Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1891-01-15
A SINGULAR w1NDFALL-
How Handsome Flock Of Geese
Was ACQUIRED.

ASSk . ntOP hdQ AOoh AZ NACm.
We drew up. tied our horse to the
gate-post, aud, although the people at
the farm house were strangers to us,
made bold to knock at the house door
An alert young woman appeared, and
gave us a glance of frank Interrogation.
~ hope you will excuse the liberty we
take in Calling said. Your very fine
flock Of geese attracted our attention.
We wished to look at them little more
closely" my companion explained.
Certainly" said the young woman !;
''if you will wait moment, I will show
you the way"
The flock was we'll worth stopping to
see. The pond was little inlet from a
larger pond or lake, a quarter of q mile
distant. The farm house stood on o
knoll, or hillock, fifty feet above the
pond. A row of sheds and goose houses
had been built along the shore OF the
pool; while surrounding it on oil sides,
was light fence, high enough to keep
the geese in.
The pasture thus enclosed extended
along both sides of brook which flowed
into the pond, for distance of perhaps
iuudtpo tous anu TIC Sltttfc y6fu was
six or seven acres in extent.
We counted hundred and six geese.
What especially attracted our attention
was their size and their beautiful plum
age, with pale blue slate and clear gray
markings, on ground of clean white.
Few birds in this entire flock we should
have guessed to weigh less than twelve
pounds, and many were surely much
heavier.
lam curious to know, my companion
inquired, ''if these handsome geese were
bred here, and where the variety came
from"
shown the flock without remark thus
far, smiled and said, IF you would like
to hear the story of our geese, I will tell
it. 1t is quite an odd story"
"By all means We both replied.
''They are really flock Of castaways,
or captives, she said. Seventeen at least
OF our flock are Of wild breed. They
came to us in a strange way.
"Three years ago last winter my
mother, my sister and were left alone in
the world by the death Of my father.
Our farm was encountered with debt, and
it became plain to- lis that we should loac
our home unless We could hit Upon some
plan for earning money to support our
selves and pay, at least, the interest on
the debt.
'It was gloomy period with us.
Neither my sister nor was qualified to
each in the schools of the town; and we
iisliked to break up our home and go to
work in factories. We tried several
means of earning money without much
success, and were practising hard at
shorthand and typewrting at the end of
the winter, in order to fit ourselves for
situations in business houses.
1T was one evening late in March that
mother and Abbie, my sister, and | were
sitting at table, up at the house, work
ing Mt one of our exercises 1t was al
most nine O'Clock and worry dark outside
tor 1t had been wet and rainy for two or
three days, and that afternoon one of the
;hickest fogs set in that ever saw. One
could scarcely see objec's thirty feet
away, even before nightfall.
"As l said, we were hard at work on
our exercise, mother reading alo-d sem
ences from a book, Abbie scribbling fast.
and rafting away on the typewriter, -
when crash crash crash! went all three
windows OF the sitting room the win
iows which You can see in the wing of
the house
1T frightened us dreadfully, for the
glass flew over the table and all about
the ROOM and with the smashing of the
windows came five great, squalIing,
squawking, wet geese, right into the room
where we sat- They went Tapping
over our very heads and knocked over
The lamp; and either they, or Abbie or
IN our sudden fright upset the table,
typewriter and all
THE geese squalled terribly, and, in
trying to escape, flew bsindly against the
,tove-pipe and the dishes on the dresser.
| suppose Abbie and screamed about as
loud as the geese squalled, for we heard
The parlor windows rattle, and actually
thought the whole house was going to
pieces!
Sat last mother cried out that twas
aothing but geese, and that there was no
Use in being frightened out OF our wits.
We got to the door and escaped to the
kitchen, and after collecting our scat
tered thoughts little, lighted another
amp.
Mother, who had formerly kept
geese, was not afraid of these. She
presently went into the sitting. room and
taught all five of the geese and put them
INTO the soap closet. Then.we opened the
parlor door and found another one there,
with broken wing.
''All the while we heard tremendous
'quawking outside. Mother, whose
spirit was up now, told us TO light a
lantern at once and go out with her.
When We went out, we found six geese
lying on the ground beside the house
They seemed 10 be stunned, and some had
broken wings. Mother caught them and
threw them them all into the soap
closet.
I'VE could hear others, too, In the di.
lection of the wood shed and barn.
There seemed to be scores of them, all
squalling and 'honking, as if in the
greatest distress and alarm. We found
and captured eight others under the
wood-shed, and two more beside the
barn The Others escaped; but we heard
hem calling out, all night long.
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