The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1902-01-21
Some Strange rygs.

5iHg IN U'~
,ssee" y s8"0 ~'
.l'tle object. 1t "aE Ioi'E ard
harrow and had tou6I >I.tE thai
teDt and dented in Ci:j's tin5"r5
H. could not make out :2;:a' it va
So he ran to Cinda, his hiack nnrse'
and showed it to her. Cji.ln !angh"d.
"Lawsy, honey" She SAID, that
air am er gators aigg. Dig erway,
AZ yer'll done fin er heap mo-"
So Clay dug away Justify, aud sure
enough up came more eggs with
every shovelful of sand. Five times
he filled his little bucket and carried
them home to his me ther, uutiltWenty-
five eggs lay in the box she gave
him to put them in. That night
when Clay was in his white "nightie"
and having his flowing time" with
his mother, he asked, "How came the
eggs in the sand?"
"The mother'gator hid them there"
answered his mother, as she rocked
and cuddled her little boy.
'Don't the mother gator cuddle
her eggs like the mother hen does?"
asked Clay.
''No, dear she leaves them in the
sand for the hot sun to hatch out"
"Well, I fink the mother 'gator is
a very selfish thing!" cried Clay, sit
ting up in his Indignation.
20, Do,"said his mother, smiling.
"That is her way of taking care of
them-the way God taught her. She
can t cuddle her eggs like the mother
hen. She has no soft feathers, and
her hard skin would break the eggs
if she sat on them. The nice warm
sand cuddles them, and the sun helps
to hatch them out"
"O," said Clay, nesting down
again. "Poor mother gator! so
sorry for her. How bad she must
feel not to cuddIe her eggs"
"She takes good care of them,"
said his mother. "She often comes
to look after her babies, and when
they hatch out, she finds food for
them, and will not let anything hurt
them.
"What would hurt them?" asked
Clay, drowsily.
"There are many animals who hunt
for the eggs, and l have heard that
the father 'gator likes them, too, and
eats them all up if he can find them"
what an awful bad father" cried
Clay, his sleepy eyes coming wide
open again. "Poor baby gators. I
so sorry for them"
"But their mother takes care of
them, and will not let the father ind
them, if she can help it," said Mother
Rees, hugging her own little boy.
"Will she 60 to look at her eggs
to morrow day." asked Clay.
81 think she WILL" said his mother.
"Then I'll take them all back"
murmured the sleepy little fellow.
"Poor mother 'gator-feel-bad"
but Clay was off into dreamland,
where mother Alligator and her eggs
were all forgotten.
The box of eggs was put in a
closet, and neither Clay n or his mother
thought of them again. A week later
Clay went to the closet for some toys,
and heard strange, rustling noise.
He looked up and saw box on a
shelf with the cover dancing up and
down in frantic manner.
20, motberw cried Clay, dancing
up and dow n himself in excitement,
"come here-quick! Here is a box
all aliver'
His mother came running in, and
there were dozen tiny black snouts
peeping ont under the box cover.
Before she could even scream, out
popped swsrm of baby alligators
and dropped down to the floor, where
they scampered of in every direction.
All the eggs had batched, for the
closet was behind stove and the
box in warm place.
Such time as there was! Clay
Jumped up and down, screaming with
glee, but his mother was screaming
with fright, and she climbed on top |
of table to get out Of the way of j
the alligators, who went running !
phnrt "a If in h11rr1, 70 ;nzesiinato !!