• Home
•  | 
• Login/Register
•  | 
• Help

These stories were told by Lee to his grandson, Craig C Cook, in Ohio.

I have traded since I was about 12 years old. I got a pretty good knife and I sold
it for 75 cents. I thought I will never get no place this way, so I bought some sitting
eggs and hatched everyone of them, and sold the chickens for $7.50, and I thought
now I am getting somewhere. I traded a bushel of corn for a pig, to a kid who lived
up the hill, who always went barefooted. I built a trough and fed the pig all the scraps
and green fodder he could eat. The pig had nine piglets. They were the prettiest things
I ever laid my eyes on. They were red, white and black, and I sold them for 40.00.
Now I thought I would get into hoss swapin. I bought a horse with the 40.00.
The horse was a big yaller hoss, but had a knott on his left hind leg, but I knew what to
do about that. I fed the horse for a month, and the day came I was fixin fer. My horse
looked a lot different, and I went hoss swapin. I road the hoss down to Hot Lick as fast
as I could. I swapped that spunky critter for 20.00 and a horse that could run, walk and
pace a streak. She was a dandy mare. I then swapped for another mare and 60.00. I
fed this mare well. In one day I had swapped three horses and made 80.00. Another
hoss swap came, and I bought a gray mare right off the bat. When I took her home, I
worked on her to perfection. When Brock Howard saw the mare, he said what in daggone
nation you got? Then I swapped with him for another horse. Then we met Tank Risner and
I made Brock Howard's horse rare and walk on his two hind legs clear to the barn, then
I climbed off. Tank was pretty impressed. I said do you want to swap. I traded Tank
the horse for a mule, and then sold the mule to Howard for another mule and 125.00.
In one year I had made 225.00 and a right nice mule.

Lee Risner

You must be logged in to post a comment regarding this story.