Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-11-18
The Crow Heard 1t from the Stork.

I've come over to tell you that Rich
ard is dead" said the man who lives
over toward rocnuck. Richard was
only a tame crow, and so maybe you Will
think it funny that his dyin' has left
load of sorrow weightin' down the Beck
endarter family heavier than 4 ton OF
lead. But let me tell you something
about Richard and then if you dom
say that load OF sorrow has a right to
be weightin' the Peckendarter family
down. Ii have to size you up as beng
stony hearted and as scarce of the milk
of human kindness as a Sldehlll plOW. /
will so.
Il don't believe Richard would ever
have died though, if he hadn't been
killed. although Uncle David ,3eckendar-
ter had it in for him one time and would
have wrung his neck. sure. if something
hadn't happened that saved him. That
was when Richard was a thief. But he
reformed and was an upright and cheer
in member of the family up to the day
of his death, which was only day before
yesterday.
When Richard was a thief he had 4
mate. Uncle David found the two Of
EN- in a nest one spring and he fetched
EN- home. They grew ". in the family
and the one he named Richard learned
TO talk so that he could holler out, Good
mornin'.' How de do? What We doin'?
and some more words like that, includln
some that it wouldn't do fur the preacher
or the SEWN circle to hear, and he al
ways fetched 'em in at the right time
and place. He always called Uncle Da-
vid pop and every mornin' as soon as
Uncle David showed up, Richard would
holler out, Good mornin', pop as reg
ular and proper as sun-up.
but steal? Capt. Kidd's ghost. How
Richard and his mate would steal! They
got to be such unmerciful thieves that
al nnx nd |, IS foil -
thought of EN- they see that they'd have
to get rid of 'em. Them crows would
steal anything they could get hold Of.
and the day they stole the. gold watch
| that belonged to the city girl who was
sllmmerin' on the farm settled Uncle Da-
vid in his mind, and that night. it beln,
| darker than any number of stacks Of
| black cats. he took Richard and his mate
off their perch. showed 'em into a feed
| bag and drove with 'em clear down into
the Sprout Hill country, more than a
dozen miles, and turned EN- loose in a
piece of woods. Uncle David drove right
on come home by a circlin' way SO as the
crows couldn't hear him.
''But he might Just as well have saved
himself all that trouble, for early the
next mornin' Richard came flying into
the yard, perched himself on the railin'
of the back stoop, where Uncle David
| was mixin' the chicken feed and give
Uncle David the most outrageous and
complete layn' out, / suppose, that any
| we'll meanin' but misjudgin' man ever
got. That audacious crow got so per-
sonal after awhile that Uncle David
grabbed a club and would have scattered
Richard to the winds, but he flew to /,
cherry tree, where he was jined pretty
soon by the other crow.
''They jabbered together for two or
three minutes, and seemed to have come
! to some sort of an agreement about
| something Then they flew away to q
! wood lot at the back Of the farm. Uncle
David swort he would wiring both their
necks if they come back to their roosr
| that night and he went to the barn to
do up his chores. so mad that he couldn't
hardly wait till night come. When he
got back to the house there the crows
was struttin' about the yard, and Rich
ard hollered out, as pleasant as could
be:
Hello, popr
con- hello pop your says Uncle Da-
vid and he went into the house so mad
that l guess he'd q got his gun and fin
night if he hadn't met Aunt Sally, lookin'
all tickled to pieces.
"'What do you think, David? says
She Them crows must a brung the city
gals watch back, for she found it a mill-
ute ago on her bureau, jest where they
took It FROM.
And sure as green apple gripes, so
they hadi Wal, Uncle David didn't make
way with them crows that night nor he
didn't make way with 'em at all. fur
from that day on they never stole an
ether thing. Richard, so we thought,