Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1894-01-20
Several Years Ago.

'HOw are eggs today" inquired
Charlie Daniels, IA he leaned one
elbow on the bar and watched the
landlord mix the eX-poundmaster
his favorite beverage of settler and
lemon juice.
The egg market is in such state
that this bar don't break another
egg in glass for you and let you
flavor il with four fingers and
thumb of e-dollar brandy, unless
YOU get over the impression that
YOU can pay for it with a dime and
get back five cents change" said the
landlord. IA he handed out tive
cent cigar to Diveley, and put it on
the slate.
That's business" said Marshal
Gill; keep that up, Frank, and after
awhile you can buy new slate, and
won't have to sponge this one off
every time you fill it."
Eggs" said Daniels, taking
chair by the stove, eggs are eggs,
know, hut l remember time when
eggs were so scarce that if the yolks
of all you could have found in the
whole county had been rolled into
one it won ldn't have filled the cavity
i'm the milk-tooth of a spring chick
en. That was in "a, think"
"Do yoli mean the year that crows
eggs was fctchin' four bits dozen.
long the creek, an Charley King
had 10 open five bushel o shc-suck-
ers to git eggs for brcakfas on the
mornin' o Paas:" asked Naylor.
That were '53, Daniels"
Well. any how, in the spring of
81" said Daniels. we had an old
hen, and she wanted to set, bad.
She was just spelling to set She'd
get up nights and go spookin
around to find place with eggs i'll
it. She got down in the cellar and
settled herself on peck measure OF
turnips and commenced Matching
them out. We drove her away. One
day | found her out in the garden
huddled dOwn in peace. She was
engaged in warming up china
door knob to see what she could get
out of it. l felt sorry for the hen
and let her set. a day or 40 after
ward | found swapping turtles
nest in the sand along the river.
There were twelve eggs in it. took
them home and put them under the
old hen. l thought I'd have some
fun, anyhow. Well, sir. she Matched
those eggs out, and l want to tell
you that that experiment satisfied
me that whatever a hen matches isa
part of her or the family she be-
longs to. Maybe you won't believe
it, but those little turtles had feath-
ers OH their legs"
How old was the hem" asked
Marshal Gill, as Daniels paused.
They had feathers on their legs"
continued Daniels, without noticing
the inquiry. land they had little
spurs. The old hen was little sur
prised at first when she discovered
what brood she had, but she got
along with them first rate until they
were about four weeks old. and then
she found them hard to manage.
There wasn't enough chicken in the
turtles to make them feel at home
in the poultry yard, and one by one
they disappeared until they were
all gone. They had found their way
to the river, and never expected to
see any of them again. The next
summer 1 was fishing up in the ed
dy, and pretty soon l saw fairly
good-sized swapping turtle swim to
shore and crawl up on the sand. He
/ wasn't more than tan feet from me,
! but he either didn't see me or else
didn't mind me. He walked around
"a minute aid then bagan to scratch
in the sand. thought that was
funny, and couldn't understand il.
His next move made everything
clear to me. He raised up on his
hind legs, Tapped his tlippers