The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-06-24


headed patriarch set in a potter's tile.
And when broad-shouldered chantcleer
stretched the lank structure OF his anat-
omy to its red-necked height, and sent his
prickly clarion through the misty atmos-
phere, there was the sound of muffied
humping in the cabin across the road,
followed by the appearance OF a blinking,
sleepy light, which emphasized the fact
that people were awake in the home of
George Gray and the kids" And even
before the first cardinal streak OF dawn
Implied through the wooded stretch be-
yond. a thin purl of smoke stole up above
he CLAW chimney, hesitsting in its fight,
md after some aerial deliberations,
Ilowly descended. wasting it's essence
through the ragged branches of a gnsrled
apple tree
The cabin stood by a mud road-a road
composed OF original andsccumulated mud.
Mud scraped from the sides OF the road to
It's center; mud hauled for miles from the
rnuddiest part of the country and inflicted
on this patient, accomplishing stretch of
old inconvenience, all the way from its
commencement to it's termination.
fence had at one time surrounded the
house, but only few pickets were left OF
the old guard standing in dismal, half
starved groups. talking, as it were, in their
mysterious silence to one another OF the
old veterans long gone; some carried off
by reckless boys for hammering humble
bees nests on hot afternoons; some driven
down in Doggy flats by ditch surveyors,
9TH a. " ton 10
fell hopelessly by the sides Of their COM
rades and rotted at their feet.
There was nothing of special interest
about the yard, which was az bare as the
bosom of a frog and cut like pie crust
into sun dried cracks by the feet of
frenzied ducks caucusing about the we'll
or lobbying around a depression near the
Anticipated ash hopper in the corner,
where water should have been but was
not.
There was little of special interest about
the garden behind the cabin. In fact
there was nothing left of the garden at all,
except few disheveled clumps of live
for-evers, arranged at the corner ike letter
head, to indicate the probable intention of
such an objectionable vacancy.
There was nothing particularly attrac-
tive about the stable, with its hungry NOV
that had not been fed by straw since
'old msn Gray" died in 80 and left it
stuffed as full as a pet pig In fact there
was nothing about the stable at all but a
dog-yet there were volumes in him
He was q yellow dog 4 long, lean, hol-
low eyed brute, always asleep in the
manger, as Indifferent to fate or house
flies as a grave stone But when on Silly
nights his voluminOus baritone voice
bayed the moon, as she shifted restlessly
over the bottom lands-then il was that
this forsaken canine rose to the full
height oil MS musical supremacy and kept
little children in remote settlements star
ing at the hideous rafters until some stern
parental adn.onitiOn sealed their eyes
with tears.
Through a special interposition of prov
idence George Gray and the kids who
were the surviving heirs Of cold man
Gray') lived and continued to live in the
cabin left by the unfortunate father, who,
despairiDg at the death of his young wife,
died three months later, and was, through
the trusty aid OF a broad-ax, comfortably
boxed up and laid by the side OF a grave
that was still keel-marked and freshly
dug at the bend of the creek.
But just how they lived nobody knew,
and as there were few who were near
enough to care, the means of their sur
vival remained an undisturbed mystery.
fiimsiest sort of ginghams festooned with
doubtful colors, and although the back
hair OF the Gray girls was unkempt. and
jeweled by not a single rose, their little
eyes were large and brown, and their
little cheeks held, under the dusk of
faulty chaperonage, the sweetest blossoms
that ever blOomed on living faces, and
their little hands. though often stained
by the hulls OF nuts, were shapely and
i = - L
done by natures own brushes, whenever
1t so happened they were seriously
washed.
So far es their Uncle George was, or is,
concerned it matters little to you or me-
We may put him by with aword or a pipe
of tobacco without fear Of sighting the
dear old soul. George often sat in his
doorway and speculated on the seasons.
and by some deep calculation be knew
whether or not the rats would be plentiful
through the trapping time. He was the
best dresser of fur that ever trudged down
Sandy Bottom, and was always finding out
new triggers. He usually possessed a
stock OF cardinal birds, and coon skins,
and when that stock assumed the proper
proportions he would trudge sixteen
miles with them 10 town, and sell the
birds on the streets and the pelts to the
dealers, as healthy and happy a mortal as
ever skinned mink or bottled the ami
mails personal aromas.
George had. during the greater part of
his life. been 30 thoroughly identified with
the mink and muskrat, that no small
matters such as individual unpleasantness
OF any kind, were permitted for one mo-
ment to encroach upon the bonds of their
ancient brotherhood And so il happened
in his travels with his traps and his dog.
George bad one day found himself in the
vicinity of his brother, and on arriving at
his home saw a weakly man in the deep
est distress over the death of his wife. and
it further happened that George was at
his brothers house when the latter took
sick. Without any help George nailed
up the coffin and carried it across the
creek and buried the unfortunate man
with his own hands, and then walked
back 10 the cabin where the babies were
and managed to find enough eatables TO
keep their little bodies and souls together
Hhe cooked those estsbles, and for the
first time in many A long vaar inst after