Apr. 29. brite and fair. today was saterday and this afternoon me and Beany and Fatty went down to see old Nat. he was in a old house smoking a old pipe made out of a corn cob. so Fatty he asked him to show us his old plug, only Fatty dident say old plug but said Mister Mason can we see your troting horse, and old Nat he got up and went to a little barn and opened the door and holered get up lady Clara and she tride to get up and coodent, and old Nat swoar and kicked her and then she coodent get up, and then he clim over her and puled her head up into the rack and then he took a stick and hit her sum more and swoar sum more and then she got up. then Beany he asked old Nat what made her not get up and he said that troting horses most never laid down more than once or twict a weak and sum of the best troters never laid down. he said Dexter and Flora Tempel never was knowed to lay down. then Fatty asked him to let us see her trot and he hiched her into a buggy and we set on the fence and old Nat he drove of most walking. bimeby we herd the old wagon ratling and old Nat he came down the street just fluking. I never saw a horse go so fast. i tell you old Nat he had to pull to stop her. she breethed prety hard and jerky, but Nat he said it was hickups becaus she had et too mutch. Fatty he asked how old she was and old Nat he said she was bout 12 but that she wood be good til she was 30. Then we asked how mutch he wood sell her for and he said he wanted 5 dolers for her but he wood let us have her for 2 dolars and fifty cents and we could have the wagon for 2 dolars and fifty cents two, and he wood throw in the harnes. but we dident have the money and so we tride to swap and bimeby he said if i wood give him my gun and Fatty wood give him his silver pensil case and Beany give him his 6 bladed nife he wood trust us for a month. so we give him the things and he give us the horse. only we coodent take her then becaus we have got to find a place to keep her. none of us dass to tell our folks about it. we woodent let Fatty know about it if we hadent suposed he had plenty of chink. Apr. 30. brite and fair. after church today we went round to see if we cood get a place to keep our horse. we asked Noot Crumet but Noot he said he dident have enny place to put her unles he give her his room and he told us to go to Bucher Haly and see if we coodent get a chanse to put her in his smoke house for we cood keep her longer there than enny where else and so we went to him and he chased us out of his yard. then we went to Charles Flanders but he dident have but one room and his shed wasent big enuf to keep a gote, and then we went over to old Jethrow Simpsons and Jethrow he said if we wood help him haul wood enuf to fill his shed we cood keep her in his barn as long as we wanted to and have enuf hay two.