The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-02-14
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
a MYsTERIoUs plsAPPEARANcE
CONTINUED FROM LAST 1ssuEl

nook 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 at the very
base OF society,"" he said. "a nest il
part OF tree; grub is part of corn
field. II q crow can not own tree or .
corn Held he can not own nests or grub
the greater includes the less. beg
you to retract"
II can not" Father Cav answered.
e'Then you must bear the conse-
suences." said his redness; and forth
with Father Cav was seized, stripped Of
his feathers, and thrown to the ground.
Meantime Out 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 30 intelli-
gent should be disturber. arousing dis
content among crows and preaching
doctrines that no one ever heard of be-
FORE"
II am only preaching the doctrine
heard you teach, " replied Mr.. Fassett
what" croaked the magistrate, half
angry at Outs impotence, and half
curious to know what he meant SEX
plain yourself sirv'
when I first became a crow" said
Qui, 81 was insulted and attacked as q
scab by 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"
II 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
case?"
''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, and Icouldn't get 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 como here again"
So poor Qui was taken to the trunk Of
an old tree and pushed through a knot
hole. After Tutoring around the hol-
low trunk, he finally fell to the bottom
among q 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 a
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,
he would stealthily drop down into Q
corn field and scratch for grub; but he
never got enough to satisfy him before
the 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 nest or piece of
ground in which to scratch for grub on
his own account, Qui hunted for . job;
but to every crow to whom he applied
his appearance was so repulsive, he was
so evidently 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. II do WISH" he
overheard the little girl say, shat papa
would come back" His wife made no
reply. She only wept
MAY. DEAR" said Mr.. Fassett papa
IL back"
His wife and child started, and Out
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
he might fly away. and taking him in
her lap smoothed his rufled feathers
He tried to make himself known
to her, but all his efforts to talk resulted
only in croaks, Ineligible enough to =
crow, but meaningless to the child. To
Outs astonishment however. the cat
his old pet cat-understood him, and
hor N, iaoua vropo a fufo1li0{hlo A, him