what will happen to me

charlie cleveland · 07-14-2012, 01:43 PM

the parker brothers brought me to life in 1882 i think my memory aint what it use to be... i was sold to a hard ware store out on the east coast they put me on a shelf with some of my other sister guns but i was the olny real big girl in the rack we had to set on...by this i mean i was the only 8 gauge in the whole store sure i was not really a slim gal like a lot of my sisters the 20 s and 16 ga s were even the 12 s and some of the tens were light weight compared to them...how i use to want to be born as a 20 or a slender long barreled 16...people would come in the store and talk and handle my younger sisters and i would rarely even get a glance..even my sister s the 10 ga s would get picked up and sometimes be carried home by there new owners... how lonely it was to be born a big heavy weight girl i was not overly fat or anything i was just big... i thought i was graceful i had been taught by the parker boys that i was a beauty but atlas it seemed i was due to set on that gun shelf and be somethink to be talked about..one young man came in the store and set i would not shoot that old big gal fif the store gave it to me..he thought in his mind that i would have kicked like a mule and i would have too if this young man had of tried me out...well i began to think i would never be carried home and be cared for like my sisters had a many of a gun had sat on the shelf with me but they all had been bought and given new homes they were replaced by new sisters and even some of them were gone from my shelf... it seemed i was doomed a big gal just to set on the shelf... time slipped by months turned into a couple years how lonely i was... one day a older gentleman walked into the store and asked the owner if he had a eight gauge my how he got my attention..the owner brought him over to me i could tell the old gent liked me but something was a miss...the old gent name was bill he told the owner he liked me but he wanted a little better lookin gun you know the one with the fancy engravings on them....wellthe store owner was a mighty good salesman he told bill that he would give him a really good deal on this old plain jane P H GRADE PARKER well i could tell that bill had picked up on the good deal part...the owner told bill that usally the plain grade parkers were usally a 100.00 dollars but since i the gun had been setting on the shelf so long that he would take 90 dollars for me...well i could tell this did not impress bill to much..bill slowly started walking away the store owner said now hold on a minute you aint even made me a offer...the store owner said tell you what bill make me a reasonable offer and if i take you up on the offer heres what i ll do...if you get the gun and take it huntinh and dont like her i will trade back or buy her back from you...so the owner let bill ponder up on this a minute...well it seemed like an hour before bill finally looked up and said tell you what i ll do i ll give 75.00dollars and you throw in a box of shells my heart almost stopped for you know them shells cost a buck eighty a box... the store owner said bill you drive a mighty hard bargain but im gonna let you have the old gal for that provided you dont like her you bring her back in good shape... well both bill and the store owner were happy with the trade... as bill walked out of the store with me and layed me over in his wagon he kept thinking out loud i got a good deal on that gun but if i had of just waited i could have got myself one of those gh grade or even maybe a d grade 8 ga... well it was not long before we arrived home i had told my self i was gonna make bill proud of me when we went hunting...now bill lived in some of the greatest duck hunting areas that there ever was and he went duck hunting every chance he got...it was about a month till bill took me hunting the weather had changed from summer till fall what a sight it was to see..every little pond and creek held more ducks than i knew had existed... bill took me out that cool morning lord was it a sight ducks coming in from every angle only touble bill said there outa range...he was use to shooting a 12 ga little did he know this was whati the big gal was built for by them parker boys.... you know in them days we had to make every shot count it took bill a while but he said the next birds that come by im gonna take a shot..well was not long before 3 ducks mallards at about 65 yards now bill cocked my hammers and took good aim my after the smoked cleared there lay 2 ducks on the water stone dead...now bill was mighty surprized cause he knew these ducks were outa range for his old 12...bill gave me a good trying out that morning bill killed birds farther out and even shot at soime a cannon could not have got...we came up with 15 ducks out of that first box of shell s.. remember we had no limits back in my younger days...monday found bill going to the store and getting some more shells.the store owner asked bill if he had come to trade the old gal in bill said ive got me a keeper here...me and bill went on many of a hunt together up untill his passing i served him faith fully... more of my happinging after i ponder a while..... swamp angel

charlie cleveland · 07-14-2012, 08:02 PM

well after the passing of bill i had to set in the corner of the cabin for awhile till bills relatives figured out what to with me...it was now the year of 1900.... after all the folks got together they decided they would put every thing up for sale and this encluded me...seems nobody wanted a big old 8 ga gal every body was shooting them new fangled pump guns of mr winchester the 1897 s i waskinda jelous... a auction day was set for us on july 10 1900 for us as the days passed i wandered who would be my new owner and would he be good to me...the day of the auction arrived and at 1 oclock i was put up for sale..i was started at 50.00 the auctioneer said i was worth a hundred but no one seemed to think so...some feller hollered out in the crowd that you could by a new lc smith or a pump 97 for less than 40.00 my spirit sank low...finally the auctioneer ask for a bid there was a young man in the crowd hollered out i ll give 30.00 for her ..i expected some one else to up the bid but i heard the anvil come down the 3 rd time and sold...well my new owner paid the 30.00 and left with me in hand i did not know what to think of my new owner just yet...but at daybreak i knew i had a real duck hunting man...my new owner was a market hunter his name was destrey...as i was put into a little boat that destrey called a punt boat i noticed that beside me was also a model 97 i told her you been hunting long she said wait till we getinto some ducks and destrey will leave you at home from now own...my what a concieted gal that 97 was...as weslowly made our way up the little river i noticed that in the front of the boat was a huge cannon of a gun it was a front stuffer as destrey called it..he said she was a 2 inch gun that she held a full 12 ounces of shot and loaded powder by the handfulls in her... as we slowly rounded a curve in the river destrey said gals heres what we been waiting for...there must have been 500 wood ducks in thiscurve a feeding well destrey had the hammer back and was sighting in for a shot we were at about a hundred yards when the ducks spotted us and lifted into the air im guessing they had risen about 5 foot off the water when the punt gun came to life with a mighty roar and smoke so thick i could not tell if we had hit anything or not..out little punt boat was shoved backwards by the mighty blast destrey grabbed the 97 and began fireing all 5 shotsfrom that moment on i always wished i had a magazine...then it was my turn destrey said angel this is what i bought you for to get them cripples that the 97 cant reach..i mustered up with a mighty roar and i could see that destrey had finished off 2 cripples that must have been 100 yards boy did i give that old 97 a look...when all of the counting was done we had 97 ducks in that little boat the big 2 inch gun had killed or crippled all these ducks but it was the little 97 that had got four of the cripples but they were at close range myself i was sure proud with just my 2 at such a long range from that day forward destrey said i was his swamp angel...destrey took very good care of me and his other guns we all worked very hard together but we also played hard too some times destrey would just have to show his big gal off to his buddies...destrey truly brought me into the light he made a living legend out of me my the times were good and the little 97 and i got along purty good in the years we were together...more on the swamp angel later ive got to ponder some more.... SWAMP ANGEL

GH-16 · 07-14-2012, 08:31 PM

Thanks Charlie !!!

You've made my Day!!

Paul

Paul P. · 07-15-2012, 12:17 AM

Mine too, boy I wish I could tell stories like you do.
I guess thats why God made us different.

I will be impatiently waiting for more.

charlie cleveland · 07-15-2012, 03:45 PM

yep destrey and me had a many of an adventure together...on out last hunt together it was unusally cold and rainy i reckon destrey caught the chills and just could not get over them i knew something was wrong because destrey always gave us the guns a good cleaning before anything else was done when we got home....a few days passed and destrey got worse but before he passed he gave his belongings and us guns to differant friends of his...i was hopeing destrey would get better but it was not to be...destrey gave his old big punt gun to a feller named russ who really only cared for grouse hunting...i could not figure that one out giving a cannon to a grouse hunter maybe destrey thought russ needed to get to the other side of the creek..who know s....... the little 97 was given to destreys nephew i really never knew his name or i ve forgotten it...i forgot to mention the year is now 1918.... as destrey gave me his final looking over i could see that he was very sad i also wassaddened for destrey and i had been the perfect hunting companions...as he passed me over to his friend charlie he told him to make sure and take care of me he told charlie that he only used marbles oil on me and to keep it that away...well nowcharlie promised destrey he would surely take care of me as if he hada bought me new his self...little did destrey know that charlie never did take to good of his guns and hunting equipment... i know was in my third owners arms heading to a new home this was the first home that i went to that hada human female in it..i soon learned she did not think much of me..charlie put me on two nails over the fire place said i was gonna be his show piece...i did not know it but here came some of them little chidren they call boys...i could see from the start i was in trouble at this new place... the boys were told by charlie to never get me down off them nails unless he was around my appreciation for charlie went up a little bit.... i musta hung on them nails a few days when in comes wanna them little boys then another..pete was the older of the two boys and pete said to paul heh dads gone lets get that old gun down and giveher a looking over we aint gonna hurt nothing..i sure was in a fix with these two little fellers wanting to paw all over me...well pete almost dropped me when he got me off the wall it was a close call as you know these old stocks aint made of iron..well was not long before them boys were sighten in on rabbits and squirls and it was not long before paul figured out how to back my hammers lordy be they musta snapped me a 100 times...boys heard somethin pete said daddys home but it turned out it was the mother boy did hereyes light up when she see that pete was trying toget me back on the wall...she said you boys britches aint gonna hold shucks when your paw gets back... well them boys pete and paul wont never forget the day they took me off the wall.. pete said he new now what his momma meant when his britches would not hold shucks... well after the lessons that them boys learned the mama sets in she says charlie you gotta get rid of that old gun before somethin happens..well charlie just could not think about getting rid of his friends gun heck he said i ve not even got a chance to hunt with her...so i was took off the wall and put in the barn on my new nails least i did not wind up in a chicken coop like one of my 20 ga sisters did.. well charlie said after the crops are in im gonna go duck hunting and see what theold swamp angel will do...was not long the crops were in and it had started frosting a little bit in the mornings charlie said saturday morning we are going hunting...well as charlie made ready for the hunt he said he better hunt up the shells and a decoy or two...well charlie got in there lookin at all of the old shells he said i think i ll take these old brass shells for old destreys sake..now destrey had loaded these old shell several years back and never got around to shootin them you know these old black powder shells get stouter with age... saturday morning finall arrived gosh it was chilly but charlie me was ready for the hunt...charlie had a little john boat he kept tied up by these old big slews were we were to go hunting.. charlie said the bottom was flooded no and that them ducks should really come in feedin on them acorns...well charlie got us too a good lookin spot ill have to give charlie credit he really knew how to fix a duck blind..charlie threw out our little band of decoys and then reached down and picked me up and stuffed to of those big brass shells into my chambers ...charlie said i gues wer about ready all we need now is some ducks..charlie fooled me he was about the worst duck caller ever to blow on a call...several flocks of ducks came by but they sure seemed to be scared of them strange noises....after a while charlie got tired of blowing on the call believe he just run outa wind...was not long before two mallards came by charlie backed my hammers and waited paiently they got into about 40 yards and charlie let go with the first barrel which kinda got him off balance as he tryed to catch keep his self from falling outa the boat low and behold he pulls my other trigger what a roar this old black powder shell made..well it was more than old charlie could manage outa that little john boat he went backwards me him both went into that icy water..we came up a kickin and cussin him wet and mad and me just a freezin... i tried to tell charlie it was destreys fault for not shootin up them old black powder shells but do you think charlie would listen to me...charlie finally got back into the john boat and brought me over the side and said im gonna get rid of you you kickin you know what and a few more choice words i didnot catch...it was a silent cold trip home heck charlie did not even look to see if he had killed that duck...i knew i was in for it cause charlie hang me up on the barn wall that night with out even a glance at me it sure was a long cold night...more later ive got to ponder some more... swamp angel

nid-28 · 07-15-2012, 08:32 PM

Great stuff Charlie!!! Thank you!!

Gerald McPherson · 02-11-2020, 01:12 PM

I may have read this before but I don't remember. I am about to hunt them Easter eggs I hid a few days ago and forgot about until my wife reminded me.

Keavin Nelson · 02-12-2020, 10:02 AM

How many times has someone said, if these guns could talk, enjoyed this much Charlie!

Joe D. · 02-13-2020, 09:44 AM

Me, too. Thank You, Charlie!