The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-08-05
I L NYE'S LETTER.
Bill Nye Describes the Graceful Ostrich
"A Ride on the Famous Paris Bird.
Tout de Suite-Some Incidents of Ostric7
LGe-The Bird Viewed From All
Points-PenoLieS of Robbing
q. Mamma Bird.
Copyright, 1890, by Edgar W. Nye.l

William H. Root, late Duke of Council
Bluffs and project Of police at Laramie
city, in the State Of Wyoming, has secured,
and is now training for the track on a
southern Wyoming ranch, FIVE bright,
intelligent and highly elastic Ostriches.
Mr.. Root contemplates taking these birds
next season to the larger eastern cities
and racing them publicly, charging an ad-
mission price, of course, and has already
written to Mr.. Erastus Wiman regarding
the use of the Wild West grounds at
Erstina, on Staten Island for this purpose.
Those who have had the pleasure OF
riding on the back 0: the agile and grace
full ostrich "tout de suite" (French for
immediately y at the Jardin Mablle-or
possibly I am mistaken in this, 1t may be
the Jardin des Pie Plants-Wll remember
that Immediately is a good roadster.
A good horse has no business with an
ostr ch. While a horse is considering
where he will put his hind feet, so as not
to cork himself, the ostrich, with a whole
arm movement, steps off at the rate of Is
feet per step with no danger to her extra
limbs. The ostrich also has her limbs
reasonably far apart, and therefore does
not interfere.
Abou Ben Pangborn, Of Watermelon
township, Congo county, had a young
FLY ostrich which wanted to sit in the
summer of rs, and as he did not wish to
have her do so, he had sold the setting of
eggs to a Sabbath-schOOl for Easter. So
he tied her by the hind leg at the kraal of
Of a neighbor 288 miles away. The chain
was attached to the limb just below the
calf of the limb, the other end being fast
ened to a NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. tree which
grew near the kraal.
When the desire to sit Ome over the
female os rich she cannot overcome it
any more than a walking delegate can.
She yields to it and becomes its willing
slave. You can play on her with a fire
department or tie a red rag to her over
skirt, but you cannot quench her desire
to occupy a sedentary position.
That vas the way with this young
thing. Her name was Patience. She
has already sat several weeks on a pine
apple cheese, and aside from giving it a
rich home flavor, she could not detect any
progress toward Matching out a wholesale
grocery store.
So one day a great long ng to get back
to her home nest, 284 away, came over
her. She lost control of herself. Her
mother nature asserted itself in a brief
ejaculation, such as the female ostrich
makes when suddenly ~canfron ed by a
great mental problem. In her minds eye
she saw those Sabbath school children
blowing the interior out Of her large and
Juicy handiwork, and then decorating the
exterior with lilies, etc., ETC., and tying
ribbons to them, and Patience arose and
-;,IoJ 80 Ior lDjDC orI Orouo n rrDOF l-ioly
hat busted the pc phiery of the kraal and
tore down the bamburrowallispuS tree.
and with the chain and a prong Of the
tree root, together weighing thirty-Seven
pounds, she trotted across to her home, by
actual computation, in sixteen minutes
and twenty two seconds, though Abou
Ben Pangborn made it a little short of
that with his new stop sand glass. Pa
thence thus made a record of at least a
mile in thirty-three seconds, carrying
thirty seven pounds attached to the calf
of her limb.
Mr.. Root says that he can reduce this
record greatly, and has done so already in
several instances. He has FIVE birds now
in hand, named and described as follows:
TimbustoO, a large ashes Of roses bird,
over ten feet high, who PAGES without
urging at thirty-seven on an empty stom-
ach. Give him a little hot lunch out of
the cellar of a recently burned hardware
store and he can make it in twenty nine,
so Mr.. Root says. Timbuctoo has a power
full digestion and a tape worm whica
coaxes ship chandlery and railroad rolling
stock. It will pay to get your tips from
Tlmbuctoo.
Overgrown Williams is a large, solid
white gelding, with no record as yet,
though he has taken no dust from any
other Dir in the United States, barring
those on Mr.. Roots ranch. He is young
yet and awkward. He also SHES some,
and when he does so is apt to step out
from under his rider, leaving him in a
comatose state. He weighs 287 pounds,
and hopes to do even better than that as
he fills out by another spring.
T. De Witt Talmage is a pearl gray Os-
trich of rather slender build, who has al
ways led an upright life, or at least, if
not, he has never allowed anybody to get
on to it, as MI. Root says. De Witt
makes good time and acts his own jockey.
The Duke of Council Bluffs says this bird
is the shrewdest one he has ever seen. He
can throw a race with wonderful ease,
o4O LII O SLJ4 10 G44dG WOu1O L4Sh4C OoGd4 al
most to death.
Lily Dale is a large black ostrich from
the Soudan. She is twenty seven hands
high and easily eats out of a second-story
window. She is not particular whose
window it is, eyether. Lily is a broad
shoundered brunette and has a record,
but it is not a very good one. 1t was
made in Africa, before she came here, and
Mr.. Root would rather not have anything
said about it. She is very cross while
sitting, and Mr.. Root is short two hired
men this season on that account. They
are both buried in the same grave. An
unknown bird fancier who cam to see
the ranch in Ma approached too close to
the aviary, and Lily, who was at that time
sitting on a tin sprinkler and ~endeaVoring,
by putting her mind to it to hatch out a
spring freshet, arose and kicked off the
gentleman's silk hat.
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