166 Old Days on the Farm 



a nick in a stall-post in the old log horse-stable 

 for every 'coon we took, an' them figures stand 

 correct. That stall-post is gone long since but my 

 memory is just as good, though I'm stiffened up 

 considerable an' gettin' along to near the end o' 

 the trip. 



**We had an old brindle dog that would lay 

 over anything o' the dog kind in the way o' gettin' 

 'coons, an' Joe an' me — well, we thought we was 

 a pretty fair team o' coon hunters. 



''That fall I'm speakin' about the corn was on 

 the ear early and the woods was full o' 'coons. 

 0' course, there was other things in the woods 

 them times but 'coons was our meat, so I won't 

 take you off the track o' them ring-tailed fellers. 



BABN WAS WRAPPED IN 'cOON PELTS 



"We started in to harvest them about the mid- 

 dle of August, an' kept gettin' ones an' twos an' 

 threes every night till long about the last o' Sep- 

 tember, when we began to double up an' take 

 them by fours an' fives an' sixes. By that time 

 every log in our old barn was clapboarded with 

 'coon skins an' we'd begun to side up the 

 milkhouse. 



'* 'Say, boys,' said Dad to us one evening, 

 'ye'll just have to let up on that coon huntin'. 

 We don't mind yer wrappin' up the barn in fur, 

 but yer mother says them there fresh coon pelts 

 is taintin' the milk.' 



