The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-06-02
SUICIDE OF AN OYSTER.
A Story to Prove Something That is No;
Generally Known.

I've pot a tame crow. said Charley
Deutsch. who keeps the road house at
Lowerre. on the Yenkers side OF the
New York and Yonkers boundary line
and the only thing he isafraid OF is All
oyster That crow amt afraid to
buckle in and have round or two with
ulldog. but just put an oyster down
where ne may be-. and he'll pull for
cover to quick that he'll look like a
black streak This is an interesting
fact. for it proves that crows have. good
mem cries And that crow of mine has
good reason to be little shy of oys-
ters. He had an experience with one
once that would have wound up his
career if l hadn't happened to be
near and rescued him. That scra D
between the oyster and the crow
also proved to me that while the
oyster may be dumb he is
no chump. not by long shot
Would you believe that maternal af-
lection hung around an oyster to any
great degree? Or grief? Or would you
think an oyster had sense enough to sit
down and deliberately plan its own
death? You never would. of course
But you will after YOU hear q bout this
oyster Of mine and the crow.
4 had family of oysters in the
cellar that / kept them so long. feeding
them by hand. that they got to be regu-
lar pets ] used to feed them oatmeal.
and they got so they knew me, and
every time I'd go into the cellar and
whistle they'd pop their shells open and
wait for me to sprinkle the oatmeal in
on EN-. They ate peek of meal day.
and grew so fat that II was all some of
them could do to shut their shells
down on themselves when they
had opened up. Among them was
a big she oyster. and clinging
to her shell was one of her
young ones, which she seemed 10
think the world of This little fellow
used to open his shell with the rest of
them when | whistled. and took in his
meal like little man. Those oysters
knew me so well that nobody else had
ever been a BILE to force them into open
ing their shells by whistling at them;
not until | got that tame crow The
crow hadn't been around here more than
a week before he could initiate my
whistle exactly.
One day | was down cellar. setting
off in one corner sorting potatoes, when
heard something come humping down
the cellar steps ! looked up and saw
it was the crow. He didn't see me- and
| laid low to see what the mischievOus
chap had on his mind. He thumped on
down the steps, and strobe over to
where the oysters were. He stopped
close to them, and piped up my whistle
as natural as could have done it my
self Every oyster popped its shell wide
open. but the instant the surprised
bivalves saw the crow standing there
shut went the shells again with snap
that showed either great fright on the
part of the oysters or great disgust
The crow stood still moment. look
ing good deal surprised himself, and
then he tried to fool the oysters again.
He whistled, but the oysters were onto
him and stayed shut All but one.
That one was the young oyster. He
hadn't cut his eye teeth yet. and when
the crow whistled the second time he
opened up again. Whether he would
have closed up right away or not l have
no means of knowing: but. anyhow, he
never got the chance. for the shell had
no sooner opened than the crow pounced
on the foolish young oyster and drag
ged him out quicker than a fash.
The oysters mother must have
tumbled to the fact that something was
wrong on the outside. for she opened
her shell a little and peered out just
as the crow was gobbling her young
one. Then she flew wide open. and
with one tremendous spring, lit on the
crow and had him by the neck. She
closed her shell on him so tight that it
shut his wind right off. and all he could
do was to kick and gasp and flop
around the cellar like a hen with
its head off | had hard work
corralling the crow. he pitched around
so, and in another minute he'd have
been a goner, but | finally got hold OF
him and vanked the infuria ted oyster
away from his throat. put her back in
her place. and hurried ont Of the cellar
with thee crow. He spent all the rest
Of the day in the corner yonder swear
ing and jawing to himself and al
though that was six months ago. all
you've got TO do to-day if YOU want to
see him make tracks is to sit down and
order dozen oysters on the shell and
let him hear you.
Il took to noticing after that that
the oyster the crow had robbed Of her
young one didn't open up when |
whistled EN- for feed, although she
had always been the liveliest one
among the lot Finally | cOaxed her to
open her shell one day. and l was
startled TO see that she was wasted al
most to skeleton. It struck me as
the truth then and nobody can make
me believe anything else as long as !
live. that the oyster was pining. actual
IL pining for her lost young one. She
was all broke up, and 1t made me feel
bad to see her.
THAT family of oysters used 70 have
heap of fun catching rats. YoE
wouldn't believe how them oysters
used to enjoy themselves catching rats.
steel traps were never IN il with them
when It came 70 doing up rats. The
way they did it was 70 open their shells
every now and then and Lax low Il
there j. anything 4 rat likes i iS a fat.
Juicy oyster. right ont of the she'll j
wouldn't be long after these oysters
had set themselves. 50 10 speak. before
mavbe half a dozen rats would come
out of their hiding places and sneak up
toward the tempting oysters 4 few
seconds later half a dozen uEster Shells