Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1878-09-26
The Long and the Short or 1t.
Tia fhe cl,rr;n r., pat thing y, s

lis the CurlOuS-e6L InlN8 49,,
i Along in, the early. spring, when the
pillow had turned the moist brown earth
open to- the sun Mother. Crinkle's heart
was stirred, within her. The oldest lit
tie woman she. 1t was IS if she had ex
Ehaled and all left was trim, scant
dress, with a.crook in the back, "a tidy
neckerchiet ard q funny stick-up cap.
Only under the cap was live, sweet
face, and under the kerchief was q live,
sweet heart; else how could it have
stirred within her when the earth was
newt = r. .....5.
For scores of years. every single year,
! when this lstrangeloid planet had whirled
around into its spring. time, Mother
Crinkle had dug and hoed and -raked
over her beloved +garden-patch, and
drawn her seed bags from the topmost
sell, and had sown and planted the seeds
in the hills and straight rows waiting
And then had watched and cared for, and
weeded and watered, and guarded from
bug and beetle, until at last when the
strange old planet had slipped into its
autumn, everythi was or wn and
ripened; andsshe gathered and garnered
the roots and the fruits Of it all.
Then she folded her hands and was
glad. And the garden-earth was glad,
because it wanted to rest. @' IT,
"'Tis the curious-est thing" she
said.
Itwas an autumn day. Fair upon the
hills in the sunlight stood The sheaves
of corn, finished and waiting. Piles OF
red-cheeked apples lay under the trees;
hundred yellow pumpkins were tum-
bled in the fence corner; pears dropped
now and then from the bent boughs; pur-
pie grapes hung heavily from the vine
lovely, idle clamistis was. one wreath of
plumes; creeper chung tenderly to the
old wall, its fve-fingered leaves full of
scarlet and amber and crimson and gold
an army Of golaen-rod hedged the lane,
nodding its crests in the wind; the great
elm above hung out banner or two;
while at its feet the astors stood ready
to grieve out their starry blue eyes. Eve
rything, like the corn, was finished
and waiting.
Even Mother Crinkle's busy hands
were stayed, or she would never have
paused to say, Otis the cur1ous-est thing"
Mother Crinkle. sat in the door. A
she spoke, Joey, the mottled cat, rubbed
fondly against her; snd Shep, the dog,
lszily winked off fly and looked up
into her face; and the chickens stopped
to listen, and the boy Ned turned from
his Jack-o'-lantern to hear; while the
maiden, leaning against the fence, turned
her graceful young head. For all,wanted
to know what was curious to Mother
Crinkle, as she. sat looking down across
her garden-beds And she told tnem
Last spring, dears, planted that bed
with seeds-the costliest seed in all the
seed-book, with the greatest, longest
name and the beautitulest picture to look
at. Well, looked and looked an never
a seed of 'em all came up. An says to
myself: All my care has been for
naught! But by and by-what do you
think. dears9 Some how, by hook or By
crook chow the clouds only know
don't), enc single squash seed had got in
to my nice ground, and it came up, and
1t grew, and it grew, and grew, till it
spread all over everything and went over
the fence-top besid.s. Then it blossom
ed, and the squasnes set an set; and
then they grew, until I thought they
would burst themselves. And there l
have now family of twelve squashes, as
big as ever you saw and as yellow as
butter, all settin' in their green leaves
An nobody ever asked 'em to comet So
you see, ny children, how the first is
last and the last first; an there
amt no KNOWN how things will
turn out. An it is the curious-est thing
in all creation how the Lord gives an
takes. and helps an hinders; and that is
the long is the long and the shert of the
whole matter" ~..~
And Mother Crinkle laughed little
mellow laugh, that almost had tear in
1.-THE IndeDendent.