The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-04-10

don't look over we'll this morn
3A ing. l hope you not going
TO be took down again.
The old man shook his head. mo, ma
there's nothing serious the matter with me-
I've just got a queer feeling that l can't
seem to confine to any definite locality"
He smiled apologetically, and turning to
the window, pressed his head to the pane
and looked vaguely across the vacant lot
into the back yard of the grocery store
with it's miscellaneous litter of chicken
coops and empty boxes and barrels.
Ma he said, after a long pause. you'll
never guess what heard this morning COM
ing back from the store"
"A scissors grinder" she hazarded; II
saw one go past
He shook his head.
"Well, then, one of them humping street
pianos drew by a horse?"
Twas a bluebird,' he answered, asst
ting UP on the wires and looking like a
patch of sky in a rainy day. 1 believe in
my heart it was the same one that used to
come every year down home; he seemed
to sort % know me. Maybe he's gone and
hunted us up do you think?"
His wife looked at him without replying
''I recollect," he continued, "how glad we
was to see him, for it a sure sign of
spring. l didn't used to think much about
birds, ma, nor appreciate them, either. but,
Lord. how I've missed them sinceswe left
the farm Do you remember the orioles
that built every year in the old summer
sweet apple back of the house, and the
wrens, and the martins, and the 'catbirds
in the cottonwood"
fax ia y
asserted his WIFE
Eyes, liked them, too, only they always
seemed to burden themselves with so much
unnecessary trouble. Why, they wouldn't
hardly get their grips unpacked before
they'd take full charge of the weather and
set up and order rain. l remember how
you would always call my attention to
Sir Robins vest-how bright it was-and
remind me to watch how faded and dull it
grew before fall. You said you wondered
if he didn't get new suit somewhere down
South every spring. 1t used to amuse me
to notice in particular two kinds of birds
the crows and the bluejays. 1t pleased me
to think that the crows were the priests
so solemn and dignified-and yet so crafty
and wise. The bluejays 1 considered to be
the bird policemen. They were always
darting here and there and scolding and
telling everybody to cheese it, cheese it.
Ma he said, turning about and looking
suddenly at her, what would / be a-doing
if 1 was on the place to-day? Yes. you do
know, too. Why, L would be down in the
east forty woods a hunting sassafras along
the big open ditch. l always liked that
ditch. The water was so clear and pretty
and il was forever singing soft little
song as it slipped over the pebbles In the
summer wild roses loved to grow it's
han Ire nd in no ms re- k
eyed susans and the flags. Time and time
again the neighbors tried to get me to
agree TO tile that ditch, but they. couldn {
make il. i wasn't going to have the old
fellow perned up like city sewer. L con-
slider that waters got its feeling well
as anything else-country water
"A cup of bOneset tea is what you ought
to have; that and sassafras would fetch
you out of the kinks
She wagged her head knowingly.
Its just too pretty out this morning,
went on Branson choosing to ignore the
| references TO his state of health. "A few
| days of weather like this will bring up the
daffodis and jonquils along our old back
| walk, won't they?"
| She nodded cheerfully, Eyes and the tulips
and bleeding hearts-twon't take long
Il suppose" he remarked casually, jerk
you'd a had setting hens by this time
| down there. 1t was always nip and tuck
between you and the Widow Hatfield, but
you generally won.
| Mrs. Branson smiled proudly.
..The dominecker hens is hard to beat"
| she replied. Sometimes they would hatch
out so early I'd have TO raise the chickens
| in the kitchen"
II remember" said Branson. nodding his
| head sagely, "and no living with them aft
| erwards-so tame. L recall how | hated
| TO Kill them, just sing and turn their heads
| on one side to look, even when the ak was
| staring them in the face. l couldn't help
but feel like a cannibal after helping to
| eat one 1 love the dominecker kind
| they're so gentle in the performance of
| their obligations Go TO their nest when
| they're setting and they'll frown and shrug
| their shoulders and look the very picture
| of offended dignity and peck, but so easy,
| as much as to say, I've got TO do this.
my friend: I'm hen, you know But
| the top-knot breed, phew,-squall and hiss
| like a cat and stab like a hornet Nothing
perfunctory there. They mean it, they do.
you'll strike the same two classes
among people. Public servants either do
their sworn duty in a gentle dominecker
| personal delight in infiicting all the in
| jury they can from behind their official po-
| sitions. Just you take notice which kind
| is liked best and observe. too, which loses
| its head first
II suppose''-the old man drummed ner-
| vously on his knees-"I suppose, ma,
| ought TO be ashamed of myself. I know
| John and Alice thought il best for us
| TO move to town, but somehow | don [
seem TO see as much in IL as they made
out. It's true we don't need to work any
more. but when fellow has spent the best
part of his life in working hard he's too
old and too well broke to enjoy loafin'
You got TO be educated up TO il to do
nothing and be happy. / never saw any
man who couldn't afford TO. 1t always
seemed to me that life was just like SWIM
ming upstream, If you ever get any place
you had to paddle for 1T. Idleness is
fault with his brother. and pick