The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26


lambs and the splash of the lake waters
on the low, rocky shore. 1t was ON that
day the first installment of blackbirds
made their appearance. They covered
the i've oak by the door, and ground ont
their little UNMARRIED tunes in the richest
contralto.
Nothing glyes more pleasure than to
see things grow, but living things most
especially. Our little ducks were a per-
petual study. Many of them were indi-
vldualized by special characteristics. so
much so that we named them according
iy. We had Grady, Tiny, Sand and Po-
ny Express. A friend In San francisco.
nearing OF our poultry venture, sent us
two dozen Pekin ducks eggs. We raised
seventeen ducks out of these eggs and
sold them for 50 apiece. The little ducks
I ol tne brood were a curiosity. Their
! eyes were small and deep-set, giving to
1neIn very shrewd appearance their
oneehs IN Duiged out and hung down, and
al they lacked of making Themselves
fac SMILES of bloated Lager beer ve,,d-
ers' signs, such as project from '.Gam.
Drlnus' halls, was only a pipe apiecefo for
But must not forget our doc II
was dark when the sound of horses boofs
rang out ON the hard, shelly lake-shore
/ road. L had some venison, pork and
/ potatoes stewlng together on the stove
ana lovely elderberry pie scaIloped
and ruffied to distraction was cooling it
self on the table. l rushed out of the
house and lifted "our treasure" to the
ground. But Sue had more treasures
than one. Tied behind her saddle were
several small rose bushes well rooted.
and about dozen grape vines. 1t is
natural for women tolong for flowers.
and confess my hope of these roses
projected itself so far into the future,
and beheld through the medium of I'M
aglnation such paradise of flowers, that
l could hardly sleep that night for think
in6 about them. In the morning We
planted them. We were not troubled
by the selfish thought that the
place was not ours that we were
sowing for others TO reap. Perhaps the
blessedness of giving pervaded our souls
at that time; at all events we were Just
as happy as we could be, and that was
enough. The puppy watched our work
with the deepest interest. He shifted
his position as we moved from place to
place, looking intently with round eyes
and ears Topped forward into every hole
we dug. When we had finished and were
resting from our labors he came walking
IN at the door with one of our finest rose !
bushes IN his mouth, which he laid at
sues feet, the expression of his face IN
dicating perfect confidence in the appro-
priateness of his action. OF course we
did not permit such conduct TO go I'M
punished, and gave him very small
whipping, so small 1 fear he did not un-
derstand 1t; for he never rested mo-
iAAsnt from his work until he had un-
earthed several times over everything we
planted. i was little inclined to drown
hlm, but had not the nerve to do il. 1t
was not only the plants he destroyed; he
carried my parasol out one day and re-
duced 1t to a skeleton; he destroyed a
package containing a dollars worth of
sugar, for which we had paid in eggs; he
tore volume of poems to pieces, and
wore out the trail of my morning gown
riding around on it as | moved about the
house. Sue laughed in the jolliest man
ner at all these mishaps, and always took
her pets part in every quarrel L had
with him.
But Sue had a tip-top, level-best Sun
go-to-meeting bonnet, the most GU
rious specimen of head architecture ever
seen, and she valued it In proportion TO
its queerness. But one day something
happened. We had been In the barn
ticed the strange appearance of the
| front yard. There seemed to have been
a sort of circumscribed snow-storm In it.
Examination revealed the fact that every
snowflake was woven of fine white
straw. A light began to dawn. Sue
rushed 10 the spot where her bonnet
| had been. When ] came In and saw
| her good, honest face stretched out
longer than had ever seen it before, I
felt so bad L laughed myself quite sick
out of pure sympathy.
However, the day came when that
dog took a new departure. he was very
initiative; he soon saw how we conduct
| ed business, and, being energetic, intel
| igent and loving, he began to take the
work off of our hands. He herded the
i turkeys and brought them home every
night. He took charge of the ducks
and chickens. and if from weakness one
fell behind he brought 1t to us tenderly
in his mouth. He became the friend
and protector of the "two Torn widders
in their lonely old castle by the lonely
old wood, and was deeply and tenderly
appreciated.
/ am sure we brought little science
to bear ON our poultry raising, but we
made a very fair success of it. We lived
1
nearly $500 when we sold off our surplus
stock In the fall. We thought it much
better than taking positions in estab-
lishments not our own. We were free,
and we appreciated the situation. And
! then the occupation itself was full of in
terest. Never day passed we did not
find something to laugh at among our
numerous family. We had frequent
visits from Mr.. Worth's two little rowdy
children, who were in full sympathy
with every phase of chicken life, particu-
larly the absurd part of it.
One day after we had missed them
from the room for about two hours, and
supposed they were at home, Billy came
came in quite excited and opened con-
yersation with Sue. was at the sew
ing machine, but heard it all quite
plainly.
"Sue," he commenced, "Sue, Sue,
Oh Sue Me and Kate's been fghtin'
two chickens.
"Yes, honey" said Sue, in her moth
| erly drawl, reaching up the words IN the
middle like cats back.
sMine was dominic. and hern was
a black one. Both of 'em were mighty
little chaps, you bet; want much more'n
| veaned: and the black 'un was the
spunkiest feller you ever saw. Both Of
'em had the sand, but the black 'un was
the grittiest chicken in Lake county.
III bet big on it, Sue.
eyes, honey"
eve fit 'em right out In the sun,
| where it was hot enough to bile 'em.
We wanted to see how much they would
stand, Sue. :"
"Yes, honey"
Well, they fit and fit and fit. The
dominic was little the biggest and got
the bulge on blackey in the start; I; but
blackey, he just KEEP pitchin' for dear
life, whalin' away at dominic till he
couldn't stand up, and then he lay down
and fit. After he fit awhile layin'