The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-12-17
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE
[coNr1NuED FROM LAST 1ssuE.]

CONTINUED EROM LhOl loSOLJ
.'Thats so! that's sol" croaked several
crows in the crowd.
"shur up, you foolsr' shouted Roger
Rocks chaplain; 'what do you know
about it?' And the fools shut up
The red-breasted crow was as mild as
ever, but his duty was plain. ''Such IT.
religious sentiments strike at the very
base of society,"" he said. "a nest IS
part of tree; grub is part OF acorn
field. If crow can not own tree or
corn field he can not own nests or grub
the greater includes the less beg
you to retract."
81 can not" Father Cav answered.
A'Then you must bear the conse-
<uences," said his redness; and forth
with Father Cav was seized, stripped OF
his feathers, and thrown to the ground.
Meantime Qui Fassett had been for
gotten. But when Father Cav was dis
posed of, the attention of the crowd was
| turned to the shameless agitator. He
was arrested and carried before the same
magistrate who punished the crows that
had called him scab. When the charge
was explained, the magistrate, with all
the severity he could command, said to
Qui:
II am surprised that a crow so intelli-
gent should be disturber, arousing dis
content among crows and preaching
doctrines that no one ever heard OF be-
FORE"
81 am only preaching the doctrine l
heard YOU teach" replied Mr. Fassett.
"Whatw croaked the magistrate, half
angry at Outs impudence, and half
curious to know what he meant. SIX
plain yourself, STRIP
"When first became crow" said
Qui, 81 was insulted and attacked as
scab by a flock of working crows. The
ringleaders were brought before you and
you punished them"
Eyes; that's so; remember it" the
magistrate mumbled, bobbing his head.
"Well," Qui went on, "when you pun
ished them you lectured them."
81 always do" said the magistrate.
s'You lectured them on the criminal
ity and heartlessness OF preventing other
crows from working for a living"
'True enough" said the magistrate;
ssbut what has that to do with your
case?"
.'This," answered Out. "When went
!, to look for work, found that few
crows owned all the cornfields and all
the trees, and they wouldn't let me
scratch in the fields unless l would give
them all the grub l got except three
worms day, and Icouldn't geta place to
roost except on limb of a tree where
my boss had his nest. And found other
crows in the same predicament. This, said
/ to myself, is an ingenious way OF pre-
venting crows from working for living,
9 and it is criminal and heartless, just as
the good magistrate said. -
'Ten days!" exclaimed the magistrate
land don't come here again.
: So poor Qui was taken to the trunk O
), an old tree and pushed through kno
= hole After fiuttering around the hol
: low trunk, he finally fell to the bottom
: among crowd of filthy crows, WHIT
;. pecked at him, pulled out his feathers
> and made fun of him as the crow VIII
:. wanted to divide up crow property.
: At last Outs term of imprisonmentex
= pired and he took to flight. He was
: sad looking crow, and whenever he trie'
= to alight on the limb of some tree tina
had a particularly deserted appearance
: policeman crow would fly over to war
:, him off. Sometimes, forced by hunger
:. he would stealthily drop down into
- corn field and scratch for grub; but h
never got enough to satisfy him befor
= the approach of flock of crows from a
adjoining field would oblige him to leave
Having had many escapes from arres
for trespass, and not few for stealing
y and finding it utterly impossible to &c
place to build nest or a piece {
u ground in which to scratch for grub o
- his own account, Qui hunted for a jol
:, but to every crow to whom he apple
= his appearance was so repulsive, he wa
% D. SO evidently mere tramp crow, that a
~ employment was refused.
- Finally, one day, half-starved, raj
10 ged, dirty and Respondent, he was owe
" .. loved at seeing his own house. FLYNN
-. ~ quickly toward it he alighted on tt
N porch. There was his wife and little cir
u. but neither saw him. 81 do WISH"
~ overheard the little girl say, ''that pal
~ would come back" His wife made
q. reply She only wept.
~ MAY, DEAR" said Mr.. Fassett, pal
~ is back
10 His wife and child started, and @
I'LL was about to rush at them both wi
AZ open arms, when the little girl exclail
~ ed:
~ ooh. it's only an old crow, MANN
gu but how tame it is"
IL All of Outs joy forsook him. In t.
ef excitement he had forgotten that
er was a crow, but his daughters exclam
IT, ton reminded him of his helpless &C
us dition. His wife, still weeping, we
lre into the house, while the little g
ne approached her father cautiously, Il
Gu he might fly away, and taking him
'h her lap smoothed his ruffied feathe
Oh He tried to make himself kno'
IL to her, but all his efforts to talk result
Ia, Ia only in croaks, Ineligible enough t
ne crow, but meaningless to the child.
esq Outs establishment, however, the ca
'ir' his old pet understood him, a
GU her miaous were as ineligible to b
cas- as the dialect of the Swede who worl
'ch on his farm. While puss looked. ur
Is the crow, occasionally uttering Il
drawn miaou, and the crow croaked.
child feared the cat wanted to dine OF
be her crow and that the crow was fright
abb ed: but that wasn't the case all. The