Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-25

the trouble to write the language down
from Buster Johns recipe But he put Il
off from day to day and now there is moth
ing left but the rough notes Of these stories.
and some scattered fragments OF explana-
tion, one OF which is presented above.
Well Ito shoe all this away), Mr.. Coon
was highly delighted with his dinner, and
was ready to curl up and take a nap, or
was willing to join the children in a frolic.
So they led him into their play room in the
attic, unsnapped the chain from his collar
and gave him the freedom OF the wide
space.
First. Mr.. Coon must poke his nose or
his forepaws into everything. He paced
! round and round the room, smelling at or
| feeding in every nook and Granny. When
he was satisfied with his inspection, moth
/ ing would do but he must feel in Buster
Johns pocket. He pulled out marbles.
nails, fragments OF chinaware, which the
youngster used in place OF money. With
few fragments OF fine chinaware in his
! pocket Buster John always felt rich. With
this form of currency he had bought whole
droves OF ponies and large arsenals of guns,
! pistols, swords and war cannon from imag-
! mary vendors.
I Piece by piece Mr. Coon brought Buster
| Johns treasures to light and examined them
! carefully. The children noticed that Mr..
! Coons forepaws were very much like tiny
hands, and that his hind feet made tracks
| in the sand that looked like those OF wee
baby. or course, II was Sweetest Susan VINO
made this discovery. Whenever Mr.. coon
! left the prints of his feet visible one could
almost imagine that some smar goblin IN
human shape had passed that way going on
all fours. Almost! Why, Sweetest susan
| did imagine twas sure of it, indeed
| whenever she was in Make Believe land,
| where she lived most of the time. Surely
| II could not be more wonderful than the
| country next door to the world, where OLD
| Mr. Rabbit and Mrs. Meadows and the
| looking glass children had their ABODE.
For a few DAYS Mr. Coon feasted and then
| the children thought he should begin to pay
for his board; first, by giving an account
| Of himself. and next in any other way tnat
| might be devised. So far as Mr.. Coon was
concerned he was perfectly willing to ac-
commodate the children. He was never bad
tempered unless he saw a cat or dog ana
such OF these as were about the house and
ward soon learned to give him wide berth,
for his claws and teeth were sharp and he
was a born fighter.
In Joe Maxwell's rough notes Mr.. Coon
began thus:
"If had to tell my tale from the talk
think. as you talk your talk, I'd talk no
talk of this thing" AS this would be hard
to follow it has been rendered into free
translation from first to last.
"If l had to learn my language out OF
books as you do yours" said Mr.. Coon,
leaning back in a corner Of the play room
and rubbing his face and nose with both
hands. ~ wouldn't have much to say about
myself. for l wouldn't know how TO say it.
Ny home was in the hollow limb OF tree
how nice II to
sleep in that soft warm place. There were
four others besides me and we used to
sleep close together till our NANNY came
home. We were always awake when she
came, for we could hear her climbing the
| tree, and then, if it was not raining, she'd
| sit on the outside and dry her feet and
| clothes with her tongue. Sometimes we'd
| get impatient and begin to cry and once one
| of the others went to the door the slap he
got made him squeal and none of us ever
| bothered our nanny any more by going to
the door But my, How hungry and
angry ! used to get while nanny sat out
there cleaning her feet and drying her
clothes. But she always took her own time,
and then, when she came in, what
scramble there was for the right teat. Mine
was the middle one. but l always had TO
| claw and be clawed before ! could get II.
We were all ravenous and l never did get
as much food as wanted at one time till
came here. ! think our kind are born
| hungry and kept hungry that we may be
able to escape from those that follow US.
The first thing really remember was once
when / heard bird chirping and whistling
right at our very door. ! trembed and
shook all over. The others were asleep and
was glad OF It, Shaking and trembling,
crept TO the door, and there, right at me,
/ ID uith which he
poking under the bark. Shvering and shak-
| ing, Jumped on him but l came near fall
| ing to the ground. He was stronger than he
seemed TO be, and he had claws, too. He
! clinched me with these, and beat me over
the head with his wings, but l didn't mind
! that / didn't mind anything ! shook no
| longer. / felt my hair rising on my back.
heard myself growl. l didn't know why,
but ] was furious. ! crushed the bird in
my teeth until his wings ceased 10 move;
but / was still angry; l had tasted blood;
had made my first kill II one of the
others had come out just then. I think he
would have been sorry. But they were all
frightened by the noise and were huddled in
the farthest corner. Then. when l was no
longer angry, but proud, l went TO the door
carrying the bird in my teeth. They smelt
/ the blood and rushed al me, and then there
! was fight"
why, you were fighting your own broth
ers and sisters!" said Sweetest Susan,
severely.
$50 would you, II you were of my kind"
replied Mr.. Coon. There was a fight, but
| they all got piece OF the bird. After that
We were changed. It seemed as if We had
been asleep all the time. and something had
suddenly awakened us. Then nanny came
home She shifted around and smelt the
blood and saw the feathers. She nosed un-
der us as We lay and rooted us out OF the
way, but she found nothn' more than feath-
ers. Well, declare! she cried, who's
been bringing you a bird?
lis that what you call bird? asked one
! OF the others. and when she said II was
they all squalled out; %, nanny, nanny!
+, Fetch us some more Nanny. fetch US
some more!'
But she kept on asking Who brought
this one? Who brought this one?' / said
nothing, but the others looked al me and
said ] was the one that brought the bird.
Where did you get it?' nanny asked.