The Red Cloud chief., 1880-12-09
HOW TOMMY WAS LOST.

"QUATHY it'll dead, I gucth, for |
thowed "A sthicil at her an sthe didn't
sthir Il Bit" lisped ~liyc-year-old Rob,
pointing with his chubby hand toward
a log where Quashy. a large white hen,
lay still and stark. Rob, in his short
trousers and striped waist, of which
last only a very narrow strip was viz
bile above his wai~tb1nd, looked for all
the world like n little old Dutchman.
His stiff hair, too, hung straight down
10 his eyebrows in a perfectly natural
''bang."
Tommy killed her, that's sure"
piped IL voice from the hay-rick close
by.
If Rob, in his sturdy shortness,
looked like u 'Mynheer." then Dick,
with his long legs dangling from the
end of the hay-rick, where he sat both
whistlin% and whiting. might be u fair
type of the Yankee.
"Oh, Tom. how bad Won be-" and
Milly shook her almost ~four-ycar-old
curls sadly over such extreme wicked
ness. and went on with her ~burr-basket
making.
WHATS Tom been adding now
that's bad? You think | am ALWAYS
doing something" came half petulant-
IL from drcamy-eyed Tom, living ut full
length under an oak tree, where he had
been watching the glimmer of the SKY
through the leaves for TIE last half
hour.
Dear me, how innercent some
folks are" said Dick, who was nine,
and two wears Toms senior. and whose
advanced age made him think himself 4
privileged censor. "Quashy is dead.
aid it's plain enough who killed her.
Wasn't You Just tearing mad the other
day when she scratched up your pre-
cious flower-bed. and didn't you say she
ought 10 be hung?"
Tom was fully aroused now, and sat
upright with his gray eyes wide open.
Me Kill Quashyi You know |
wouldn't do it. If | did say she ought
10 be hung. L didn't mean nothing-I
was so sorry about the flowers. I'm
always getting 'cuSed of something |
didn't think off, and he looked at Dick
indignantly.
..Oh, no., YOU never do nothing-you
didn't lose that nice book all full of
pictures of animals. all along of watch
inc in the woods To see if a w~oodchuck
WAS lIht blt bIlt III lAC bOOh. sitlti lto
broke the bread-knife a-digging UP
wild plants, and put c%aterpillars in
mothers best bonnet box toSee if they'd
come out butterflies, and who let
teentv Mary fall out of the chair and
almost break her neck?" Dick stopped
TO take breath.
To be tainted with letting 'teenty"
Mary fall-one of the darling twins,
and SO very precious in Toms sight
this quite broke his heart, to say moth
iny of the other misdeeds that Dick had
arrayed like a DAY of Judgment be-
fore him.
30, Dick, L didn't GO TO do it, she
Just jumped so quick when L wasn't
looking. But it no use. I'm always
doing something | don'tmean to. lam
a great bother. 1 wish l could live all
alone by myself. I'll 90 away off where
there amt no folks. and then | shan't
bother nobody" and he threw himself
on the ground and cried.
Milly witnessed Toms outburst with
baby wonder in her blue eyes, and Rob,
Juggling the white hen along, didn't
mind much about it, but Dick rather
enioved this tempest of his own rails
inc, and went on whistling as he fol-
lowed AIilly, Rob and the dead hen into
the house.
Mrs. Writ had Just laid the twins,
Maud and Mary, fast asleep into their
wide crib in the cool sitting-room in
The middle of the house or houses, for
the original house had been quite lost
in the porches, Is and lean-tos which
had been added from time to time.
AS the children came bustling in, Mrs.
Writ looked up with a gentle NOW,
little folks, don't wake the babies, for
I've such heaps of work to do this aft
ernoon."
e.Look, mother, Quathy 18th killed"
. s.And Tommy cried cause Dickey
said he killed it." put in sober Milly.
esOh, Quashy has been ailing for two
or three days. and so she is dead. Dick,
YOU shouldn't hector Tommy so; he's
careless, and his head is too far off,
as Dutch Fritz says, but he isn't cruel,
And / fear you are. Milly, tell Tommy
70 come to me-" and Mrs. Writ went
about her work. Milly did not find
Tom under the tree, and meeting her
two large brothers coming from the hay
field. she learned of themthat Tom had
been seen going into the house; SO she
sent to pick wild asters by the brook.
and thought no more of Tommy and his