Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-28

pilot OF ground and sat them up, one ol
each end and one in the middle Of th
patch.
90! spectre guardian of the pumpkin
patch be not derelict to thy duty,
Ladson said with mock pomposity, a.
we took a careful survey Of our work
And "Stuttering Joe" declared:
"N-no c-crow will c-c-come in a mill
lof them u-u-gly c-c-c-critters." w,
earnestly hoped they would not. Blu
we feared that the birds might, aftel
awhile, get accustomed to the scare.
crows and pull up the tender sprout.
just as they peeped out of the ground
But the seeds were, much to our graf.
lification, unmolested.
Il BY the busy harvest time our vine.
were healthy and growing splendidly
Mr.. Massey seeing how absorbed we
were with the problem Of raising
pumpkins gave us an. hour each Sat-
urday afternoon in which to work the
vines. We never failed to make use Of
the allotted time.
with us "just to take look at things,
he said. We were glad to have Joe &c
along for we were anxious to have him
decide which vine gave promise Of the
most early fruitage. Several days pre-
vious to this, we had decided that
Ladson's vine on the west end, next
to the brook, was the most thriving
Imagine our CONSERVATION when, on
arriving at the patch, we saw that the
vine on which Ladson had already be-
gun to dote, wilted and turning sick
ly yellow color.
Wonder what's been tampering with
my vine," Ladson exclaimed with ris-
ing indignation.
II t-think k-know w-w-what's tt
the m-m-m- matter" Joe said, scratch
ing in the ground around the root OF
the vine, where he found, and held UP
for our inspection, a greasy worm.
BIB b-behold the c-c-c-ulprit," he
said, as he held the squirming worm
between his fingers and squeezed 1t to
death.
Plague on them! What are they any
way and what can we do to prevent
them destroying the remaining vines?'
Ladson asked.
"T-t-they're c-c-c-cut w-w-w-or
and we can e-easily s-s-stop t-t-them
f-f-from d-d-doing f-f-further d-d-
damage by wrapping p-p-p-paper
around the s-s-stem Of the vines, u
Joe answered.
| We followed Joe's instructions and
were not troubled further by worms,
But we had a strenuous time Of 1t to
keep our vines from being killed. At
ter the cut worms were destroyed a
pair Of star-nosed moles took UP their
abode in our zealously guarded pump
kin patch. Ere the quickly devised
traps we set had caught them, they
permanently disabled one Of my vines,
thus leaving Ladson and on an equal
footing again.
In September a hog belonging to a
near, and quite thriftless neighbori es-
capped through gap in the dilapidated
fence and must needs cease his root
ing for artichokes in a nearby field
and enter the forbidden borders Of our
pumpkin patch. Fortunately Joe, who
was working in a nearby field spied
the culprit and set his dog on it. This
and L built a fence Of closely woven
barbed wire around our "pumpk'i.
kingdom" as Joe had begun to call the
plot of ground where the prize pump
kin was to be raised. This urgently
necessary precaution cost us five dol
lars. But we were determined to not
let any gap in a neighbors fence de-
prive either of us of the longed-for
prize.
When fall came Ladson and l were
not so busy picking cotton, by which we
earned two dollars per day, but what
we took time occasionally to go down
by the way of the meadow pasture tc
see if our pumpkins. which were grow
ing larger everyday, were still unmo-
Tested. We even made what Joe term
ed moonlight visitations," to thai
dreamed of spot and examined long
and anXiously the two largest pump
kins. l feared Ladson's was gradually
leaving mine behind in the race, and
think Ladson was confident Of the
same. AS often as we went however
we never failed to securely fasten the
little gate which we had arranged
when we built the enclosure. Great
was our surprise one day when we
found the gate unfastened, slightly
lajar, and tracks-human tracks-in-
side We felt sure some one unknown
to us was plotting to do us evil. A.
to whom it was, however, we had mo-
the slightest suspicion. We told JOE
Of our discovery and he said we hat
better keep a sharp lookout till tht
pumpkins were pulled.
But we can't watch it all the time,
said, "and who ever it Is may injurt
or steal our pumpkin some night"
: Lets little m-m-my dog in there
every night and If any one c-c-come!
he will b-bark and either s-s-care then
off or w-wake us up," Joe suggested.
Capital" we chorused, and for som'
time we did as Joe suggested. Zack
the dog did not seem to relish Joe'
| scheme, but he did the service imros
ed faithfully.
The autumn days were passing
away. Beautiful days they were II
Carolina. The woods, "all aglow will
autumn fire" were fairly alive will
, noisy jay birds, chattering squirrels
. and at least once each week crowd o
merry boys and girls went nutting
Ladson and l frequently went witt
them and as we passed through field
: where frost was on the pumpkin an
: fodder in the SHOCK" we grew NOR
anxious for the twentieth to come, thi
being the day previously set apart TO
: the pumpkins to be pulled, weighe,
l and the prize awarded to the success
: full contestant.
2 After what seemed an interminabl