CHAPTER XV 



ELIJAH BULLWAIST, THE BLACKSMITH 



ASTING our eye over the 

 field, the next character 

 that greets is one of 

 whom we before spoke 

 Elijah Bullwaist, the 

 Blacksmith. Were it not 

 for the shagginess of his 

 pony's coat and the red- 

 ness of Bullwaist's nose, 

 some apology would be 

 due for keeping them 

 so long ; but neither is 

 likely to take harm by 



standing. Bullwaist is rightly named, for he is a man 

 of Herculean proportions, six feet two in his stocking 

 feet, broad shouldered, broad backed, and big limbed. 

 How he ever can have the conscience to pile his 

 ponderosity upon that poor, ill-fed, hard- worked, white 

 pony, passes our comprehension. Surely none of the 

 " notables " for the suppression of cruelty to animals 

 can have heard of his performances, or Mr. Thomas 

 would have been after him, "Dicky Martin" in 

 hand. 



It has always appeared to us that the old school of 

 blacksmiths are as much a distinct class or breed of 

 men as coachmen, sailors, or Jews. To our mind 



1S5 



