The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

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not sharp enough to keep it, and he was
quickly plucked as clean as pigeon in
/ the kitchen, With two horses, some COWS
/ and chickens the young couple went by
! boat Up the coast to Fort Bragg and
! thence struck out into the primeval forest
/ to take up the nearest INDICATED govern
ment land. The Redwoods offered them a
home and a livelihood, but great labor
and little profit. They were destitute Of
everything but love and hope the best
capital to put into a home. and the hus-
bands ak sang out merrily, and soon
there was a cabin in place Of the hollow
tree they had first sought shelter in. He
added stables and fences and a garden,
and his gun supplied plenty of venison,
ana quail and grouse, and they were able
to welcome their first little son to com
Portable home.
When Frank was three years old his
parents rejoiced to give him baby Sis
ter, TO be a companion for the boy who,
before, played alone all day under the
trees
The baby, Mollie, was placed almost
from her birth in the boys charge. Mrs.
Hicks isolated her children from the rough
contact with the Indians, and as they
must all eat at one table by the laws of
the western usage. she placed a little ia
bic in one corner of the porch and here
the Two children te the meals they did
not prefer to carry off into the woods.
Almost before the baby could walk
Frank carried her beyond the green open
on which the house was built and to his
fdvorite hooks in the forest, and she slept
her midday maps safe in a great house
like hollow tree.
The rain in. tree tops the smoke of for
est fires the white fog floating dimly in
from the ocean, the gray whisk of
squirrel or The blue flash of the chattering
jay, each had meaning for the bow and
f-OlIl6 IA hat NH +b.
little sister, There was no one TO tell them
the accepted word to express the forest
Sounds and life and, naturally enough,
the little ones invented a language OF
their own from the sounds they knew
ana that language is a true language and
has nouns and pronouns and verbs and
adJectives and adverbs. More than that,
their words are almost Identical with the.
root words of our language. Take for in
stance, "phin' for five or heat, which is
identical Sin is fix. and on is done think
is horse, boo is COW, Wala is squirrel and
wa is to run, and wawa to fly. Jaho is
the Redwood, says the fawn, mosa the
doe jawawa is the rabbit.
I Their voices are soft and their language
is the vocallzed type of the forests where
they have grown like two little squirrels.
healthy and happy aud gentle. They are
not savages. They have distinct ideas of
right, and theft is to them the greatest
the birds when they saw a winged thief.
help himself from the hardly gathered
store of the woodpecker, which they had
watched carried nut by nut from the
ground 10 a hollow tree
Mrs. Hicks noticed that the children di1
not speak in English but thought it was
the usual prattle of babyhood She tried
at spare moments to keep the little one
near her, but they spoke in a language
which neither she nor her husband could
understand.
1t worried her and amused their ia
Their, but when a school was opened ut
Fort Bragg Mr. Hicks presented himself to
the young schoolma'am with Master
Frank, who was to ride the six miles TO
and from school on an ancient Mexicaa
pony.
The boy was years Old, but he had
never seen a child in his life before, nor
any woman except his mother, for his
home was separated from the world by
the silence of the Redwoods.
The boy was impressed by the novelty.
but could not understand what was said
TO him. nor could he make the children
understand him They began TO tease him
and We're pummeled well and Master
Frank regularly ran away from school and
rode off home on his pony. The teacher
was patient with him. for she could see
he was an unusually bright boy. but she
could not do anything with him. and one
Saturday rode through the forest 10 his
4 home and consulted with his mother Lii
tie Moilie's devotion to her brother and his
protection Of her suggested to the teacher
TO make her a little pupil at school as a
/ balance wheel to her brother
/ They run away occasionally and still talk
in their own language when alone but
\ they are rapidly becoming proficen in
/ English and when she can take the time
/ Mrs Hicks rejoices in her two fine young
! sters. Helen Grey.