Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-07-28
MY AUNT'S SQUIRRELS.

Perhaps it was because she hated
cats.
My aunt's house is large one-very
like those you often see when travelling
in the cOuntry-square, with windows
all shut, silent doors and empty porches.
The beauty of my aunt's house was its
back yard and back door, with a great,
flat stone step. A gate at the back OF
the yard opened on a lane, where trees
grew on each side, and thickets, which,
in summer, are full OF birds, butterflies
and blossoms. The deep ruts are over
grown with grass; only the breezes pass
to and fro, which hutter the leaves into
little rustling songs. The back door
led into a great kitchen, built ever SO
many years ago; the rafters were coffee
colored, for my aunt would never have
were slowed away among those rafters
--pumpkin-seeds, ears of corn, punches
of herbs, an old saddle; and, in the
winter. hams and links of sausage swung
from the beams. Piles of paper bulged
over their edges, and the rubbish of
years was there. precious to my aunt,
but useless to everybody else.
One day in autumn, Josh, my aunt
man of-all-work, while hosting a bag
of dried beans into the rafters, discov-
cred pair of gray striped squirrels
He ratified the beans and "shooed,"
but they only skipped beyond his reach.
chattering, and stood on their hind
paws, making motions with their fore
paws as if ''shooing'' Josh in return.
81 do believe, men," he called to my
aunt, ''that these little thieves have
come to eat up all my garden seeds; but
l can't make out why ground squirrels
should roost up here"
"Let them be, JOSH" said my aunt;
"Pd rather have squirrels overhead
than cats under feet; the creatures won't
trouble me-"
Nor did they, but, when people talked
in the kitchen, the squirrels chartered
louder and faster than ever. Although
they dropped seeds and straws on my
aunt's muslin cap, and although Josh
muttered about holes in bags. and
muss, and noise, she would not listen.
She declared they were company for
her. and she was certain they would
not forget her friendliness toward them:
they kept their distance, and were al
ways the same bright, cheerful, happy
little beings!
For all this, Josh pondered a plan.
and carried it out. Ground-sauir-
rels." he argued, chad no business ND
in the air." So he prepared a BAG,
tackled the old horse to the wagon,
caught the squirrels when my aunt
went out, put them in the bag, and
rode away up the lane and into the
woods. When he got to thick spot,
dark with trees. he shook out the sauir-
rels. turned about, and logged home.
with the satisfaction of having finished
a good job, just little dashed with
dread of my aunt's scolding. which, any
way, was not SO bad as their chatter.
Josh opened the kitchen door and went
in. The silence pleased him, and he
began to rub his hands, as his way was
when pleased. He cast his ewes up-
ward and was instantly greeted with a
merry chatter. The squirrels had got
home before him, and were all the more
lively for their voyage in the bag, the
ride in she wagon. and the picnic in the
woods!
MARCY on mer' he cried, his hands
falling apart just then the SQUIRRELS
let drop hickory-nut on the bald SPOT
of Josh head.