The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1893-10-28
STORY TELLING OWLS
THEIR FUNNY YARNS MADE THE
ADlRoNDAcKs RING WITH MlRTh.

] HfNh INC looms hoWioo WIN nehHhN
"What amused our party most up in
the Adirondacks," said q Scranton man,
twas an entertainment given to us by .
dock Of story telling owls. Our camp
was away back in the wilderness Of
Herkimer county, and wo bad hardly
turned in for the night when = hock Of
owls alighted on tree over us and BE-
gan to tell stories and laugh. EvWy
owl listened in silence to the one that
Was talking, and when the tale was hn-
shed the whole hock laughed ss though
hey we're tickled half TO death.
"They reminded us Of lot Of drum
.ners IN a smoking car, and they had
such jolly fun it became contagious.
We all rolled aud laughed over the fun
the big eyed birds were having up In the
tree, and before long the side splitting
,ontagion attacked some looms out on
the lake, which fairly yelled with de-
| light whenever the fun loving owls gut
iawed and shrieked and shouted over =
right good yarn told by one Of their
lumber.
"Once in awhile story was 20 funny
before the knob was reached that We
could hear two or three Of the featherVd
listeners snicler and chuckle under theis
breath, and when the end came the en-
tire flock made the woods ring. Tbs
jovisl birds had met expressly to uWap
Experiences Of the night before, and
they talked so plainly that we could
easily keep run Of their anecdotes -
we lay on our beds Of spruce boughs.
"One Of the owls told about how BID
rat that he had caught by the back
yanked itself loose and showed hght.
The owl described how he had let tbs
rat hatter itself that it wss going 70 Hok
him, how he finally bit his tail Of at ths
root, and how the rat then went squsn1-
ing and Eigzagging around with no rud-
der to guide its movements. The picture
so amused the eager auditors that they
fell into the most violent Ats Of lsuRhtar,
some Of them tuInbling from their perch,
they were so tickled.
Another owl described the tuasla he
had had with a tough old jack hare In .
swamp. He said that the hare had oar
ried him along through the rushes and
over logs for some distance after be had
got his claws in its back, aud that he AS
last brought the hareup standing by keep
ing one claw in its hide and catching hoId
of bush with his other claw. The hnfo
rolled over and over as soon as tbs owl
let go of the bush, and the owl said that
bis 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 biting q snRkO'p
head of and trying to swallow 1t. The
head stuck in his throat, and be would
surely have choked to death, he said, II
his mate hadn't come along lust then
and pulled it out with her claw, The
story teller's predicameut was such =
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 roistereFs and
made them hoot and screech and fiuttsu
all over the tree for ut 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, % be
sailed out to the settlement, settled doyrn
ON the window sill of house in which
there was no light and began to 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 sido
of the house to the other till woman
got up, struck light and began to try
the windows to see if they were fast.
when she came to his window, hs
peered in at her, and She started TO
scream 10 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 coakinR hsT
to, but at length she caught her breath
long enough to say she had seen a spook
at the window.
AT that the man dashed out and b.
gan to search around the house, and the
owl said he few to the top of a balsam
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 rumpus about
nothing, so he drove the children back
to bed and went 10 jawing her like Slx.
ty. She jawed back, and they had It
not and heavy till the man got mp and
cuffed her. Then she threw a dippax OF
water on him in the bed, and in jump
ing out at her he knocked the lamp oR
he stand and put out the light, Ths
owl said he listened TO their qusrreiinE
and fighting in the dark till ne ccal6
stand it no longer, when he flew back 70
the woods. His recital filed his listen
ers with merriment, and il WAS s0vsr1
minutes before they calmed down for
another Rnecdote,
"Well, sir, those joyial owls continued
to tell stories till O'Clock, when W. ali
became so sleepy that we lost all interest,"
in their amusing tales. The looms cat
ON the lake laughed like all posseased
whenever the owls did, and tina tive
gangs OF midnight merrymakers kept up
their racket TIL we hal 10 20 out and
drive the owls away 10y firing our re-
golvers. Scranton Letter.