Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-10-06

Spread to Their Human Auditors and
Even the Looms Howled With Delight.
What amused our party most up in
the Adirondacks,' said Scranton man,
was an entertainment given to us by
flock Of story telling owls. Our camp
was away back in the wilderness Of
Herkimer county, and we had hardly
turned in for the night when a flock of
owls aighted on a tree over us and be-
gan to tell stories and laugh. Every
owl listened in silence TO the one that
was talking, and when the tale was fin
ished the whole flock laughed as though
they Were tickled half to death
They reminded US of lot Of drum
mers in a smoking car, and they had
such Jolly fun it became contagious.
We all rolled and laughed over the fun
the big eyed birds We're having up in the
tree, and before long the side splitting
contagion attacked some looms out on
the lake, which fairly yelled with de-
light whenever the fun loving owls guf-
fawed and shrieked and shouted over a
right good yarn told by one of their
number.
"Once il awhile a story was so funny
before the knob was reached that we
could hear two or three of the feathered
listeners sEicker and chuckle under their
breath, and when the end came the en-
tire flock made the woods ring. The
jovial birds had met expressly to swap
experiences of the night before, and
they talked so plainly that we could
easily keep a run of their anecdotes as
we lay on our beds of spruce boughs.
''One of the owls told about how big
rat that he had caught by the back
yanked itself loose and showed fight.
The owl described how he had let the
rat flatter itself that it was going to lick
him, how he finally bit his tail off at the
root, and how the rat then went squeal-
ing and zigzagging around with no rud-
der to guide its movements. The picture
so amused the eager auditors that they
fell into the most violent fits Of laughter.
some Of them tumbling from their perch,
they Were 50 uckled.
Another owl described the tussle he
had had with a tou-h old jack hare in a
swamp. He said that the hare had car
ried HIM along through the rushes and
over logs for some distance after he had
got his claws III its back, and that he at
last brought the hareup standing by keep
ing one claw IL Its hide and catching hold
Of a bush with his other claw. The hare
rolled over and over as soon as the owl
let go of the bush, and the owl said that
his feathers pointed in all directions
when he finally got the best of the hare
Peal after peal of laughter followed the
narrative.
Another owl told about bitinga snakes
head off and trying to swallow ii. The
head stuck in his throat, and he would
surely have Choked to death, he said. if
his mate hadn't come along Just then
and pulled it out with her claw. The
story teller's predlcament was such a
funny picture to the imagination of the
listening owls that they responded with
yells of wild delight.
But the story that fairly upset the
whole party Of nocturnal roisterers and
made them boot and screech and au1ter
all over the tree for at least five min
utes was told by an owl with an alto
voice. He said that he felt like kicking
up some mischief the night before. so he
sailed out to the settlement, settled down
on the window sill OF house in which
there was no light and began 10 tap on
the panes with his bill. The folks were
asleep, so he fitted to the opposite side
of the house and tapped there. Nobody
stirred, and he kept going from one side
of the house to the other till a woman
got up, struck light and began to try
the windows to see if they We're fast.
when she came to his window, he
peered in at her, and she started to
scream so hard that in moment her
husband sprang out of bed, and four chill
dren in their nightclothes came running
down stairs and shouting, Mamma,
what's the natter The woman couldn't
tell what the matter was. although her
husband and young ones kept cOaxing her
TO, but at length she caught her breath
long enough to say she had seen d spook
at the window.
AT that the man dashed out and be-
gan to search around the house, and the
owl said he flew to the top of a balssm
tree, where he sat till the man went
back. when he alighted on the window
sill again. The man was angry at his
wife for making such a rumpus about
nothing, so he drove the children back
to bed and went to jawing her like six
ty. She jawed back, and they had it
hot and heavy till the man got up and
cuffed her. Then she threw a dipper of
water ON him in the bed, and in Jump
ing out ut her he knocked the lamp of
the stand and put out the light. The
owl said he listened to their quarreling
and fighting in the dark till he could
stand it no longer, when he flew back to
the woods. His recital filed his listen
ers with merriment, and it was several
minutes before they Gained down for
another anecdote.
well. sir, those jovial owls continued
to tell stories till 2 o'clock, when we all
became so sleepy that we lost all interest
in their amusing tales The looms ont