River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1897-02-11

moved away. lie
was such tried and trusty friend. and.
II he was GO. such cOngenial compan
ion. He was always ready TO go fishing
or coasting with the boys. or TO take
the girls TO drive; although he was
bachelor and lived alone, and had a
double carriage anG The largest sleigh
on Pippin Ilill-because he had so
large heart. Peggy said. lie knew as
much about fine wild things in the woods
as The Hunters Own Book" and on
rainy day or when one had the mumps
or the measles he would tell stories
by the dOzen-stories that were worth
telling. too, for he had been /" round the
world and home again" and knew all
there was to know about cannibals and
buccaneers and wild men, and all such
distinguished and interesting people.
II happened that the only houses on
IN tip-top of Pippin Hill were the Bel
T. suppose the Bells house may have
received that name because Papa Bell
always spoke of his children as his small
fry;" anyway. that is what everyone
in Bloomsboro' called IT'D and the old
Pigeon house, which had belonged to
this Mr.. Pigeons grandfather. The
houses backed up to each other, and
there was a mutual backyard fence,
so, of course, IL was very desirable that
the neighbOrs should be friendly and
oOngenial; more than this, there was
a mutual apple tree. The gnarled old
"high-tOp sweeting" was directly on
the boundary line between the two es-
tates. and the mutual fence had been
cut in two 10 make space for il. Its
branches were low aud spreading, ia
spite of its high top, and they spread
very impartially over the Bells smooth
lawn and over Mr.. Pigeons orchard,
and dropped their delicious fruit-early.
the first sweet apples that there were
almost as evenly as If il were measured
on each of their owners land. The
only difference was that the August
sunshine lay longer upon Mr.. Pigeons
side, so the first red and yellow. mellow
and juicy apples dropped upon his or
chard grassland he tossed them up
&c Christine in her seat in the low
crotch of the tree, the seat that he had
made for her.
Ii was Christine who thought the
most Of MIR. Pigeon and he of her, b.
cause they both had n twist, Christine
said. She would always speak of he-
trouble chcerfully, even jOkingly. You
would scarcely have thought that she
minded il Mt all; il was a spinal weak
ness which had bowed her shoulders and
twisted her head TO one side. The
others didn't mind much when Chris
tine was left on things: they were
a rough, merry /. but Mr.. Pigeon
had always remembered her. His
twist y as in one OF his legs: he had To
wear an uncomfortable iron boot. and
walked with a queer. sideways mc-
tion.
When Becky, who was II and was
called the RlOOmsbOro' budget. because
she carried all the news. came home
with the dreadful intelligence that Mr..
Pigeon was going to move away. 10
one would believe Il.
in the first place, it's too dreadful
20 be trIe. and in the next place he
would have told us" said Peggy.
But il really proved TO he true. Mr..
Pigeons sisteT-his own sisier!-had
gone to law to obtain a share Of her
grandfather's estate. which he had
failed TO bequeath TO her because she
had gone contrary to his wishes in
some way, and the only share that she
would have was that old estate on
Pippin Hill. Perhaps the law might
force her TO take something else as
her share, since he had held possess
sion there so long; but she was Hitty,
and he should give it up to her. That
was what Mr.. Pigeon said i'm answer
TO the indignant remonstrances of the
Bells. She was Kitty; that was all
he would say; perhaps IL wasn't much
of a reason. but the Bells understood
We all know Whist il is to give mp things
TO people just because they are Ky
or Polly or John.
So Il happened that the Rells' dear
Mr.. PigeOn went away to a little house
that he owned down at Peguanket Mills
and Miss Mehitable Pigeon came TO lice
at the old place on Pippin Hill and
owned half of the high-top sweeting
tree.
Aud the very first thing she did
II was September when she eame-was
10 threaten TO have Tommy Bell ar
rested because when he shook their
side of the tree her side shook too, anil
she said the top Of the tree leaned to-
ward their side and more apples fell
there. so when the apples were p'.kei
and divided she must have an extra
busbel. She threatened To have their
yellow kitten drowned because n,
scampered after ths,Ayiug leaves in he
garden. and. she did have their eros
gobbler killed because It ran after he
red morning gown. as gobbler w:li
you know. and gobbled at her. II
wasn't much loss. and she sent him hom'
picked aud dressed. with the messag,.
that she should have eaten him If she
bad not feared he would be tough.