The Red Cloud chief., 1901-07-05

Mi o,e through that last receipt Myra
had made that bill file herself. vita
a knitting needle. q DIT Of pine board.
and Q pinch of putty.
ssCiyen A farm Of nifty acres
fapretty well coated with stones In
~tepoiated the irrepressibie Dolly.
Myra calmly ignored the INTERRUPT
tion. "a decent house, two barns, a
Wig pen" sans q pig" "a hen pen
with forty hens." this quite unex-
pectedly from Jean.
One horse. two cows. and four girls
without clothes. lean or professions
-" nothing but boundless ambition,
murmured Dolly.
And" Myra stopped and faced the
rest. and"
''The Octopus" they grosned in
chorus.
We'll. well girls. We must not be
too easily discouraged" said Myra,
brtskly. Her spirits usually rose when
everybody eise's ran down. I'VE are
comfortably housed for the winter.
With plenty OF wood. fruit and vege-
tables. hay and cor enough for the
stock. and the Octopus fed for this
year"
with sixty good juicy ereenbacks."
sroaned Dolly. why don't you try
silver dollars. Myra? They would
choke him sure"
What can we do?" burst out Dolly
desperately. "Tf only we lived In town
perhaps I might get some music schol-
ars: but there Is not much hope out
here"
That would be Pegasus harnessed
90 q plough" laughed Myra. Fancy
Dolly counting 'one. two. three to
aeryeless beginners" They all laughed
q little at the narrowing picture, and
someway the skies frightened n bit
Suddenly Jean looked up almost de-
family. Il believe We could make q
living keeping hens"
She expected a yolley Of protests.
and she was not disappointed.
Hens, why Jean Burton!"
ugh. the nasty things"
There wouldn't be a green thing
left on the place"
How many do you think that It
would take TO feed the O~ctopus?"
But Ruthie. their gentle invalid, was
The worst OF all.
You must be crazy. Jean! Why. IL
would be disgraceful. Fancy one OF the
Burton girls ~peddling eggs and chick
ems around the streets"
"Shc's q genius" cried Dolly. who
had be,n studying the bit Of brown
paper. IL know she will succeed. Now
Jean could never draw q COW 90 but
what you would call II a wheelbar-
row. and while we have been talking
Octopus and sich. she has been cover
fag this page with big plump hens.
and the most darling little chickens.
Why. jeanne. dear. I'd know they
weren't robins. even IL chickens had
never been mentioned"
Il think Jean II right" said Myra
slowly. For . year before father died
! had a feeling that public sentiment
In Wilcott WA somehow rather agains,
Us. Since be died. and l found out
how deeply We we're in debt. and about
the mortgage. I have thought that ex-
planned it. suppose II did seem al
IL We were selfish and extrayagant, for
almost everybody knew about our
money Affairs excepting US. However,
we'll live II down: and Jean, I'm
ashamed to think that we laughed at
you; for at least you have q plan. and
that Is more than the rest Of US can
say. Now 90 ahead and tell us about
It"
Jean began with some hesitation.
She had always been the shy one and
she hated TO be laughed at. We'll. you
know. girls. that I have taken nearly
all the care of the fowls for the last
two years. I began when father was
frat taken i'll. and before the summer
was over I found that I really en-
Joyed It. So l watched other peoples
hens and methods. studied the poul'
try papers. and I found that systematic
care and feeding went a long way to-
ward success. You Q you must BIZ
careful to feed a BALANCED ration"
Whatever IL that? Anything lik'
= teeter- board?"
oh, Dolly. don't; OF course II isn't
II a the kind of food that won
produce too much fat. and will Civ,
bones and hesh. and by and bye egg
as we'll"
Perhaps IL you fed nsh enough
they'd grow 30 many brains that aftet
awhile we could plant our g~arden-sas
IN their yards. and they'd never toucl
IL"
Go on, Jean; I'm getting interested
didn't suppose there was any scienc
TO keeping Q hen"
There's science to everything tina
brings success" answered Jean sober
iy. Then I found that bad lucl
usually meant carelessness; 30 | shu
up my chickens to protect them a
night from the skunks and owls. an
my brood grew the best OF any abon
here. don't mea to say that l kno,
II all. nor indeed but very little. bu
think that I have the key to success
with poultry. and ! am sure that II W
are willing to go slowly we can bull
up a successful and In time. mayb'
. large business. There IL surel
m0ney In hama 20 nna 20 willing q