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Show t Splitting a Snag "It's a pretty good "crowd and I'd like first rate to go along," said the suburbanite with mosquito lumps on his wrists. "That Is, I'd llko to go If Benderbr ""nmt one df em. Sco here,' 1 4taEfe to knock, but did you ever go out on a fishing trip with Ben-derby?" Ben-derby?" "No," answered the man in the center-creased straw. "Have you7" "I haven't," replied tho mosquito-bitten mosquito-bitten one, "and I don't intend to But I know just about how he'd act If you want peace and concord and amity and a good time generally-well, generally-well, I'm not going to knock Ben-derby." Ben-derby." "I won't tell," said the man whe didn't care for appearances. "But I must say thM I't always liked Ben-dorbjf Ben-dorbjf SMtty well. Tell it. Don't in iMiTatc." "I won't," said the man with th lumps. "As for telling, I don't care who knows It. I've been sorry evei slnco that I didn't tell Bctderby what I thought of him at the time. Yot know that I"ve got a flre-placo In th house. You've seen it, haven't you7" "No, but I heard you say you wen going to havo one built. But tell mt about Bcnderby. I thought I'd pleasi you by Inviting him. If you hadn'l introduced him to mo" "I apologlzo for that. Well, 1 bought a load of old roots and snagi from a farmer out near us who hai 'em piled up In his field. It strucl mo they'd-bo tho Ideal thing for tin fireplace. There's something so trln and uninteresting about tho averagi stick of cordwood. These wero full of knots and bumps that wero qult picturesque. I didn't really have U buy them. I Just paid for tho hauling. haul-ing. I thought that splitting them til into good-sized chunks would Just b( pleasant exerclso for mo. It was, too I bought a good sharp ax and a mam and a couplo of iron wedges' and 1 went at them. "Tough? Well, say; when you wair a llttlo work that is really work you Just get a lot of old roots. Tho first afternoon I worked nt them I was sc Btiff and soro I could hardly gel around at all the next, day, nnd I got my hands so blistered nnd swelled I couldn't closo em. But I toughened up in a little whllo and began to get along qulto nicely. My wife used tc como out and sit on tho back porct and watch me, whero tho chlpt wouldn't strike her. "Well, I Just plugged away morn Ings and evenings when I had a little spare tlmo, you know, and by tho end end of a month or six weeks I had a pile that it would havo dono you heart good to see all split up but ono Btdmp at tho tlmo Bcnderby butted In. 1 hadn't been able to finish it up the night before. Crosby and Smith were over that ovenlng and I wns telling then) what I had been doing nnd we all went out to look at tho pllo, the whole bunch of us. Smith remarked that I'd left this one root and I sold I'd whack that up right away. So I shed my coat, turned the old snag over and went at It. I put In the wedges first and Bwung tho old maul on to -t hem and blamed If thoy didn't bounce out one after another. Tho grain had run across. I tried another place and struck another twist and Jarred my arm clear up to the shoulder shoul-der blade. Thnt mado me mad and I went at It hard, but I couldn't mako tho wedges stick and I know I was up against a proposition that might tnko n llttlo tlmo. The crowd moved 1 awny, ono by one, and sat on tho stoop. "I took tho ax and scaled the out-sldo out-sldo nway to get an idea of tho way tho grain ran and tried It again. That tlmo I got tho wedgo In, but it stayed In nnd didn't split. I put tho other In lower down and that drovo pretty pret-ty nigh up to tho head and didn't start a crack either. Then I sweat around thero for half nn hour trying to get tho wedges out nnd tho folks guying mo all tho time. I had to cut thoso wedges out nt lost, "I guess flint I had beon working for an hour or so, I wns dripping with perspiration and was pretty nearly near-ly playod out when Bcndorby strolled up, big and fat aud cool and cheerful. cheer-ful. Ho watched mo for a moment nnd then ho snld I wasn't going at It right. "Take tho ax and Just bust her opon," ho said. "I smiled, handed him tho ax and Joined tho group on tho porch. I needed bo mo compensation and I thanked my stars which had delivered him Into my hnnds. Ho swung the ax aloft, brought It down with c grunt nnd busted tho.snag'wldo open "It was a lUke n puro accident mind you. As fat as ho Is I nm ton time's as muscular. I know more about splitting wood In a minute than ho could learn In ten years and I. haJ already split up about 30 of tho roots hut If you hod heard him brag and blow nnd belittle what I'd .dono nnd well I haven't words for him, that'a all." "Perhaps wo'd better find some way to shunt him off this trip,' after nil,' snld tho man with tho straw hat 'What kind of un excuse do you think 1 could ranko?" Chicago Dally News. |