The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-03-25

of the night shut in the valley, the tenn
pest grew more furious. 1t smote the
Finn shanty like a solid, wrenching
the window blinds from their fasten-
ings. Whirlwinds as keen as a razor's
edge came bowling down the chin
ney, scattering glowing emtcrs over the
floor.
mickey, dear" said Mrs Finn, "'tis
bitter night for the nanny and the
chickens. Did ye take care O. thin p
Path, | did, mother" replied the
boy. Didn't l plug up the holes in
the chicken coop lasht week wild paper.
There's only wan weeny hole in the
door that'll do no harrum. And the
nanny has enough dried leaves and
straw over her as'll do for a dozen like
her."
The chicken coop consisted of two
parts. The larger portion was an open
frame work of lath, where the chickens
scratched and exercised, while the
smaller part was boarded up tightly to
protect them in cold weather. Perched
on stick running across the coop were
six Dominick hens, Shanghai rooster,
and bantam rooster. The eager and
biting air had caused the chickens to
huddle close together for mutual
warmth, but still they shivered as the
blizzard sifted snow down upon them
from cracks in the roof, until they were
covered with a white blanket. Mean
while. Mickey had forgotten the spar
rows. He supposed they had flown back
to their usual sleeping places. But.
frightened by the cruel shot the little
birds had remained around the shauty
until the blizzard came. Then the force
of the wind was so great that they were
unable to fly against it, and they how
cred around the shanty and the chicken
coop, hiding under the caves and in
sheltered spots. But as the night wore
on the cold increased in intensity, until
it was ten degrees below zero. The
shurp breath of the blizzact, searched
its biting way through the downy feath-
ers covering the breasts of the spar
rows, and in an hour ten of them were
frozen to death. All of the sparrows
would have died ere morning were it not
for the discovery of knot-hole in the
chicken c>op by the sparrow With the
blue ribbon. The glad news was i'm
parted in bird language to the entire
fock, end in short time each sparrow
had squeezed its body through the knot
hole into tie comparative warmth, Of the
coop. Tie intense cold had driven all
fear of the chickens from the breasts
of the sparruws, and with reckless hardi-
hood they few upon the stick where the
chickens we're perched. The bantam
rooster muttered sleepily as three spar
rows crawled between his legs and
spread them apart, while the weight of
eight shive,ing birds caused him to
squat nearer TO the perch. With mu>h
fu,terine 0: wings by the spa rrows and
gentle cenplslnings on the part of tie
chickens, the birds all settled them
selves for a comfortable nights sleep.
But this did not suit the vicious bliz-
zard.
The wind shifted it's direction, and
now it beat fiercely against the door of
the coop. With malicious cruelty it
sought out the knot-hole and sang
through it solo of devilish glec. And
the air Of the solo was filled with fine
snow and sleet frozen hard as ground
glass. This bitter, biting, insistent
death chill was driven through the knot
hole with hideous shrek. like steam
from a whistle. 1t smote the pyramid
of feathers and sprayed it with icy crys-
tails. It froze the comb of the Shanghai
rooster and caused the bantam to shiver
as with ague. 1t happened that the ban
tam rooster was perched right in line
with the knot-hole and received the full
force of the blast. One by one the spar
rows between his legs and upon his back
were overcome. Chilled to the heart
they fell to the ground with soft thud
Suddenly the hole in the door was
plugged up, the remaining birds set
tied themselves comfortably, and the
mass of animate feathers dropped OFF
into the land of dreams.
When the sun arose over the Berk-
shire hills next morning, the blizzard
had spent its fury. The snow reflected
back in dazzling radiance the rays of
the rising sun. When Mickey opened
the door of the shanty at six o'clock TO
feed the chickens and milk the nanny
before going to school, he was almost
buried under an avalanche of snow,
which had piled against the door during
the night. He forced his way through
the drift and, painting with exertion,
reached the chicken coop. AS he placed
his hand on the hasp to open the door
his eye was caught by the futter of
piece of blue ribbon from the knothole.
The ribbon was around the neck of a
sparrow into whose sightless eyes beat
the glory Of the sun.
The slender legs were bent under the
body. The head was turned aside as if
to escape the fury of the blizzard. Very
tenderly, almost reverently, the boy
took the frozen body from the hole,
opened the door of the coop, and went
into the shanty, while a cloud of hun
cry sparrows few about his head and
perched on his shoulders. He placed the
dead sparrow upon the table, while the
living birds flew to the mantel and the
chairs, and walked around saucily.
what happened the weeny little