KENNETH'S BANDY ANCESTORS

We’re continuing to profile Kenneth’s ancestors, in this case the Bandy ancestors of Kenneth’s paternal grandmother, ANELIZA BANDY. The following stories were compiled in 1900 by Kenneth’s father, ELZUMER SCOTT, from information furnished by members of the Bandy family.

GEORGE BANDY (1758-1838)
Kenneth’s great-great grandfather, GEORGE BANDY was born in Virginia about the year 1758. He was of German descent. He was married to DRUCILLER MEADOWS about the year 1778 or 1780. His wife was of Scottish descent. He was a farmer by occupation.  They moved from Virginia to Kentucky in the year 1815. Mr. Bandy enlisted as a soldier in the Revolutionary War of 1776-7. He died about the year 1838.

RHEUBEN BANDY (1785-1861)
Kenneth’s great grandfather, RHEUBEN BANDY, was born in Botetourt County, Virginia, his occupation being that of farming. In 1810 he was married to Miss SIBBY ATKINSON and during this same year they moved from Virginia to Kentucky. The trip was made with pack-horses, a distance of 500 miles across the Cumberland Mountains, there being no railroads in this section of the country at that time. A small iron kettle which was used for cooking purposes on this journey is kept and preserved at this time [1900] by one of their children, Mr. George Bandy, of Galesburg, Illinois, who may well feel proud of his keepsake, as it must be almost, if not fully, 100 years old.

PASCHAL BANDY (1821-1900)
Kenneth’s grandfather, PASCHAL BANDY, was born in the state of Kentucky, of Irish descent. His occupation was that of farming.

Paschal Bandy was baptized and confirmed a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1839 by Jehiel Savage.  He later affiliated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by attending the Lamoni, Iowa Branch and the Cainesville, Missouri Branch. (“Early LDS Membership Data” from the LDS Collectors Library, Infobases, 1995).

At the age of 21 years he married Miss LOVICA HOLLAND (1824-1906) on March 10th, 1842 in Tazewell County, Illinois.

Paschal Bandy and Lovica Holland

Lovisa Bandy was baptized a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1850 at Knox County, Illinois by Gould.  She was confirmed by Jones.  She attended the Lamoni, Iowa Branch and the Cainesville, Missouri Branch (LDS Collector's Library, Infobases, 1995).

In the year 1857 Paschal moved with his family from Illinois to Missouri, traveling across the country in a wagon. He bought a few acres of land (I think from the government) in Harrison County about six miles S.E. of Eagleville and 2-1/2 miles South of what is now Blythedale, though there was no town there at that time. Upon this land he built a home where he spent the remainder of his life, except the last three or four years. Here each of his children grew up to be men and women and were married, most of them at the old homestead.

At the time he moved to Harrison County he found this section of the country practically unsettled, most of the land belonging to the government, which could be purchased for $1.25 per acre. The wild open prairie country afforded an abundance of good pasture which made stock growing a very profitable industry for those who had sufficient money to engage in it. Mr. Bandy saw this opportunity and took advantage of it. He was soon in possession of a large farm of good tillable land. Adjoining this was plenty of nice timber land which he also purchased.

Wild game was abundant there at that time, including deer, antelope, buffalo and wild turkey. He was very fond of hunting, and during the long severe winters while the ground was covered with snow he killed a great many deer and turkeys. His favorite fire-arm was a long barreled muzzle-loading rifle with which he became an expert marksman. Two faithful companions, “Old Charley” his saddle horse, and “Tige” his dog, always accompanied him on these hunting expeditions; and they too seemed to enjoy the sport fully as much as did their master. The scent of gunpowder to “Old Charley” was better than clover, and that of a deer trail to old “Tige” better than a warm breakfast. Mr. Bandy has told us that many times when there was plenty of snow or ice on the ground he has dragged a deer home ten or twelve miles on a bush or branch of a tree attached to “Old Charley's” tail.

[Elzumer Scott, Kenneth’s father, told the following to Kenneth when he visited Elzumer in San Jose, California, in 1959, a year before Elzumer’s death.

“Paschal Bandy, grandmother Aneliza Bandy Scott's father, lived about two and a half miles south of Blythedale, Missouri. He was a good farmer and an expert shot with a heavy, long-barreled muzzle loading rifle. During his lifetime, he killed seventy-eight deer for meat. (He wanted to make an even 100, but didn't.) He would drag them in, tied to a limb, tied to the tail of his horse. There were lots of wild turkeys in the county. Grandpa Bandy was such an expert shot, that he was always barred from participating in the annual turkey shoot when turkeys were given to the best shots.

Male Eastern Wild turkey.  Courtesy of www.KenThomas.us

He was a powerful man. He would hold his gun as steady as if it were in a vise. The old gun, which was kept in perfect condition by him, was kept by his son, Henry Bandy, for many years. One of Henry's daughters, Lily Bandy, threw it out of the upstairs window one day. The stock broke out and the gun was thrown on the junk pile where it rotted away. Paschal Bandy's family came from Kent Township, Illinois, and from Illinois to Harrison County, Missouri.”]

With the advance of years a flood of immigration scattered over the West, making pioneer life a thing of the past; during which time Paschal Bandy was planning and laying out what afterwards became one of the best equipped farms in the county. Success followed in his footsteps, as it always did with the sturdy advance agents of civilization. He lived to see his eight children grow up, marry and prosper, and prior to his death could point with pride to his four living generations.

He was a model of an industrious and systematic farmer. His land was cultivated as a garden spot, and gave evidence on every hand of being tilled by one who was master of the art. No part of the occupation which goes to make up a model farm was neglected. In springtime his rich gardens, vineyards and orchards were full of flowers and blossoms, and when harvest time came the broad fields of golden grain told their own story. He always raised plenty where others would often fail, and this resulted in his adopting a philanthropic custom of planting more than he needed so that he could aid a needy neighbor, an act for which he was widely known. His watchword was “No success without labor.”

He was a man who had little use for law. Not by way of failing to recognize its usefulness, but strongly opposed its application to settle disputes. He insisted that the law was made for dishonest people, and that neighbors should settle their disputes by arbitrations. Once in his life was he unable to agree with a neighbor who insisted on testing the merits of the case by law. To this he objected, but generously allowed his disputant to select three arbitrators to decide the point at issue. It was unanimously decided in Mr. Bandy's favor.

He looked upon pride as the enemy of mankind, and carefully avoided assuming any attitude that would bring such an accusation upon him. He was a great believer in practical education for children, but was firm in his belief that the coming generation was being given too much theoretical education and not enough practical knowledge. He often expressed regret at the inclination of young men to leave the farm and seek their fortunes in the city.

He took but little interest in newspapers and seldom read one. His lack of faith in the press began some years ago. One day he was looking over a paper and discovered an article, with bold headlines, announcing the painful injury of an alleged neighbor. He carefully read it, anxiously seeking an opportunity to help the afflicted, but suddenly threw down the paper in disgust when he found that the injured person had been promptly cured with St. Jacob's Oil.

A more God fearing man never lived; and his motto was the Golden Rule, the teachings of which always seemed uppermost in his mind when dealing with a fellow man. Early in life he professed Christianity in the belief of the Latter-day Saints, and was a faithful follower until death.  [NOTE:  Paschal Bandy was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1839 by Jehiel Savage. He and his wife, LOVICA HOLLAND, later affiliated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by attending the Lamoni, Iowa Branch and the Cainsville, Missouri Branch.  Source: LDS Collectors Library, Early LDS Membership Data.]

The Bible he loved best of all books. Many times I have seen him, after a hard day's work, sit down and for hours read aloud from this book. For years the light he read by was produced by home-made tallow candles. His usual hour for rising in the morning was 4 o'clock the year 'round, and during the winter months it was his custom to begin the day's work by reading the Bible an hour before daylight. His patience and studiousness in this respect were rewarded, for the teachings of both the Old and New Testaments were indelibly stamped on his memory.

In 1895 Mr. Bandy decided that he and his wife were getting too old to any longer look after so large a farm and it was sold. They purchased a few acres of well improved land one-half mile south of Blythedale, Harrison County, Missouri, where they might enjoy the remainder of their days with less hard work.

Paschal Bandy in later years

It was indeed sad news, especially to we grandchildren, when we were told that the old home was to be sold, for we had learned from early childhood to love the place until it became to us a sacred spot. We loved it because it had been the home of our father or mother; a place where we always found a hearty welcome, and there was always a treat of some kind in store for us no matter how often we came or went. The quaint old fire-place, with its huge chunks of wood burning brightly, and around which we used to gather and eagerly listen to the hunting stories told by grandfather, was in itself enough to fill the heart of any ordinary youth with delight.

The following year after Mr. Bandy and wife moved to their new home he was stricken with paralysis, partially losing the use of one side of his body. From this time he was obliged to use a cane in walking. Most men would have given up further work entirely when such work on his part was unnecessary to maintain the comforts of life, but it was next to impossible for this man to be idle one day. I remember calling to see him one hot day not long after he had received this paralytic stroke, expecting of course to find him sitting in the shade somewhere about the house, but to my surprise I learned from grandmother that he was out in a hay-field nearby with his team and mowing machine. I found him there running the machine when he was scarcely able to move about on foot with the assistance of his cane.

He continued to look after and cultivate his truck patches and few acres of corn though he was almost without the use of one arm. The next year he had another slight attack of the same dread disease and this time he was left almost helpless. He now realized that further work on his part was out of the question, and would sit for hours in deep meditation. He suffered no physical pain, but we will perhaps never know what the mental suffering of one in this condition whose whole life has been so full of vigor and activity. However, he bore it all with patience and without a murmur, as one who had for years been preparing for that better and brighter home above. Within a few months he was stricken for the third time with paralysis which left him entirely helpless. In this condition he lingered for several weeks until the end came, February 18th, 1900.

How fitting the hour of his death. On the Sabbath day, just as the last rays of the setting sun cast their shadows across the approaching darkness, just as the light of day went out, so vanished the life of this grand old man. He had climbed the heights and left all superstitions below, while on his forehead fell the dawn of a grander day. We can feel that he who sleeps has but gone to receive the reward for which he has been striving all these years. May many such men be born.

Let us state here that every good and noble deed so fittingly bestowed upon Grandfather Bandy, was equally applicable to his helpmate, Grandmother Bandy, who must for a short time wrestle with life's billows alone. She has shared his joys and sorrows all these years, ever carrying her share of the burden, a true, a faithful and loving wife. Their lives have truly been a beautiful illustration of that most sacred obligation between man and wife. Surely the Father in Heaven will meet them with open arms and say “Well done thou good and faithful servants, thou hast earned thy reward.”

KENNETH'S SCOTT ANCESTORS

In this post we’re taking a break from Kenneth’s personal history to talk about his Scott ancestors.  Most of the information below is quoted (with some editing) from the book The History of Northwest Missouri, published in 1915, unless otherwise noted.

AARON T. SCOTT (1772-1862)
Kenneth’s great-great grandfather, AARON T. SCOTT, was Scotch-Irish and a soldier during the War of 1812.  He was born in 1772 on the Virginia - Tennessee border and died near Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois in 1862.  His wife's name was ANNA AJA [or AGA].  Aaron T. is the earliest Scott ancestor we know about.

MOSES S. SCOTT (1818-1888)
Kenneth’s great grandfather, MOSES SCOTT, was born just across the river in Ohio from Indiana on 3 December 1818, and died on his farm near Blythedale, Missouri on 3 February 1888, at age 70 years.  He spent his boyhood in Jefferson County, Indiana, and there was sparingly educated, in that he was able to do little more than to read and to write.  He was a brick maker by trade and made the first bricks from which was constructed the first college at Hanover, Indiana (www.hanover.edu), and worked at that and farming, both at his home in Missouri.  However, in Missouri he abandoned his trade that he might give his entire attention to farming.

MOSES SCOTT came to Missouri in the company of several families from Knox County, Illinois, where he had spent some three years as a farmer.  His outfit for the journey and effects comprised an ox team and a yoke of cows.  The journey took from June until September.  Among the families forming the caravan was that of JAMES CHAMBERS GRAHAM, his father-in-law, who settled in the same neighborhood.  MOSES SCOTT’S settlement was a mile southwest of Blythedale, Missouri.  The farm he improved and made it his final home. His old brick kiln was on Big Creek, west of Eaglesville, on the Williams' place.

MOSES SCOTT’S participation in politics was as a Democrat but he never held public office.  He was a Baptist of the missionary faith.  He lived up to the teachings of the church and was known to be strictly reliable in his dealings with others, paid his way as he went, and never allowed himself to get into debt.  The period of the Civil War did not materially affect him except as his own son Elzumer [Kenneth’s great uncle] entered the 23rd Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, Infantry Compound D, and went with General Sherman to the sea.

MOSES SCOTT married MARY ANN GRAHAM, daughter of JAMES CHAMBERS GRAHAM, and JEMIMAH TALBOTT of English descent, on 16 May 1843. 

MOSES S. SCOTT, 1817-1888

MARY ANN GRAHAM, 1825-1882

AARON GRAHAM SCOTT (1850-1922)
Kenneth’s grandfather, AARON GRAHAM SCOTT, was one of the ante-bellum [post Civil War] settlers in Harrison County, Missouri.  He came there in September 1858 with his father, MOSES SCOTT.  AARON GRAHAM SCOTT was a native of Jefferson County, Indiana, born near the city of Madison, Indiana, on July 18, 1850.

AARON GRAHAM SCOTT was a child when brought to Harrison County, Missouri and secured a somewhat limited education in the district schools.  Starting out as a farmer just before reaching his maturity, he worked for a time as a farm hand at the salary of $15 a month and his employer was PASCHAL BANDY, whose daughter, ANELIZA [or ANN ELIZA]  BANDY, Aaron Graham Scott married on 24 August 1871 at her father's home in Blythedale, Missouri. After several years they first rented a small property known as the Grist farm, located near Eagleville and later rented the Landy place.  Here he spent a short time.  Next he purchased 100 acres of raw land, now the Loveless place.  Thus, he improved them and exchanged it for the present place in section 14 township 65 range 27.  This was a settled place and he succeeded William Kincade here in 1888.

AARON GRAHAM SCOTT owned 260 acres and was engaged in stock and grain farming.  He embarked in short-horn cattle and Poland China hog breeding.  His short-horns came from the Kansas bull and he had his first exhibit for prizes in the fall of 1914.  In politics he was a Republican and for two years he was assessor of Marion Township.

AARON GRAHAM SCOTT and his wife, ANELIZA BANDY, had thirteen children.  She died at the age of 43 on 22 August 1897 of typhoid fever.

AARON GRAHAM SCOTT, 1850-1922

ANELIZA BANDY SCOTT, 1853-1897

Aaron Graham Scott and sons, 1893.  According to Mary's identification on the back of the photo:  L to R: Elzumer, Charles, Oscar (Nick), William (Oate), Zene (youngest), Aaron Graham

According to Mary:  L to R:  Aneliza Bandy Scott holding Ruth, Minnie, Edna and Eva (twins)

When Kenneth's son Wayne finished his mission in California, he visited his grandfather ELZUMER and obtained genealogical information on the Bandy family from him.  At about the same time, Elzumer's brother, Zene, told Mary that PASCHAL BANDY AND LOVICIA HOLLAND were Latter-day Saints.  However, they did not go west with the Saints, but affiliated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As their daughter ANELIZA was dying she asked her son, ELZUMER, to call the LDS elders for a blessing for her which he refused to do and ‘always regretted this decision.’   

After ANELIZA died, AARON  married EVA ALICE EYERLY, on 7 September 1898. They had five children, making a total of nineteen children for Aaron Graham!  He died on 11 June 1922 in Meridian, Idaho (near Boise).

LETTER FROM ANELIZA BANDY SCOTT
We have a copy of a very touching letter written by ANELIZA to her son, ELZUMER, Kenneth’s father, about a year before she died.  ELZUMER, age 22, was living in Desmoines, Iowa at the time.

July 27, 1896
Ridgeway, Missouri
Dear Zumer:
I write you a few lines.  It has been raining all morning.  The threshers were coming to finish.  They were here two nights last week–but very little done–it rained every night.  I am tired of them.
I was very much disappointed Saturday evening, as you did not come.  Some of the children were out on the style all the afternoon looking.  Charlie [age 20] came home Friday night and told us he went up after you.  Minnie [age 14] had her chickens dressed–all the work was done so we could hear every word that was said.  Charlie never got back until sundown.  Cal [Scott] came home with him.  I never was so disappointed.  Edna [age 7] cried and “wished every man up there was dead so Zumer could come home.”
Ralph [age 1 ½ ] is not well–has not been for several days.  The rest of the folks are well, as far as I know.  Your Uncle Ol [Scott] is coming back to Missouri.  They have failed again. Your Pa is trying to rent a place for him.  Pa is gone today to buy calves.  If you need money let us know.  Can you save any money?  I know it takes money to keep a fellow going.  Pa is coming up to the fair [at Desmoines].  I would come if you were keeping house.
The Valley singers are getting ready for the Blythedale Picnic.  Don’t know when it will be yet.  Maybe you can come then.  Am not going to look for you until I see you.
Am glad you had a good time the Fourth.  I did not go anywhere.  Pa and the children went to Ridgeway.  I was sick that morning....
Tuesday.  We are threshing today [and] it will take a half day tomorrow.  Ice cream supper at your Uncle Zumer’s tonight.  Pa took his bird dog out hunting last week. and got six prairie chickens–only one got away.  He thinks his dog is a dandy.  You will have to take a hunt when you come down.  Ralph is better today.  Eva, Edna [twins, age 7] and Ruth [age 5] got up sick this morning.  I think they will be all right in a few days.  I have lots of things to tell you before I am done with this life.  I must close.  It is time to get supper.  Your Aunt Mollie [Mary Scott Brinegar, age 35] is helping me.  She sends you her best respects, and said tell you she was making apple pies.
Love from all, write soon–
Your Mother and Father

KENNETH’S ACCOUNT OF HIS GRANDFATHER
The following account is in KENNETH’s own words, based on what his father told him:     

Grandfather [AARON GRAHAM SCOTT] bought (in l847) 100 acres native land--unimproved--in original sod for $1,000.  He started improving with a team of horses, and a plow.  They had a few chickens and a milk cow, sow and pigs.  He cut timber for the house and fencing from near Big Creek about 3 miles west of the farm.  He dug a well about 150 yards from the house at a spring.  The well was walled with native stone.  The water had to be hauled to the house on a sled--two barrels full at a time.  Grandmother [ANELIZA BANDY] often had to carry water to the house when they were busy in the field.  Fences were poor and the sow would get into grandmother's chickens.  One day after asking Grandpa many times to keep the hogs fenced up, she surprised the family by having a roast pig for dinner.  She had killed the hog with a club--cleaned and roasted it.  Grandpa could only say how good the pig tasted.

Grandpa Scott's father [MOSES SCOTT] lived on a 40 acre farm near Blythedale, Missouri also.  In later years he used to ride a medium sized roan horse named Dick to town.  Just before Grandpa Moses died, he gave Dick to Kenneth’s father.  Dad was very fond of him and rode him a great deal.  Dick liked to swim with dad in the pond. In fact, he would go swimming alone.  Dick was quite balky when they first harnessed him to work.  He had to be humored awhile to let him get used to the collar on his neck.  Dad traded old Dick for a real nice sleigh that he found in Bethany about the time he became interested in going with the girls.

Source:  Ridgeway:  Then and Now, 1880-1980, p. 47

Grandfather Scott gave a site for the Baptist Church at Pleasant Valley.  Grandpa and Grandma were the charter members.  Reverend Joe H. Burrows of Cainsville helped organize the church and for many years was the pastor at Pleasant Valley, coming out there once a month to preach.  He drove his team about 7 miles over old clay roads.  He never asked for a salary but gladly accepted any small amount the small congregation would give.  Grandpa A.G. led the singing.  He had a clear tenor voice and often sang solos.  Hester Caldwell Harrison played the organ—or tried to.  Much of the church was made of fine native walnut.  Grandpa always welcomed Baptist ministers to his home.  Often itinerant travelers who heard of this would get in posing as Baptist ministers.

Ridgeway high school class, including three A. G. Scott children:  Ruth, Eva and Edna (Ridgeway Then and Now, p. 66)

Grandpa’s children attended the Pleasant Valley school--one room--up through the eighth grade.

The following account is from a tape-recorded interview with Kenneth, found in the appendix to his and Mary's autobiographies: 

My grandfather Scott, I guess it was because he had a family of boys, and in that little town of Ridgeway, they had two drugstores that were pretty close together and there weren’t many stores in that town but they had these two drug stores and they sold liquor on the sly. Grandfather was poisoned on [against] this stuff. He was always trying to find something and he would move in on a...because of his family.

When I was about 10 or 12 years old, Grandfather Scott (he had a farm north of town about 5 miles) would bring a load of corn that he had raised to the mill which was not very far from our home in Ridgeway, and there he grew all that corn and whatever form he wanted--a rough grind or maybe some other grind that we ground into flour for use in the home. The rest of it might be ground up rough as feed for the cows. A dry corn meal or hominy. I guess he had a good watch dog and when my grandfather moved into town when this last family of children were old enough, some of them, to go to high school. They bought this house south of town and it was there when they had this little Dalmatian dog. I’d open the gate, the house sat back in the lot a ways and as I started to approach, the dog was watching and he’d come down and he’d listen. When I’d step to one side, he’d step over in front of me. When I’d step over on the other side, talking to him, he’d be over there. About the third time he did that, he would “Grrrrr”. You’d better start up or he was going to take a hold of you. Just as soon as someone from the house called, “Okay [Pooch?]. That was it.

I never met father’s mother [ANELIZA BANDY]. Grandfather Scott married a second time…[and] he had five boys and two girls in the [second family].

[Kenneth tells about memories of July 4th: going to his grandfather’s farm and shooting off dangerous fireworks, enjoying a band playing in their town, and making home made ice cream made with ice from their ice house.]

When Grandfather Scott got his crops all in--and he’d always feed out some steers--he’d have them already along just about the early fall for sale...then he was ready to go take a trip someplace. And he did take a number of trips...somehow or another he got off into the Boise Valley and was very fascinated with it. He bought a little 15 acre tract or orchard, apples mainly but a few peaches. And he wanted all his family around him. He even wanted Uncle Zene who had a job in Washington in the Interstate Commerce Commission and Uncle Zene got a year’s leave of absence and went out there with Aunt Myrtle and they had a little orchard tract. They got so disappointed out there with that job, trying to make a go of operating an orchard that they gave it up and came back to Washington before the year was up. Then is when my grandfather had this nice big home in Meridian out of Boise about 10 or 15 miles. I believe my grandfather died at that home because he enjoyed that home.  

AARON GRAHAM SCOTT MEETS JIMMY SKUNK
Here’s a fun story about his grandfather that Kenneth had in his papers.  I’m not sure of the source, but I’m guessing it may have been included in one of their family chain letters.

    There had been a heavy snow in the early part of the night, and then it had ceased and all the little folks of the forest and meadow had gone forth in search of food or to gambol in the moonlight, and the fresh snow that lay like a huge carpet over all, hung on bushes, draped over weeds and tufts of grass, making hiding places everywhere for those who must dodge enemies that ever seek to destroy them.  By morning Peter Rabbit and his folks had well-beaten paths to all parts of the thicket where they had played tag and hide-and-seek through the still hours of the night.  Here and there in the more open spaces could be seen the trail of Billy Mink and Jimmy Skunk where they had passed like dark shadows seeking some low roosting bird or a meadow mouse, or some luckless rabbit that they might surprise and capture.  And so it was that when daylight came there was a scramble among the little folks for hiding places.  The rabbits found shelter under thick clumps of bushes and under weeds and tufts of grass well covered with snow.  Billy Mink crept under a rick of cordwood that happened to be near by, and Jimmy Skunk, finding a small pile of brush well covered with snow, crept underneath, and having a full stomach from his catch, curled up and soon went to sleep, intending to continue his quest for food again when dark shadows returned in the evening.

Skunks.  Source:  www.birdphotos.com (via Wikimedia Commons)

    These were the conditions one cold winter morning a good many years ago on the farm of Graham Scott (probably about 1885) a few miles northeast of Ridgeway, Missouri.  Now, Graham liked to hunt, so after the chores were done and the stock all fed and watered and plenty of fuel wood laid in, Graham, accompanied by his cousin, Omar Hutton, set out to get some rabbits.  It was an ideal day to hunt.  It seemed that almost every clump of bushes or patch of weeds yielded a rabbit when kicked.  Being good shots, their game bags filled rapidly.  Everything was going lovely when Graham happened to come to that particular pile of brush where Jimmy Skunk was taking a nap.  He did not notice skunk tracks leading to the brush pile, and thinking only of rabbits, he poised himself ready to shoot and gave the pile of brush a tremendous kick that sent the sticks, twigs and snow hurtling high in the air.  Now, Jimmy Skunk is usually very peaceful, but being so suddenly and rudely awakened, and not knowing what it was all about, and seeing a huge form standing near, he immediately went into action and, without further investigation, turned his gas gun on the enemy and delivered a full charge, most of which struck Graham's boots, but the fumes enveloped him and spread far and near.  It is needless to say that Graham beat a hasty retreat, much to the satisfaction of the skunk and the amusement of Omar, who happened to be far enough away to escape.  This ended the hunt and the hunters returned home.

Clothes were sent out to the woodshed for Graham to change.  His coat and pants, which had not received a direct charge, were hung out on the line a few days until the perfume left.  But his boots had to go through a more drastic process of deodorization.  He had heard that burying in the ground would draw out the scent.  Did it?  Well, a few weeks afterward when Graham came to Sunday School at the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church (which he attended faithfully) and stood around the wood-burning stove with others warming themselves before services, Omar sniffed a little and looking down at Graham's boots, said, “Graham, I think you dug them up too soon.”  And maybe he did!!