The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-10-19
Harvest Home.


Mrs. Dodson, Billy's mother, gave a
vigorous final whisk to her broom as
she swept the last speck of dust from
the back steps that led into the kitch-
en- door, and herself retired within
that humble portal. 1t was a very
warm day in August and Billy was,
to draw it mildly, somewhat disin-
cliued to any great exertion in the line
of manual labor, yet, as his great
admirer and faithful chronicler, !
am bound to state that I firmly be-
licve that if Tommy Jones or jim
my Smith had just then happened
along and suggested a swim in the
river he would have shown much
greater alacrity. 1 don't think /
should have blamed him for it, either.
Well, he took the hoe and basket
and proceeded to the vegetable gar
den, where he found it warmer If
possible than at the house. 1 must
pause just long enough to give you
some Idea of my hero. Billy, while
q fayorite of mine, is not handsome.
He is freckled, sunburned, and has
light, straight, striped hair. He has
frank smile, and, l might add. a
large one, for, strictly speaking, his
mouth cannot be called either ecu
pid's bow or rosebud" His teeth
are all full grown, in fact large and
wide apart, which indicates good ma
ture. AS for dress, Billy can scarcely
be called dude, though there is time
enough yet for that. He just won't
wear a coat in warm weather, and
one suspender is nearly always shorter
than the other, which gives his clothes
a "hitched-up" appearance which is
quite comical. He does not use the
most correct language in speaking, as
will be apparent before this story is
done, but has a direct way of speak
ing which is easily understood by the
most fastidious scholar. He does
naughty things sometimes. He rObs
birds nests, he dispises to go to Sun.
day school, he will not learn Bible
verses, he says heT never expects to
60 to the young peoples Christian
EndeavOr society, he has never joined
a blue ribbon club, and, sad indeed to
relate, he has actually had a fight
on his way home from Sunday school
too. He whipped a boy larger than
himself for imposing upon smaller
boy. I am sorry that Billy fought,
but I am glad that he whipped the
other boy. Yet with all these and
many other faults, the boys all like
him, and SO do I. When I see him
going along the road whistling-he is
an inveterate whistler-(when boys
whistle they are not intent upon mis-.
chief with his battered hat set sq1arc
on his head, l often think of the un.
told possibilities clustering around
that homely, good-hearted young 'un.
Possibilities and probabilities Of i'm.
port SO great that We may well
pause :and refect-the destinies of
home, church, state, yes, of a world
hang upon the future of boys like
that. But I must not moralize, but
go on with this story. 1t was only
10 o'clock when Billy set his basket
down by fine hill of potatoes; and
as he knew that there was plenty OF
time, he leisurely stretched himself
in the shade under a tree for a short
respite.
There were all kinds Of vegetables
in the garden. 1t was indeed regu-
lar truck PATCH" as his father called
1t, and most of the vegetables were
large and fine. But there were quite
a number of weeds scattered here
and there, as there is apt to be late
in the season. Billy knowing that
his father was in the habit of taking
vegetables to the Oregon state fair,
looked around wondering how many
premiums would be his this year, and
just what particular vegetables would
be put on exhibition. Bordering
along the fence and in the corners
were several hollyhocks and sunfiow.
10
large, tall sunfiower bowling and nod.
ding in a most astonishing manher
while from it's luminous face pro-
ceeded as queer voice as Billy had
ever heard. In perfectly awful as
tonishment he hear'i these words from
the great yellow sunf1ower: Fellow
vegetables" now Billy did not believe
for one moment that that sunflower
was a "fellOw vegetable.'0 The sun
flower proceeded, "The hour having
arrived for us to discuss matters
relative to the future important DO
sition which some of us will no doubt
hold at the Oregon state fair, I hope
that each one of you will, in a calm,
Hgnified and impartial manner, dis
cuss his or her respective claims for a
premium. It Is just barely possible
that the general public will not
agree with you, and it is almost abso-
lutely certain that the committees will
not; nevertheless, I should like an ex-
preston from you, and also from some
of the the more thrifty Weeds, es-
pecially those who are In the habit
of constant association with Us; OF
course, they are not at all likely to
be placed upon exhibition, but believ-
Ing as we do in the science of evolu-
ton, equal rights, eternal progress
and the Mckinley bill, we would
also like an expression from them,
for it is quite possible that future
generations will discover their virtues
and bring them before the public as
benefactors of the race" At this
there seemed to be general nodding
and waving of approval from all the
vegetables and weeds. A casual OBJ
server would have thought that Il
breath of air stirred them, but Billy
well knew there was no air stirring
that hot August day. Then the state
ly sunfiower explained how that
much against her will she had been pre-
vailed upon to accept the responsible
position which she occupied, only upon
condition that all would express them
selves freely, and be sure to tran
sact business between the hours of 10
n m and n M as the SIMS heat