The Republican., 1892-10-14
YARNS ABOUT A CROW.
1t Was an Ashtonishing Crow, II You Car
Believe the Yarns.


tain man. "One year, whenever mother
was going to have a quilting bee, she
sent Reb around the neighborhood to
invite all the women to come to it, and
the crow soon got SO that he liked to go
on errands of that kind. He never
made any mistakes, and he would sail
from house to house and shout in the
window or door: MANS going to have
a quilting bee this afternoon" and the
housewives all knew the crow so well
that that was ell the invitation they
needed. If Reb found the windows and
doors closed at any of the farm houses
he would tap on the window with his
bill till some one opened it, and then he
would give out the message and fy off
to the next house.
''In the fall, after mother had given
several quilting bees, all the women for
a mile around came to our house one
afternoon. Mother wasn't expecting
anybody, and when she began to ask
why so many of them had called at the
same time they all said that the crow
had invited them that morning. Reb
hadn't been told to do anything of the
kind, and of course mother had made
no preparations for a quilting bee. The
women laughed over the way the crow
had fooled them, and when mother
called Reb in and took him to task for
lying he yelled: Set 'em to work,
Nam: its good day for a bee,' and
mother got things ready in a hurry and
had n quilting after all, From then on
the crow was liar on the subject of
quilting bees. lie sailed through the
neigh hborhood twice week with his
quilting-bee invitations, but all the wo-
men got so that they wouldn't believe
him; and when Reb found that no one
came to the house he stopped going
around.
Father had a tame bear named Lige
that he kept chained in the back yard.
The bear was so fond of fried cakes that
he would gohble down peck of them
at meal if he could get them. The
crow found that out, and every time he
saw mother getting ready to fry a b,tch
of cakes he would saunter out and say
to the bear: Lige, MANS frying lot of
cakes. Mebbc you want me to fetch
you onc;' and the bear would hop up
and down, lick his chops, yank at his
chain, and beg the crow to bring him a
cookie. 'Ai right, Ligep Reb would
say to the bear. and flying into the
house, he would stick his bill into a
fried cake when mother wasn't looking,
sail out with it and give it to the bear
In his haste to get a cake one day the
bear hurt the crow little accidentally.
Reb went limping toward the house,
but he soon turned and sang out:
That's the last fried cake you'll get
the next batch the crow stole one and
laid it on the ground, where the bear
could almost reach it at the end of his
chan, but not quite. Lige tugged and
strained to get his paw on the cake, and
Reb sat off and yelled: Don't you wish
you could? Don't you wish you could?
more than a dozen times Finally the
bear changed ends, as though sudden
thought had struck him. and reaching
for the cake with his hind foot, he
pulled it toward him. and then wheeled
and gobbled it. That beats me, Lige,
the crow sang out, and when he got
another chance to steal fried cake he
put it where the bear could reach it
without straining for it.
There was a cross bull on the place
that was always trying to hook the
cows, and after while Reb got even
with him by sticking burdock and
chestnut burrs on his back and Jump
ing on them to make them prick the
hide. The irritation made the bull bel
Reb would alight on tree or fence
stake and mock him till the bull would
canter to another part of the field
Then the crow would chase him with
another bunch of burrs, and sometimes
be kept the bull dancing around for an
hour at stretch, trying to shake the
burrs out of his hair. We had to drive
the cattle to pasture through lane, on
one side of which there was hedge
row. The bull was generally at the
head of the herd, and the crow flew
along near him One summer Reb dis
covered hornets nest in the hedge
row, and just as the bull came along he
jumped on the nest, gave squawk and
flew to the top Of maple tree. The
hornets shot out at the bull, the bull
went tearing and believing through the
lane, and Reb tapped his wings on the
tree and chuckled at him. When the
bull reached the pasture the crow
alighted on his back and shouted: Look
out for hornets and the bull raced
around the lot as though another nest
of hornets had been turned loose on
him. The crow continued to stir up the
hornets while the cattle were going to
and from the pasture till the bull and
all the cows got so that they would run
past the nest like wild cattle.
"Reb got in the habit one summer of
looking after the sitting hens. If he
found that they had eggs under them
he would let them alone. but IL he found
hen trying to sit without any eggs he
would jump on her back and yell Get
off the nest" till he broke her of sitting.
One of the hens got killed day or SO
after she bad hatched out brood OF
chickens, and the crow took charge OF
the motherlcss chicks. clucked and
scratched for them, hovcred them like
"A hen, and looked after them till they
were big Ell ough to take care of them
selves