Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-12

ered the crows a-workin' as lively as
ever on the pizen corn, an noticed that
e'.ry one Of 'em, arter he'd dug up an
golluped few hills, d stick his head
under his right wing an peck away at
something there, an then perceed with
The feast. We didn't find no more
dead crows, an we passed a resolution
mat sumpin' was up. One night |
went out and dug hole in one corner
o my cornfield, deep enough to bury
myself in it all but my eyes an nose
ana the tip end O. my shotgun. An
there staid, holcd up like a groun'-
hog, till daylight. Bright an 'arly
down come lot o. crows to make their
breakfast on the pizen corn. One o. the
black cusses got nigh enough to me an
! loadcd,him up with shot, and he staid
right IN his tracks. The rest O. the
crows, o course. was a mile away in
less'n no time. ! dug myself out and
picked up the dead crow. looked in
under his right wing, an what do ye
s'pose | found? A bunch o. wild
mustard. Wild mustard was sure
antidote to the pizen we had in that
seed-corn, and them crows had list
gathered some of it every time they
made a raid on the corn, an had topped
oil ev'iy two or three gollups o. corn
with chaw o mustard, KNOWN that
1t d knock spots out'n the pizen. Then
we did meet. An we passed
resolution that it want no use. All
but OF Squire Spooner. He said he
couldn't fetch hisself to believe in the
docturn o. total deprayity, even in
crows. He said he b'lieyed that the
Pochunk crows know'd so durn much
that they could read, an that if they
see that we was willin' to do the right
thing by EN- they'd do the right thing by
us.
I'm gointer try 'speriment,' said
the Squire. I'm gOinter try 'speri-
1t, said he. 'an' b'lieye it'll work.
v ait an see, said he.
$50 we passed a resolution that we'd
wait. What dye think the Squire
done? He drew arrow o. stakes around
a quarter o. one acre o. the best fields
Of corn he had planted, an tn want
pizen hill in the lot. Then he had a
sign painted. 1t read like this:
CROWS, ATTENTION!
ALL THE CORN INSIDE THESE STAKES
Is YOURN.
HELP YERSELFS!
There said the Squire. Them
crows is able to cipher that out, an
We needn't tell me, said he, that any
Twin critter is mean enough to steal
v hen they kin gether in their own"
1--WE waited to see how the 'speri-
ment ID come out. The crows settled
all around that sign, an looked it over,
an had the darndest Gavin time over
it We ever heerd. BY an by they
dropped inter their quarter acre an
went to diggin' up their own corn.
Tn want crow anywhere else in the
lot. We met and passed a resolution
that we'd be cuSsed if we ever see or
heern tell O. the like. and that we'd all
set off a cornfield for crows. An we'd
done it, too, if it hadn't a ben fur
one thing. When the Squire went out
next mornin' to see how his crows was
gettin' long. yc kin thrash me with a
rawhide an I'll boiler If them crows
hadn't moved them stakes back in the
lot mOre'n two hundred feet
AFTER that we met an passed a
resolution that the Pochunk crows had
too much Of an edicatlon for us to fool
with. an ever since then we've jist let
On have their own way, trustin' TO
Providence an an occasional shotgun
to give the crows chance