The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-05-22
A MISSOURI
COMPS OMISE
By EDWARD B. CLARK


old Bud jackson lived near the
" source of the Big Black" in the
Ozark mountains of Missouri. Bud
had lived there for 65 years. That was
just his age. His habitation was rude
but comfortable and his daughter Bess
tended it with housewifely care. Bess
was Buds only child. She was a coy
mountain maid of 90 and as pretty as
one of the wild flowers that peep from
the ground in the Big Black valley in
March.
Bud had a neighbor, 81 Withers. 81
lived down the stream a ways, and the
holdings of the two men joined. 81
had a son Bill. Between the two
mountain farms over in corner lay
triangular piece of ground not more
than two acres in extent. Outside of
the woodland this was the only piece
of land on the Jackson-Withers hold
ings that was not cultivated. 1t was
weed-grown, and though it would
have supported a goodly crop of grain,
no seed sown by the hand of man ever
fell there. 1t was known for miles
around as the Debatable Ground. Bud
and 81 both claimed the piece, and had
wrangled over it for years before the
feud became deadly. At the present
status of things if either one set his
foot on the strip the other would have
shot him.
Bud jackson had hobby. He was
collector of birds. Scientists from St.
Louis and from the western state col
leges came to his place every summer
to look at his collection. He never
would add a bird to the lot unless it
had been killed in the state of Mis-
souri,, provided always of course that
the bird was known to have been seen
in the state Bud didn't expect to get
any famingoes in Missouri, but if he
should have heard an Indian tradition
that 500 years before a flamingo had
been seen on the Big Black, he would
not have added the bird to his collec-
ton until some one had sent him one
with the proper attestation that it had
been killed inside the limits of his
native state.
What a collection that was! There
was pretty near everything in it from
the ruby-throated hummingbird to
the big bronze wild turkey. Bud had
to build an addition to his house to
store his birds. Some people said that
Bud cared more for the birds than he
did for Bess, which was a lie. For
years Bud had secured the woods of
the Ozarks, extending his trips to the
adjoining counties for the purpose of
getting one bird, the ivory-billed
woodpecker. He knew that the ivory
bill was a dweller of the southeast
United States, but he also knew that
struggling birds had been seen in the
deep woods of the mountains of Mis-
souri,, and so he kept up his search
with his shotgun over his shoulder
year after year. He could have pur-
chased an ivory-billed woodpecker.
killed somewhere else, for something
like 500, but he would have a Missouri
bird or none. He slept out nights in
the woods and starved and thirsted on
the trail of reports that the big bird
had been seen. Generally it turned
out that those who told of the appear
ance of the woodpecker, not knowing
much about birds, had seen the big
"log cock" and had taken him for his
still bigger brother.
One day in the summer Bud noticed
that Bess had something on her mind.
She started suddenly whenever he
spoke to her and more than once
blushed wildly. The old man didn't
say much, but just thought he'd let the
thing come out by itself. But it didn't
come out. Bess just kept on acting as
though she were way off somewhere
in the clouds. One day as the old ma. n
was coming back from a collecting trip
he could have sworn he saw Bill With
ers, old Sis son, making off across the
brook from the direction of the Jack
son home. Bud gripped his gun tightly
and felt lump come up in his throat.
He thought he knew now how to ac-
count for Bess' blushing. He kept his
own counsel, however. He knew that
if old Withers knew of it he would be
just as hot about it as he was. Bud
eyed Bessie curiously when he entered
the house and casually asked if there
had been any visitors while he had
been away.
mo-" stammered the girl, and fell
to blushing directly.
"Humph!" said her father.
Two days later Bessie went out to
pick blackberries. Half an hour after
her father followed in her trail. The
blackberry patch lay in the direction
of the Debatable Ground. Bud,came to
the triangular bit of ground in dispute.
BY the great AUX, what was that he