Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1901-09-07
|. "a WeaRIy Storyettts.r

70 rne snog. S4olng DICK, me boy peg
ed up the two birds. and the rest scat
tered back along the furrow. Putting
the lines across and under, he started
!, along the furrow again. Again the
birds drew up, and again he got two
shots at them, getting one bird and
just grazing another. When he got to
the opposite end Of the field. he found
q couple az inquisitive kildees rummag.
ing about and winged one Of them
with his first shot. "A. long chase over
the. drying furrows Of the previous
days blowing secured the bird. agas
Going back he had several moro
shots at the blackbirds, which seemed
to grow holder and hungrier as the
day. advanced. He seldom missed
them and liz one instance killed two at
one Shot, the bullet striking one bird o
glancing blow on the neck and winging
a second bird in the bunch. aF
The blowing grew more and more
tedious as the day heightened out, and
the boy was never hungrier in his life.
He had brought his dinner along. with
q bottle of milk to wash It down, and
he could telLpretty we'll from the sun
when noontime came. From his line
of burrows he could see his uncle toll
Ing across and back, never stopping for
anything, brown figure inRthe brown
stretches of upturned earth.
He made up his mind that blowing
1Do a dasT,n,.o taIu. m nvl0%oY1orfo xuarIr oud
that to plow straight furrow was
something that only came from long
practice. He had a stake stuck up for
lis benefit at each end of the field, but
his pillow either Wabbled or the mules.
''wee- waved" fEightfuIly, for before
noontime came he found 1t necessary
to lift the plow up and cash down Ger
tain inlets and estuaries Of land which
had not been cut on account Of the per
versity Of the burrows. By the time
the sun had swung into line for about
1890 he had 3conae to the conclusion
that all boy needed to- plow well with
was a pair Of iron legs and a knowl
edge Of how to draw furroW straight
He unhltched the team with some diff
Guilty and gave them aEfeed Jof; oats on
the bottom Of the sack. Then he got
out his own dinner Of bread and but
ter. meat and pickles, and fell on it
like a famished coyote. He was very
tired. The dirt had got into. his finger
nails, crept into his curly brown hair,
grimed his neck filed: his ears and en-
FILTERED his boyish soul. His curiosity
was thoroughly satisfied. He had be-
come satiated with the exercise; he:l
wanted to hunt. 80 =!
However, he remembered that it
would be cowardly to give up until
night, So he started in to hitch up the
mules again after taking decent rest.
Fortunately The could do this without
having to summon his uncle, and he /
congratulated himself on being able to
hitch and unhitch a team. The plow !
again was driven into the loan, and !
once more the burdensof hanging on to
a pair Of slippery plow handles with !
couple of energetic mules striding !
along in front was begun. The black
birds and kildees, allured by the feast
of pale grubs and salmon tinted fish |
worms, came again to the burrows, but I
the boy only took shot now and then.
He was doggedly, sullenly, silently
plugging along in the furroW, with the4
sand gritting between his teeth. He
wouldn't offer to plow again for Uncle
Tom. Uncle Tom knew. what he was
talking about when he said it was
hard work and dirty work until you
got used to it. Well, he didn't want to
get used to it,, that was all What was
that story about eels, getting used to
being skinned? Whoa, jimmy; back,
you old yellow crate, youl
At sundown and not until he saw
Uncle Tom turn for the house did the.
boy give over. But he had seen the
error Of his way. Flowing wasn't what
1t was cracked up to be. There were
too many sand -burs and roots and
crooked burrows and dirt and wrench
es and backaches about it. There was,
too much work about 1t. Why, when
you saw man who was used to it you
could believe that he might strap him
self to a plow and go to sleep on the
Job But for a new beginner at the
business It was like Jordan. "a hard
road to travel" 10. b ss,s.ss-
Uncle Tom smiled at the grimy, dus-
y figure of his nephew as he met him
1t the house. How'd you like the1
plpwingT be inquired quizzically.
The boy took nine blackbirds and
.hree kildees from his pockets and,
lolding them up; said, II like that part.
If 1t, Uncle Tom, and all the rest
lidn't like worth cent" Chicago
Record. ,."t5s.t /