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"Old Sparky" Russell Herman: I was born in Nova Scotia in 1895, March the 6th. I came to this country in 1923 and I landed down in Gardner and from there I went down to Boston with my brother-in-law. We was looking for places to live. So I, in 1924 I come up here to Dickerson's in Ashuelot and I worked for Dickerson's for 16 years. I chopped some when I lived there and I drove team at different times and, of course we only worked in the sawmill in the wintertime, never worked in the summer time. Worked down on the farm in the summertime. So eh…Bolton bought an old horse. This is a story. So eh…a fella was using it there and he didn't like the way that things was going so he quit. So, Bolton asked me if I ever drove a horse and I said, "A little." Well he said, "You take that old horse and draw out the slabs and pile em'…cut the slabs all 4'. So, you take the horse and draw out slabs and pile em' up and once in a while draw out some lumber so the creeks don't get too full of lumber and stick it up." So, after a while, they knowed me, why, they asked me if I was getting straight time to drive that horse and I said, "No." So they said, "Why you driving team for if you don't get straight time?" Well, I says, "Well, I don't know. Does Andrew Jackson get straight time?" He says, "Sure! Everybody that drives a team gets straight time." So, I says, "I'll find out". So I was out unloading a load of ties one night and Bolton was going home. He says, we called him Old Sparky. ""So, how's Old Sparky". I says, "Fine. I understand everybody gets straight time here that drives a team." He said, "They do." "Why don't I get it?" Well, he couldn't pay straight time to ride that horse and I wanted to know why. "He took just as much timber as the other horse." Well, I said, "You pay $4.00 a day for driving, for chopping don't you?" He said, "Yup." I said, "I'd just as soon chop as drive a horse." Well, he said "You drive him a few days and I'll get somebody else." I said, "Alright." So, a fella come up and I put the horse up around noon time. I put the horse up and he come down and he said, "After dinner you can go up and chop with Fred. I always chopped with Fred Kendrick. So eh…I went up, chopped and the fella that worked in the yard, he come from Nova Scotia also and I knowed him quite well. Him and I used to go out together sometimes so I was loading everything he was throwing on so Bolton showed him the horse, he put the bridle on him and let him out. He was going along and his arm was stretched out and he looked back and the horse had his heels up in the air. He says to Bolton, "What the Hell have I got a hold of here?" He says, "The horse I guess." (Laughs) So he went to work, and he drove him that 3 days, that was the middle of the week. Then the next week he drove him and God, he went home. Stayed home. He didn't come back no more. So, then he went up to Winchester and he hired a fella up to Winchester I knowed before he worked down there one winter. He drove a team for a fella out in the Warwick road, ah…Scotland Road. So, I knowed him, so I went down in the barn one night after supper and he was down cleaning him off and he says, uh…I says, "How was Old Sparky?" "Fine." He says, "Fine." But he was a horse that chaffed awful easy and his neck was sore. He had to put him in the breast plate and that was sore and he says, "Do you know Bolton only got that horse to give you fellas some excitement, something to laugh about." I says, "Maybe." But eh…I says, "I'll tell you something, you put the collar and ________ on him and your gonna get some more excitement." "I'll put the collar and _________ on the son-of-a-bitch" he says. I said, "I don't say you couldn't but your gonna get more excitement, I'll guarantee you that." Well, he put them on the next morning. He says, "Ya. I'm gonna put them on tomorrow morning." I said, "Good." So, he put em' on, next morning it took 4 of em' to put the collar and ______ on him. And, he went home and stayed home. So, they also, eh…Truman was gone for a few days and he sent up notice for me to come down to work out there sticking lumber. I'd lay in the beddings and help them stick lumber and eh… I come in and got my dinner. I was sitting down by the barn there. It was spring then. It was getting warm. I was sitting down there. Andrew was tending this old horse and he was in the barn and I said eh…"Why don't you harness up Old Sparky and exercise him. He stood in the barn a week." He ripped out a note and he said, "He was in a good place right where he was." (Laughs) So, Bolton, he kind of grinned and I got up to go out into the yard. He says, "You harness him up and exercise him" And I said, "Oh, I'd just as soon." So, I went in and harnessed him up and took him out and worked him that afternoon, put him in the barn and the next morning I was out there in the yard. So, Pete come along and he said, "Well, you take Old Sparky" he says, "And you work him and I'll put somebody else out there." So, I did. I drove him 3 years after that. |
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