Mower County transcript., 1890-12-03

Billy goat wath sadness as he stood on
the sunny slope Of Stumpy Field and
heard the rustic Of the dried corn leaves
and watched the pale green beauty fade
from the mullen stalks and jimson
weeds as they we're smitten by the cold
breath Of annual decay.
The grass, too, the Billy noticed with
signs of uneasiness, was getting dry
and tasteless He looked off toward the
Finn cabbage patch. The large heads
still stood unplucked on their stalks.
Great tears ran down the goats cheeks
as he realized that the feast Of cab
bages was not for him. He was reused
from his painful reverie by belated
blue bird, which lit on the fence and
sang him a parting sereuade ere the
W. I'd to the orange groves in the land
of tropical delights. A chipmunk
whisked by him on the stone wall.
nodded with tantalizing freedom to the
goat, and disappeared. A loud cawing
overhead deepened the bitterness in the
heart of tn goat as he realized that he
only was tied .ith the clothes-line.
These reflections had reduced the
four-footed captive to a condition OF
mute despair, when on the brooding
hush above alluded to there broke a
CHEEKY whistle. The Billy turned tail
on the saddening scenery, and was
about to seek surcease of sorrow in sleep
in his burrow, but when that familiar
whistle smote upon his ear he stopped
Short like 'Grandfather's Clock" and
listened. The whistle sounded nearer,
and uncertainty changed to assurance
in the goats eloquent eyes as q small
boy leaped over the fence and came to-
ward him. Those who have been con-
fined in a gloomy cell know what Joy
there is in bearing the key Of deliver
ance crate in the lock. Such Joy the
goat felt His deliverer had come If
the goat could have sung, his happiness
would undoubtedly have found express
sion in the words:
"He's after me, after me;
I'm the Individual he requires"
Little Mike loosened the CALLING
clothes-line from the neck of tho goat,
and together they strolled leisurely up
the Old Point road, the goat stopping
now and then to pick up stray piece
of brown paper and an occasional bit OF
old corset whalebone. Little Mike
loved the goat tenderly. Indeed, his
affection rivaled that of Mary for her
lamb He would no doubt have taken
the goat to school with him but for the
fact that the teacher might have acted
rudely to the animal. In that event
the teacher would no doubt have tried
to put the goat out of the school-house,
when-but let US return to the boy and
the goat
Mickey whispered to the Billy as
they went along that his mother had
gone down to Ponckhockie to buy his
father new pair of overalls; that he
had been left alone in the shanty, and
that as he was lonesome he had come to
get the Billy to cheer him up. The
Billy wagged the short Joy barometer
at the southeast end of his body, and
seemed to understand every word his
companion said. And so, like two bosom
friends as they were, they wandered up
the road and into the shanty.
1t must be understood that Mickey
had deeper motive than that of merely
amusing himself when he brought the
goat into the kitchen. 1t was not be-
cause the goat was not good company.
Oh. no! On the contrary, the Billy was
always a fellow of humor, resource, and