Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1905 — A COONSKIN FARE. [ARTICLE]

A COONSKIN FARE.

It Would- Hav» Paid the Traveler tv Let the Change Go. j years ago, as the story runs, , when coonskins were worth six bits j apiece in Arkansas and a regular fee of two. hits was assessed for ferrying a horseman across the .St. Francis river, there came along a traveler whose entire capital consisted -oi- hut a single pelt, and the ferryman hadn't a cent of change in his pocket. The traveler was hound to cross, but refused to pay three times as much as the man who passed before him or the one who was to come next. The ferryman would not. wet an oar unless payment for his services was assured. Here was ample foundation for an argument, and presumably tlie opportunity was not neglected. Rut a satisfactory arrangement was finally reached, the traveler getting value received for his coonskln by being wafted thrice across the stream. This of course would leave him on the right side, and neither party to the trade would have cause for complaint. Such was tlie generous spirit of accommodation which obtained in those earlier days, such—but hold on a hit. On tlie second trip tlie ferryman chanced to inspect tlie eoonskin closely and found that it was by no means up to the recognized standard. Maybe it had been killed too early in the seaor was not properly stretched. Arivwa ' ’ lie that four bits was all'it‘‘was and the traveler frankly admitted the , soundness of his judgment, ncknowleu x T ed that lie had received its value in the ( l° u k' e ferriage and forthwith started on fifty mile ride up the river to the nearest point where it was fordable.—Field and Stream.