“Uncle
George and the Rocking Chair Ride”
One winter day when
ice had glazed fields, trees and made a fairy-tale picture of
everything, my brother George got a brilliant idea. He got
Grandma’s broken rocking chair from the smoke house and
rigged up a kind of harness. He enticed the milch cow with
an ear of corn from the barn and fastened the harness to the cow
and the rocking chair. Grabbing the reins and barely
getting into the chair in time as the alarmed cow started
running, he was gliding over the smooth ice when the beast broke
into a panicky gallop. At the same time the rocking chair
hit a bump, turned over and dumped George out. He turned a
somersault and was dragged a few feet before having sense enough
to turn loose of the reins. The cow ran on, bellowing and
kicking up her heels. If we hadn’t been afraid he was
hurt, it would have been hilariously funny. I can still see
it in my mind’s eye and I’m chuckling.
Dorothy McNeill