Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-12-06
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
"A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE
CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE

HOOKS 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 ir-
religious sentiments strike ut tho very
base OF society,"" he said. "A nest is
part Of q tree; grub is part Of corn
field. II q crow can not own tree or
corn field he can not own nests or grub
the greater includes the less. ! beg
you to retract"
~ can not" Father Cav answered.
"Then you must bear the conse-
lquences," said his redness; and forth
with Father Cav was seized, stripped Of
his feathers, and thrown to tho 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
Out:
II am surprised that 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 I
heard you teach" replied Mr.. Fassett
"What!" croaked the magistrate, half
angry at Outs impudence, and half
curious to know what he meant SEX
plain yourself. STRIP
''When first became crow" said
rQui, ~ was insulted and attacked as q
.scab by flock Of working crows The
xingleaders 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
iished them you lectured them"
Il always do" said the magistrate.
"You lectured them on the criminal
fly and heartlessness Of preventing other
crows from working for living"
True enough" said the magistrate;
-'but what has that to do with your
.case?"
''This," answered Out. "When I 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 would give
them all the grub l got except three
worms day, and Icouldn't geta place to
roost except on limb of tree where
my boss had his nest. And found other
crows in the same predicament This, said
I to myself, is an ingenious way Of pre-
venting crows from working for aliving,
and it is criminal and heartless, just as
the good magis trate said"
''Ten days!" exclaimed the magistrate,
land don't come here again"
So poor Out was taken to the trunk Of
ran old tree and pushed through knot
lhole. After fluttering around the hol-
How trunk, he finally fell to the bottom
samong a crowd of filthy crows, who
pecked at him, pulled out his feathers
and made fun Of him as the crow who
wanted to divide up crow property.
At last Outs term of imprisonmente x-
,pired and he took to flight He was q
sad looking crow, and whenever he tried
to alight on the limb of some tree that
had particularly deserted appearance
a policeman crow would fly over to warn
him of. Sometimes, forced by hunger,
NE would stealthily drop down into
corn field and scratch for grub; but he
never got enough to satisfy him before
-4he approach of flock Of crows from an
adjoining field would oblige him to leave.
Having had many escapes from arrest
for trespass. and not few for stealing,
and finding 1t utterly impossible to get
q place to build q nest or o piece Of
ground in which to scratch for grub on
his own account, Qui hunted for q job;
but to every crow to whom he applied
his appearance was so repulsive, he was
80 evidently q mere tramp crow, that all
employment was refused.
Finally, one day, half-starved, rag
.ged, dirty and Respondent. he was over
joyed at seeing his own house. Flying
quickly toward it he alighted on the
porch. There was his wife and little girl,
but neither saw him. 81 do WISH" he
overheard the little girl say, "that papa
would come back" His wife made no
reply. She only wept.
''May, DEAR" said Mr.. Fassett, papa
is back"
His wife and child started. and Qui
was about to rush at them both with
open arms, when the little girl exclaim-
ed:
''Oh. it's only an old crow, mamma;
but how tame 1t is"
All Of Outs joy forsook him. In the
excitement he had forgotten that he
was crow, but his daughters exclama-
ton reminded him Of his helpless con-
dition. His wife, still weeping, went
into the house, while the little girl
approached her father cautiously, lest