now and then gave a feeble moan; Nel lie, on tho seat beside Mort, kept her lips tight closed and said nothing, only clinging to the seat more desperately as the wagon bouneed and lurched. Mort looked at her; her silence anger ed him. "Git off 'n th' seat I" be roar ed. "How d'ye think I c'n drive with you sittin' thart" The girl obeyed, and fell, rather tnan climbed, back into the bocx. Mort Benedict's recollections of what occurred after that are very dim. He remembers driving deeper and deeper into the terrible heat and smoke, of tearing through a volume of flame that seemed endless flame that burned his eyes, his nostrils, his throat, and scorch ed his hair and eyebrows then, with a final leap, the horseB dashed down tho slope into tho shallow river, and he knew no mere. . When Mort awoke he could not for seme ticm realize where he was, and lay for some minutes trying to remem ber. Oh, yesr bo was in Will Berry's room, tie rememoerea tne antiers on the wait, and the white curtains at tho windows. Some one eame in softly; from the next room. "Who is HI" he asked. It was Nellie, and she came and leaned over him. " It 's me, Mort. I've bo'n here all th' time. I thought ye knew me, sometimes. You've be 'a sick. ' ' "Are ye here t' stay, Nell always, I mean!" Sho.sat down on the edge of the bed and put her' hands on his shoulders. "If ye want me to, Mort." He drew her face down to his, but put her at arm's length presently. "But how about th' feud, Nellf"' "They ain't bo more feud, Mort." ELITE PRIVATE BUSINESS COLLEGE 404 COMMONWEALTH BLDG. PORTLAND, OR. 1IATOB I. DECKS E, A. M. w Principal. Personal Attention, Individual Instruction Satisfaction aunnteed. Positions for Oradnj ate. Special Sumner Bates. j 1st 1 There's - (WW k. 11 14 UA I IV r
