CHAPTER IV 



MORE ABOUT HEREFORDS AND MEN 



WE HAD two permanent engagements: one 

 for a day with the Funkhousers in October, 

 and one with Gudgell & Simpson in May. Both 

 were gala days, and looked forward to as bright 

 spots. Gudgell & Simpson's homes were in the 

 historic old town of Independence, Mo. The old 

 courthouse still exhibited evidences of the Civil War, 

 and the story of Joseph Smith's discovery of the 

 tablets which formed the Mormon faith was the 

 privilege of the oldest-timers to recall. May in 

 Missouri means strawberries, and the varieties 

 grown near Independence outdid the catalog illus- 

 trations. We always finished our pasture visit in 

 time to have supper at a combination saloon and 

 restaurant, kept by a Teuton family, which was large 

 enough to retain all the help-wages in the family. 

 They still pounded the steak, and it was Kirk Ar- 

 mour's delight to get a table near the kitchen door, 

 which he asked them to leave open, in order to hear 

 the old-fashioned thud of the spiked mallet. May 

 in Missouri is also housefly time. The low-ceiled 

 dining-room was fitted with swinging fans, decorated 

 with tissue paper streamers, run by hand-power. 



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