Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1891-01-02
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
a MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE
[coNrrSuEp FROM LAST ISSUE

1
crows in the crowd.
shut up, you fools!' shouted Roger
Rook's chaplain; what do yon know
about ito" And the fools shut up.
| The red-breasted crow was as mild as
ever, but his duty was plain. ''Such ir-
religious sentiments strike at the very
base OF society,"" he said. "A nest is
part OF tree; grub Is part OF corn
field. II crow can not own q tree or a
corn field no can not own nests or grub
the greater includes the lesa ] beg
| you to retract"
| II can not" Father Cav answS ed.
| Then you must bear the consc-
quences," 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, sall to
Qui:
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-
tore.'
81 am only preaching the doctrine
heard you teach, replied Mr.. Fassett.
"Whatw croaked the magistrate, half
angry at Outs impudence, and half
curious to know what he meant. "Ex-
plain yourself, SIR
when / first became crow" said
Qui, 81 was insulted and attacked as a
scab by flock of working crows. The
ringleaders were brought before you and
you punished them
Yes; that's SO; | remember it." tho
magistrate mumbled bobbing his head
"Well," Qui went on, 'when you pun
ished them you lectured them"
Il always do" said the magistrate
"You lectured them on the criminal
ity and heartlessness of preventing other
crows from working for living"
True enough" said the magistrate;
"but what has that to do with your
:ase?"
This" answered Qui. "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 would give
them all the grub | got except three
worms day, couldn't get place to
-oost except on limb of tree whore
my boss had his nest. And l found other
crows in the same predicament. This, said
| | n ic of
venting crows from working for a living,
and it is criminal and heartless, just as
the good magis trato said"
Ten days." exclaimed the magistrate,
land don't come here again"
So poor Qui was tuken to the trunk OF
an old tree and pushed through a knot
hole. After Tutoring around tho hol.
low trunk, he finally fell to the bottom
among 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 Imprisonment ex-
pired and he took to flight. lie was a
sad looking crow, and whenever he tried
had particularly deserted appearance
policeman crow would fly over to warn
him off. Sometimes, forced by hunger,
he would stealthily drop down into a
corn field and scratch for grub; but he
never got enough to satisfy him before
the approach of a 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 it utterly impossible to get
= place to build nest or piece OF
ground in which to scratch for grub on
his own account, Qui hunted for a job;
but to every crow to whom he applied
his appearance was so repulsiye he was
30 evidently nero 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 thu
porch. There was his wife and little girl
but neither saw him. ~ do wish" he
overheard the little girl say, chat papa
would come back" His wife made nc
reply. She only wept
MAY, dear" said Mr.. Fassett, "papa
Is back
His wife and child started. and Gu
was about to rush at them both witt
open arms, when the little girl exclaim
ed:
'Oh, it's only an old crow, mamma
but how tame it 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, wen
into the house. while the little CIR
approached Ler father cautiously, les
he might fly away, and taking him il
her lap snoothed his ruffied feathers
He tried to mako himself kncwr
to her, bat all his efforts to talk resulted
only in croaks Ineligible enough to
crow, but meaningless to the child. IL
Outs astonishment, however, the cat
ais old pet cat-understood him, ant
ler miaous wero as ineligible TO hin
as the dialect of the Swede who worlse &c
IN his farm. While puss looked up a
The crow, occasionally uttering a long
irawn miaou, and the crow croalIed, thu
,hild feared the cat wanted to dine off o
her crow and that the crow was brighten
ed; but that wasn't the case all. The ca
and Mr.. Fassett were engaged in con
versation, from which Fassett learned
that he had disappeared, some three
months before, and that the greatest OK
element had prevailed in the commun
ity, while his wife had suffered intensely
"A