The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-09-02
3ftt5eell anen,ts.
THAT SkEERCROW.

Everybody has their faults, an
though Uncle Eph is ez good mar
ez ever walked, he has his'n, an one
of 'em is to pack off the blame OF
everything on ter Aunt Kezier. Oh
it's :. powerful pleasant thing ter al
ways hev a scape-goat, and Uncle EpE
! seems truly to injoy puckerin' up his
| mouth and saying to kezier. Now
| this all Gums frum your blamed keer
| lessness,'' or This is some more OF
your bad management"
What rifles me so is the way Aunt
KeZier puts up with it. She takes il
| lest ez if he was payin' her the great
est compliment in the wor', and new
er jaws back the patience OF that wo
| man is amaZin.
But Uncle Eph he'd ter shoulder the
blame of that lost check, though he
tried mighty hard to get out of 1t
| One day last spring me an Aunt Ne
zier was Il white-washin' the dining
room it had got smoked terrible dur
in the winter, an we was tryln tt
decide whether ter give 1t another
coat or no, our spirits being wlllin
but both our backs bein' rather weak
when Uncle Eph rushed in powerful
excited an sed:
"Wife, give me some clean buds
quick. Brother Solomon is jest at the
pint of death, an must get there el
soon es possihle-but here, put this
away first" and he handed her d
paper, which, on lookin' over hel
Shoulder, | diskivered to be a tele
graph.
She was about ter put it in hel
pocket. but he saw her, and said right
quick like:
Put that away first. Put it in the
desk. You might lose it.
wonder what made him so partl
cular, an if he ever expected ter use
the telegraph agin, but L dIdn { say
nothin'. an neither did Aunt keziel
fur we knowed he didn't like to be
pestered, especially when he was III
hurry, so we jest set ter work with all
our might ter git him ready for the
three o'clock train, an he jest ketch
ed it by the skin of his teeth:
Well, he never set foot on that place
again fur two weeks, fur after all
Uncle Solomon didn't die. an he
wouldn't hear ter Uncle Eph leavin
| him till he got aroun' again. When
Uncle Eph did cum home he brought
Uncle Solomon's little girl with him
A sweet, pretty creature she was
with great wonderin' blue eyes, anG
| that full of mischief that she hardly
knowed what ter do with herself
! She thought Uncle Eph was the bes'
| piayfeller she had ever kun acrost
for she had never bin on a farm be
fore. an he took her with HIM every
| where he went. an let her 90 every
thing she asked him, an they pettec
the colts. an fed the calves, an hunt
| ed the turkey nests, an he nked II
| TOO. an never seemed ter get tired o.
her questions, or of her little feet thai
was always PATTERN after him.
| One day they had II great frolic Over
maxim a sIeercrow. The chicken
ward was some distance from the
house, an sometimes the hawks car
I ried off u power of chickens: One
| day Lily came i'll Il sobbin' IKE me-
heart would break. A great hawl
he'd swooped down an carried or
Gypsy. Lily's pet hen.
Uncle Eph tried his best ter com
fort her; an said he, Lilly, I'll tel
YOU what We'll do. Wen make
| skeererVw.
! "What is that, Uncle Eph ? sh'
! asked, eZ she clum up i'll his lap an
i wiped the tears outen her eyes on III
big bandanna. An how 90 you
make it p r.-
"rH show you this very afternoon
ez soon ez finish plantin' them per
taters.' ..
kin help plant 'em, Uncle Eph 2
4 she sed, her tears all but gone by TIM
: time.
"Sartinly,'' said he; so she folleret
Il hn ~
a swingin' her little pink sun bonnie
that Aunt kezier had made her, d.
one string 1--WE couldn't git her to keel
it on her head an Jest talkln' ever.
] step of the way. We could hear he
I shrill voice clear inter the Kitchen,
at duz beat all what cronies then
+uo I've - sed Aunt kezier, a lookin
out the winder at 'em.
An won't we be lonesome withou
ber2 most wish she hadn' cum.
Then she sighed, an / knowed sh
was thinkin' about her own little cir
that he'd been taken away when sh
was about Lily's size.
| When the pertaters was PLANTED
j Uncle Eph an Lily rumlnidged tn
! sarret fruln one end TO the other, an
I presently cum down with Il hull arm
"We're Il goin' ter stuff him will
straw sed Lily, a-dancin' across tn
! floor an a draggin' Il pair of old cor
dyroy pants after her.
They was gone Il good spell, bil
when they cum ter supper they dIdn
saw a word about what they he'd beel
doin'. That eyenin' | went out te
the chicken yard with pan OF fee'
i'm my han, an just as | was chasin
old Greedy outen the grain box rul
plump agin a man.
dropped my pam an jumped back
am was about to yell, when l saw
was a skeercrow, an that L he'
knocked his head off.
j | set myself down on hencoop, an
7 laughed till [ cried, he was sich a re
Il diculous lookin' case. When | wen
Nter the house an tole Lily about
fshe was nightly tickled to think
he'd sleered me so.
y Il had named him Charley Main,
sae sed. "but now think he ought tie
u be called Charles the First, because
4 ysou know. Cousin Betsy, he was $
7m fortunate ez ter hev his head take
off too"
4 Now, / didn't know nothil.' abcu
iCharles the First, but didn't let o
ster the dear child. 1t amt wort
while ter expose your Ignorance i
+ Kingology or any other ology, so
hmeraly sed that i thought it would b
H., E,,et NO 70 nop,a ON Inv II ba want q