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Show I MAINE WITCHCRAFT A THOVBLESOME THING . A bard-worklni and aotlva young I farmer who Uvea a few miles out of tha village of Limestone, In Aroostook county, Ma., la a firm believer In wlfche. A ahort time ago tha man i.i.i hi to the village of Kort Kalrfleld and conaultrd a lawyer In regard to a certain old woman In Limestone. Tho farmer declared Unit she had bewitched be-witched bla cowa. lie aald that the old woman waa aleo doing other thing to bother him. He told buw a few days before he waa driving a yoke of men which drew a two-wheeled cart He aald that when th.'y were pasting along a piece of road that iklrted a lake, tha witch, making beraelf Invisible, In-visible, pulled the linchpin out of one of the axel and away went tha wheul. It rolled down through a puature. ao the farmer declircd, the witch (leering It and keeping It upright, until aplaabl into tn iae it went. II waa greatly offended when the attornoy luforiaed him that witchcraft waan't recognlted In law In theae daya. Tha farmer went home deelrlii that h would take the law In bla own hand. Out of thlt determination hua eome a rather altiituUr case In court. ' It imiii that thin "Aunt" Collins, whom the farmer accused of witchcraft, witch-craft, own aomu trouhlcsimi llv Mock. Th fanner believe that each animal that the good wife owna I In- plred by the drvll. One day "Uoody" Oollln' old iow and her fumlly of little lit-tle rooter illd under the dlvlalon fenr and began noutinn tn a potato i field owned by the young farmer. The Id porker had been there aeyeral time before, and thla time the farmer waa ready for her. He had molded eotne bullet, Into the center of each of which b had put a little qure of aumach wood. For year thla wood bad been known a "witch wood," ami It I aald by thoae who heller to uch tiling that It I a ur charm to over- earn "black art." When the nelghlior 1 apled th mother pig and her family j foaatlug on bla potato eed he took ' J down hi gun, put In on of th au- nuuli hulleta, and drew a bead on the tow. Iln dropper her at the flrat ahnt, and th niotherlra litter fled horn mealing. "Aunt" Collin collected thm and hrnuxht them up on warm milk a beat ahe could. A few ilaya after the trngedy of th potato field another of "doody" Col-II Col-II us' barnyard fnmlllea, a buatllna;, clucking hen, with a brood of fluffy chicks, made her way through a hole In the old fence and got Into th newly own wheat field. When the young farmer apled her ahe waa ahuming mil a regular in nil Jig and the dirt and aeeda were Hying above her head, lle-hlnd lle-hlnd her were th chick, lnnlly gobbling gob-bling every grain that allowed Itself. One more the farmer loaded hi gun and ho stalked the old hen. who w.it ahxirhed In her hutl for ber family. Hang! and the hen m a draggled bunch of feathera and th brood waa mot herleaa. When "Uoody" Collin heard th sound nf the gun she guessed what waa going on, and. despite her 80 year he rushed out of her little hous and climbed the fence, carrying a bniom. The farmer saw her coming and fled Incontinently. He had no mlad to fac that octogenarian wraith, and. moreover, he had heard of "witch bridle" and "witch brooms." He bidleved that If on of these bridle wer onco thrown over a man' head he would ever afterward belong to tho witch that raptured him. "Aunt" Colllne, however, did not pursue him. Hlie collected In her calico cali-co apron tha chickens thst were scuttling scut-tling about In the grass. Hhe decided thut the old hen wus too badly shattered shat-tered even fur a frlrnssee, and so he left her on the field. Now this wus too much for th old woman to bear, and the brought suit against the fanner. The ruse came before a local Justice at Kort Kalrfleld. It attracted much attention for the farmer aanerted that he would b perfectly per-fectly Justified In shooting even "Ooody" Collin herself. ), ),T at her door all hi long list of mishaps, petty and large. Mr. Collin went on th Hand and explarned that aba TIIH! KAHMUll FI . wua merely poor old widow, with a little plot ofground and a few llv ereatu'e. She declared de-clared with much Indignation that ahe know no more about witchcraft thun alio did about astronomy. tj h said that uy man who made such tulk about h-r ought to be tent to a lunatic asylum. She asked that thl man who had persecuted per-secuted her b made to pay tor th animal be killed. Tb farmer told hi tory, but th 1 u d g Informed him that h mutt prov thst Mrs. Collin ha torn direct connection with th alleged happening!. In conclusion the court said that although I It waa evident the pig and hen of "Aunt" Colllna were committing tre. pass, yet he should hold that the farm-er farm-er mu't psv damage because he tHt liefore asking hT to pen them up at home. "I want tej estimate the damnre." Id the Judge. "Hid any of these lit tin' plg die?" he eskeil Mrs. Collins. "No, sir." she replied. "I ll tell rmi hi;W it was. Jildse." broke In the fanner. "She Jest burned mllilne In the pen arid said Wully-tiMhoo Wully-tiMhoo the rlKbt number of times, and every one nf them little pile had teeth grow and went to eating torn right off " A snicker of astonishment went around the courtroom. The Judge die, ked thn demon. I rat lull, rebuked the farmer and aeketl. " 'Aunt' ("ollliii. did any of the chickens die as a result cf lonlng the old hen?" ' "No, air." snlil "Aunt" Collin "No wonder they didn't die." cried the trrcpreHHllile farmer. "Her old cat had a net In the ash bole and a litter of young kittens. I tell you, that old woman Is a witch. Hhe Just dumped them chickens right In with th kittens, and she made a cluck and put It on tho old cut, and them chickens chick-ens never noticed the difference." This original explanation provoked such a howl In the court room that th Justice fined the farmer for contempt of court and made him pay Mra. Collins Col-lins the value of tho property he had killed. Now tho farmer, more than ever, hellevea that the old woman I a witch, lie even Insist that ahe bewitched be-witched the Judge. |