Show CO KM HOMER t may Cure U ie SERVICE s 6 a at IRE STORY THUS FAR FAn Amos Croy Cray 1 settled on a farm at Missouri Mis bits where be he married and a son hoy Ho- Ho y IDer was born Homers Homer's earliest recollection lection was of a cj cyclone clone which blew down the sod barn and wrecked necked the orchard Sunday meant church company for or dinner din ner and steer weight guessing Dehorning of the calves and the curing of hams were two of the Jobs that Homer flomer bad had to help belp with It became his bis Job to wean the calves He lie originated th the Idea of placing V a rubber tube In the milk pall and had bad them suck on on that Instead of his bis finger it to By Ry this means they were weaned conk considerably con con- k quicker than by finger He lie sent the Idea to the local farm paper which printed It In full CHAPTER VII VU H Rt When the water was boiling the barrel set at the proper r. r ingle in the bobsled and everything was was ready Pa would go to the house and come out with his rifle and brass brassf f powder flask with the measuring d deI de- de vice I expect you'd better go m in inhouse 1 the house for a while Homer bl I was glad to for I couldn't bear Ho to see what was going to happen u Qi i Inside the house there was a tenseness tense- tense ness One of p ness a lowering of voices Ithe the women who had come to help helpy my y m mother other would look took out the win- win dow rin ow and say re in the hog blot Ai at now f They They would try to talk neighborhood neighborhood neighborhood neighbor neighbor- hood news but it would be in subdued subdued subdued sub sub- dued voices and there'd be silences Then my mother would begin to toI I whet a knife on a crock Suddenly sharp and clear on the winter air would come a shot then the sound of a man running and I would know he had a knife in in his I. I 3 hand and it would seem to me I just couldn't live through the next moments There would be anther anther an- an ther shot and another three hogs now Then there would be a aJ ai i J feeling of relief for we all knew a this was the last The women would begin to talk again but a little too B. B fast I would open the door the smell ell of powder would d still be on the theaIr theair air I I The men would come dragging one of the hogs by the forelegs to the sled and in a few moments the animal would be in the scalding water water water wa wa- ter and the men would go Hueh all u together so as to get the right timing for the animal to slosh up and nd down in the barrel Pa would stake take some of the hair between his i thumb and finger and give it a pull k i One ne more time boys At last the animals would be dressed and hanging on the gam- gam J breIs The worst part of butchering would be over for it didn't seem so f 5 bad now as it had when the hogs were alive and the men were advancing advancing ad- ad in the lot The faintness I had felt would be gone and Id I'd be beI bethinking bethinking I thinking about the good eating that was coming And sod everybody 3 else ielse lse Lots of talk now about eat- eat II mg ut i As the meat was being cut the women would strip the casings turn them inside out scrape them and andI m I put them to soak in salt water HI Sausage making was best of all 1 Mostly lean meat trimmed from the hams and shoulders and some from I. I the tenderloin When it was ready it the grinder would be brought and everybody would gather around as asi asi asif i if it was the opening of a circus My II i mother was the one who fed the meat into the grinder and I was the theone theone Sone one who vho had to turn the damned thing On a chair beside her would I be the salt and pepper in bowls I j I but the sage was in the bag it was I II cured in n My mother was proud of I her ability to mix the seasonings n just dust right She knew the amount of sage to put in if too much went in n 1 it gave gave the sausage an old taste At last the day would be over f and d the neighbors each with a piece of fresh meat would be starting home The house which had been so full of excitement would seem lonely Everywhere would be the theY Y 1 peculiar unpleasant smell of fresh meat I The casings would be stacked in inthe I Iv the pantry so they wouldn't freeze and I would forget about them Then some morning about two weeks later later later lat lat- er as I would be coming back from helping with the chores there would be a perfectly captivating smell hanging on the air the air the smell of frying frying fry fry- 11 ing sausage There would be Ma when I opened 4 the door bending over the stove She would take the lid ofT off the skillet turn the cakes over with a fork then f put the lid back on again The 1 smell would get more and more enthralling enthralling enthralling en en- and Id I'd get hungrier and hungrier At last breakfast would be ready There in the center of the table would be the redolent brown cakes Wed We'd all take one one one-me me pretty fast fast fast- and Ma would look at Pa and say How do you like it Amos Pa would eat cat a moment then say Fine Finel I You got just about the right i amount of seasoning Then hed he'd look at me in that sly way of his and say Homer do you think you'll r be able to masticate a bit of it f After Afler this first inspection Ma would pass the buckwheat cakes and 1 I would cut a slice of honey I spread it over the cakes and let it run down the sides On top of this smoking mound I would put my i sausage then haul my knife across j and mix sausage and buckwheat and honey all up together I tell you it tt was wa good I But that wasn't all At noon that day when I opened up my dinner I bucket at school there would be a package with grease spots showing through the brown paper paper paper-a a delicious delicious delicious deli deli- cious cold sausage cake It wouldn't be as brown and it wouldn't have havethe havethe havethe the lovely smell it had at breakfast but it was still good It always would be good nothing could keep keepit it from being good I wish I had some right v now right this moment 1 Newt Kennedy was our neighborhood neighbor neighbor- hood correspondent for the weekly and for the items he sent in he received received received re re- re- re the paper free of charge Newt was a trifle weak on grammar grammar grammar gram gram- mar but he was strong on what people people people peo peo- liked to read and always in everything ing he wrote was this undercurrent undercurrent undercurrent under under- current of humor which I loved and which influenced me so much He signed himself The One-Horse One Farmer which of course made everybody laugh for no one could run a farm with one horse This was another way of saying The Bottom of the Heap Of course Newt wasn't but it was good fun to pretend he was Newt d didn't nt merely send in who was sick and who was visiting and that tramps had broken in the schoolhouse use again but sent in comments and humorous philosophy Each week when we got tl the e paper the first thing I turned to was the One-Horse One Farmer He was the biggest and strongest man in our section and about the best natured A great brawny giant with a mop of hair like an unfinished unfinished unfinished un un- finished haystack He wore an overcoat overcoat overcoat over over- coat fastened around his middle with witha a belt he had felt boots and over- over f i J Jr 1 s r The TIt e One Horse e F Farmer armer shoes and a cap with flaps that pulled down over his ears cars He did something of value to the township for he conceived the idea we ought to have plays and set about getting them up in the same joyous boyish way he went into anything anything anything any any- thing that had fun in it These were put on in the Wilcox School which was bigger than the Knabb School There was no door in the end of the room which was to be the stage but that was all right a window was used The women made a curtain curtain curtain cur cur- tain and the boys and girls began to study their lines When the time came that wonderful opening night Newt all dressed up in his good clothes stepped out in front of the draw-curtain draw and said the opening number would be a tableau entitled The Setting Sun The curtain whizzed along the galvanized clothes clothesline clothesline clothesline line and there sitting on a box was one of the neighborhood boys It took us some moments moments- to see through it but when we did we thought it was about th the funniest thing wed we'd ever heard of Well those plays were a tremendous success success success suc suc- cess judged by our standards and brought us immense satisfaction Newt could be plenty serious He would sit up with wih the sick and in some strange way was amazingly tender with them this rough giant of a man When one of our neighbors neighbors neighbors neigh neigh- bors died Newt was the first person to put a shovel over his shoulder and start toward the cemetery The second time my name was ever in m print Newt Kennedy put it there I tried to earn money for myself by having a line of traps inthe inthe in m the slough and one day I found a along along along long strange perfectly white creature creature creature crea crea- ture as big around as a buggy whip handle in a steel trap The neighbors neighbors neighbors neigh neigh- bors came in to see it When the One Horse Farmer came out that week this item was in it Homer Croy has captured a white weasel I was delighted I was thrilled I It had never occurred to me that I would be in the One-Horse One Farmer but there I was for all the world to I see I thought over and over why he had used the word captured instead instead in instead in- in stead of trapped for I was coming coming coming com com- ing more and more to love words and to be a little awed by the thrilling thrilling thrill thrill- ing g things one could do with them As for the weasel it must have been an albino I took it down to Mr Jenkins who bought for a fur house in St. St Louis and sold it My father was a cattle farmer Mr Knabb was a hog farmer Newt Kennedy was a mule man for even in our neighborhood we specialized There were many other mule men but none like Newt Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Ken Ken- nedy who got fun even out of mules Most farmers when they wanted to break a mule gingerly hitched him up with an old mare who could be got into a trot only by determined determined determined deter deter- mined effort and let the mule lunge and kick and prance beside the faithful old mare But not Newt Newt got his fun out of the very thing that others dreaded He liked to break mules more than that he looked forward to mule-breaking mule time as children do to circus time Fall was mule-breaking mule time during during during dur dur- ing the hiatus between harvest and corn picking The mule colts had been on grass all summer kicking up their heels and watching the horses and other mules plodding off oil to work They'd run along beside as near as the fence would allow and whinny and md taunt the dull plodders plodders plodders plod plod- ders at least it seemed that way But these gay mules didn't know that Newt Kennedy would soon be beon beon beon on their trail Newt would go bouncing bouncing bouncing ing along in a wagon or on a hay- hay frame looking them over with a joyous eye It wouldn't be long till he would have a twitch nose-twitch on them Usually when a farmer wanted to break a mule he would take him to the back pasture so he could swing on a line and make him run in a circle But nothing so common commonas as this would do for N Newt ewt Kennedy When it began to chill up in the autumn he would say to me Homer Homer Homer Ho mer are you going to be doin anything anything anything any any- thing Thursday morning I never was if Newt wanted me It was understood I was to say nothing to anyone for Newts Newt's mule methods were frowned on They might like him one fifty-one weeks a year but mule-breaking mule week they had no use at all for him I would go out the back way so as to appear to be about my work a suspicious item and cut across the fields to Newts I could see seethe seethe seethe the mules even before I got there for they would be running around inthe inthe in inthe the barn lot the wildest things on four legs and the trickiest And the smartest too for a mule is miles ahead of a horse in horse sense It really ought to be called mule sense I thought maybe you'd like to help me break he would say and we would go to the horse lot where the mules were racing around and around with their heads as high as giraffes Newt would stand there his arms on the fence looking them over as a fisherman might look over a trout he was going to have his way with The thing was to get a rope around the neck of one of them Newt would approach with a rope held behind him and suddenly send it looping through the air like a cow cow- boy If the rope landed it was hell I Newt and I would have to sink our heels in the ground and hang on for dear life Of course the mule couldn't go out of the lot so we would stand in the middle like a ringmaster at a circus and let the mule run round and round After a time wed we'd get him into a chute that Newt had for the purpose purpose purpose pur pur- pose and leave him as Newt said to think it over and then go goback goback goback back for another mule This one usually would be in harness and considered partly broken Newt would not have dreamed of putting an old ugly plug-ugly plow horse in to break a mule with Newt wanted to get fun out of his work After a time wed we'd have the partly broken second mule in and snubbed then wed we'd go back to the the- first mule and Newt would pretend he loved that mule Hed He'd stroke his nose an awl and talk to him in honeyed words but Newt had something behind behind behind be be- hind his back The twitch This was a stick as long as a persons person's arm with a loop of rope at the end Newt would get the loop over the mules mule's upper lip and twist it tight and pass the stick to me The mules mule's head would go down and his heels up But usually I could hold him in spite of all the ideas he had hadon on the subject Newt would creep up with a collar and slip it over his neck Bit by bit he would get the harness on the mule and then the harness on the second mule Then would come the tremendous job of getting the mules to a wagon tongue Only Newt could do that sometimes with soothing words sometimes with threats that if he had understood them would have made the mules mule's blood turn to ice water In some superhuman way Newt would get both those mules on a wagon and ond then I would be sent to I open the gate to the public road I IN N No a back pasture for Newt Some of the neighbors even broke mules on plowed ground hitched to a drag But not Newt Kennedy He wanted to extract every possible morsel of fun from it Fun that made the neighbors think he was crazy cruzy TO BE EE E CONTINUED I |