Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-06-04
DELAWARE, OHIO, FRIDAY, JUNE 4,

named it SpeckIe. It had lovely yell
low legs, and a yellow mouth, and cried
/ peep" louder and ate pudding faster
than any of them-because she was
smartest, Pink said. Blackie was new
er shut into a coop, but proudly led her
pretty brood over the grass and the
eh1p-yard, and through the barn-yard
gate, just when she pleased, calling out,
T. observation-disclosures - loudly, if
3 one strayed off too far.
& Pink had good deal to do besides
watch the chickens. She had to go to
mill with grandma, to get the corn
ground; to the pasture, to salt the
sheep; and to the plain, to see if the
I grain was ripe enough to reap. Then
she and mamma had great many Yis-
its to make, and it took all the after
noon to go out to tea on Mount PisgaE,
I and to come home again when the long
twilight shadows lay across the hills,
i and the birds were singing their good
T night prayers.
All this time SpeckIe grew in size
Il and wisdom; she was an amiable, con-
I seientiOus chicken, who seldom ruffied
her mothers breast, and Pink began
her education with high hopes of her
7 attaining to a bright and happy hem
hood. She taught her to come at her
i call, to eat from her hand, and even to
hop into her lap; no ordinary accom-
plishment, and one it had cost untold
'fpulEs and pecks to instill into her
wings and legs. But, alas chicken
mature is. imperfect, and Specl1le was
5onlya chicken, pretty and enlightened
4 as she was.
j one evening, Just after tea, when the
rain was pouring, lightning flashing,
and thunder rolling, shrill and pite-
| Gus - peep" was heard. 1t was evil
+ IDENTIFY from a chicken in distress, and
search was made at once. Blacbie was
n oil 1rar-E
with her children tucked under her
i wings, all-all but Speekle!
1t was Speckle's peep, then, that
came at intervals, borne on the wind,
/ seeming now close by, now far off; now
loud and shrill, now low and faint.
! ity, and Tom, who had hunted in vain
under bush and brier, fence and stone,
I in a towering passion.
"I'm not going to look any more for
that miserable old chicken" he cried,
/ throwing aside his dripping hat, and
kicking off his muddy boots.
g It isn't no miserable chicken" Sob
bed Pink; its Speck1e-nly Speckle,'
and the tears rolled in fuller floods
down her cheeks, as she thought of her
darling cut in the storm, mOtherless,
coopless, and supperless.
Grandpa couldn't stand that; 50,
putting on his boots and oYercoat, and
taking a lantern, he started in pursuit.
10 what a naughty Speckle it was to run
away, and make all this trouble for
i herself and others! Grandpa hunted
! every where, looking into every prob
able and improbable place, and in all
the contrary directions from which the
sounds seemed to come. But not
/ feather or a claw was to be seen, though
| at intervals came the peep-pe-ep pee
| eeps," like signal guns at sea, melting
| to fresh effort. But at last grandpa,
! - Io fn in
| despair; but he saw little Pink's white,
| fearful face pressed against the window
| pane he must try once more; and 10 !!
/ on plunging into thicket of burdocks
and thistles, behind the barn, there
/ was Speckle, her head thrust under
burdock-Ieaf, half starved, half frozen,
and half drowned. The light fright
| ened her, and she struggled to run
away; but, after little chase, grand
pa caught her in his big hand and bore
/ her triumphantIy into the house, peep
/ ing louder and shriIIer than ever.
| What a light came into Pink's face,
/ and what a hustle there was in the
clean kitchen before Speckle could be
| dried, warmed and fed! The poor lit
| tie thing was too frightened to listen
to Pink's coaxing, or to eat, or do any
| thing but try to get away. But grand
ma brought a little basket, and put
/ SpeckIe into it, covering her all upwith
| soft, warm wool; then tying cloth
over it, to keep her in, she set it down
| close to the stove, and in q few min
utes the sharp cry subsidized into a soft
moan, and then to utter silence, and
they knew that Speckle was in the
land of dreams.
/ The next morning the sun shone
/ clear, and each spire of grass had a
| sparkling dew-drop on it, as Pink, with
/ her India-rub ubbers on, tripped out with
/ the basket on her arm, and SpeckIe in
the basket. She found Blackie walk
| ing out from under the shed with her
/ five chickens, all in excellent spirits,
| so far as Pink could see, in spite of
/ their loss; but when she united the
cover, and took Speckle out and set her
among them, there was a little peep of
welcome, and Blackie spread out her
| wings for her erring and wandering
child to run right under, and be brood
ed in her loving breast.
When Speckle was nine weeks old,
| the sweet Septem Der days had come :
the light was more golden on the trees,
the purple richer on the hills, and the
| gOlden-rods and asters nodded their
| pretty heads to each other in the woods,
as if to say, We are the last of all the
flowers, but we'll part cheerily."
Pink's plan had been to finish the
i education of Speckle by travel; but
| when she proposed taking her to New
York every person opposed it.
"She can't live cOoped up in city,"
said grandma; "she'l1 die as sure as
you carry her there. If you leave her
here, she'll grow plumper and hand
sOmer every day. She can eat corn
now, and I'll feed her with my own
hands, and give her as much as she can
swallow"
"WilI your" said Pink.
| 4" Yes f; and when you come next sum-
mer she'll be a beauty, a full-grown
hen and you shall have one Of her
! eggs cooked for your breakfast every
day"
q Shall L? d" said Pink.
The brown eyes were full of tears,
but ray of hope remained. Papa
Lawton was so good she almost knew
that when he came, he would let her
carry Speckle home.
Papa Lawton came; but not till he
had almost smothered her with kisses,
and told her she looked like the priest,
''au shaven and shorn, who married
the man all tattered and tOrn," and
pulled her hair and pinched her cheeks,
and danced her up and down, to see
how heavy she was, could she find a
chance to whisper, Papa, may carry
Speckle home ?''
''SpeckIe ?-who's Speckle, should
like to knOw?"
| "Speckle's chicken-aay chicken
papa"
2 absurd -
And he went to talking with Mamma
4 | I.awtOn just as cheerily as If nothing
II I'd h1ppened, and the heart of the lit
tt. daughter on his knee had not beer
I re ldy to break with grief and pain
j How little he knew what it was cost
i, ing her 20 give up Speckle! and Pinl
n crowded the pain into her heart will
t all her might, just as she would hayt
d to keep crOwding it down all her life
d because no one understood it.
But when Pink got home and fount
a lovely little Canary bird, in level.
T little cage, hanging right before he
: window, where she could see it the frs
It thing in the morning, she was cOnsol
n ed, and danced about the room as me1
/, rily as if her heart had not been bro
g ken, hugging papa and then mamma
J. and saying over and over, in her JOY
- o, how good you are to your littl
" Pinkl What good little Pink mus
try to bel" And good little Pink sh
W really was.
+ MORGAN RAID.
The Cleveland Herald makes the fol
S, lowing structures on the passage of th