Another story of the olden times comes trickling down
Another story of the olden times comes trickling down.
It was a long time before the automobile came. It
was in the time of the horse and buggy and in truth it
happened to be the second buggy that had crossed the
Mississippi river. My sister Eliza was in her teens
when she and her brother William hitched up old
Scott, a big bay horse, to the buggy and drove to a picnic
near Palmyra, over the same road that Billy Firman
and Susie Parker had ridden on horseback to the
fair. In those days, when you fed your horse, you took
the bit out of his mouth. But you had to remember
to put the bit back in his mouth before starting. In
this case the bit was forgotten. They were crossing a
creek when old Scott stopped for a drink. Just then a
passerby called out that the horse did not have the bit
in his mouth. William alighted from the buggy and
approached the horse's head. At the same moment old
Scott decided to take a run. Away he goes in full gallop. Eliza was
in the buggy. Suddenly the buggy struck a low stump at the
side of the road. Tipped the buggy over - out came Eliza on her
head. She was not badly hurt, but she screamed "Oh my new bonnett
is ruined - my new bonnett is ruined". Up came a friend
rushing up to Eliza expecting to find her badly hurt - but she was
still moaning "o my new bonnet is ruined ". Her friend stepped
back and said, "You than better thank God you are not killed".
Now you see that the horse in those days was as bad
as the automobile is in these days.
