The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-12-01
The Trap That wss borrowed.

IL WIS nalI piSt ID " ClOCh III buo huoih-
ing when the owl did it. How do l
know it was half past B o'clock! Why,
the owl knew, of course, and l would
take an owls word for the time of night,
anywhere 1 heard it. Inside the farm
house it was still and dark, and the kit
ten asleep, behind the parlor stove,
could hardly have seen the window at
the further end of the room if he had
opened his eyes. 1t was cold, too. The
sleepers in their beds didn't mind this,
but outside the snow lay thick on the
ground, and a few stars in the sky
seemed dancing up and down to keep
warm and at half past o'clock in the
morning big owl put his foot i'll Fred's
trap that was fastened by the hen-house.
He didn't intend to do it. Not at all !; |
and he suddenly determined to get away
from such an unpleasant place, and fly
home TO bis wife and children in the
depths of Hunters forest. So he hob
bleda along over the snow to the end OF the
chain, and would have hobbled further,
but the chain held him. Then with all his
might he flew up from the ground again
and again, Juggling at the chain, and at
last the stake that held it gave way, and
the owl sailed off with his newly-gained
property rafting against bushes and
shed-roofs as he went along. He flew
rather slowly and rested often but by
the time Fred had eaten rather more
ouckwheat cakes for breakfast than his
father did, and had drawn his leggins up
to meet the bottom of his Knickerbock-
ers and run out to look at his trap, the
owl was sitting in the top of tree,
ho ~
space by the hen-house door in astonish-
ment.
No woodcbuck, no weasel, no squirrel,
no trap indeed. He crowded his hands
into his pockets very hard, but in spite
of his efforts his eyes grew bigger and
bigger, a good deal bigger than the
owls were, and minute after he burst
open the kitchen door and fell flat in the
middle of the room. "Tom, Tom o
Tom I" scrambling up and running to
his big brother who stood by the dining
room fire. When Fred was excited his
feet were very active, but his tongue
wasn't; 30 he danced up and down on the
carpet, and snapped his fingers, and
shouted, go Tom my-my-. Whad
we spose; my-my trap-'sgone. Oh
"Gone, is its Let's go and see." And
after Tom had examined the tracks in
the snow, with the help of two hens
that came up and looked on solemnly,
he said,
cts an owl, and he's got your trap
sure enough"
Owls are very wise, you know. Ii an
owl doesn't know about any matter, you
May as well give it up, and not waste
time by asking any other bird about it.
You have heard your father say she
looks as wise as an owl "of some one who
perhaps tried to put oil he knew into his
face; and your brother say the same
thing of the solemn young doctor whom
he sometimes brings home to tea, and
it's all because owls rarely say anything;
and then again, if they make mistake,
they never acknowledge it. They
will say, "How fortunate it's just what
1 wanted to do, and I'm perfectly de-
lighted :" but never that they have done
a foolish thing, for then they wouldn't
be called wise, you see. And so, when
the owl got home that night and found
his family sitting in a row on big oak
limb, tucked up in their own feathers to
"How now2 How nowl You weren't
home last night. What's the matter 2"
he made his eyes very big, and pulled
out his feathers and said, "Nothing,
nothing. I've brought home very fine
thing, and had some trouble getting
it :" and he put his foot out and ratified
a chain that hung from it, Then his
wife stretched her neck past her young
est daughter, and looked hard at the
very fine thing, and screamed:
"It's trap, / know it's, and I've
heard my grandfather say owls would
better keep away from 'em. Hoo, hoo,
now you're caught, and what shall we
dol"
"Your grandfather was very foolish
for an owl, my dear. This is really the
first piece of property I could ever call
my own, and L am sure it must be valua-
BILE, for had great time getting 1T
loose. There's not another one In the
forest can boast of such fine ornament,
and / have decided TO wear it on my left
foot forever. Hoo-ho-hoo Hoo
DOL" And though his foot that very
minute ached enough to come off and
tumble down through the bushes, trap
and all, he hoo-hooed till half the owls
in the wood came focking around to see
what was the matter.
And then he showed them the shining
thing on his leg, and told them again
what time he had getting it, and said
how proud he was. And when some Of
the older ones winked very slowly and
looked doubtful, he told them to observe
how it shone, and observe how finely it
iingled, and to take notice of the new
dignity he had gained and then he few
off TO another tree near by and settled
down with a great rattle just to show
them all the beauties of owning valuable
nroperty. And the owls sat around in
The trees aud wondered silently for a
while. and then flew away. No one said