The Winslow mail., 1909-03-27
AN AMEABLE
LION
II Proved a Faithful Fet,, But
Not Much at Fighting.

50 lull OIL mount III HONS you COuluu
&C up an arroyo without stepping on
the tail of at least one of them
"Aw, no" interrupted August. the
c'erk (Owgust, he was invariably
caleb, with an ~incredulous look at
Uncle Billy.
'Aw, yes!" was the fierce retort, in
voice so loud that the windows rat
lied in their frames when | say
yes, it's yes, and when l say no. it's
no. Do you understand that, Dutchy?"
'No-er-yes, replied the clerk, ex-
iinguished as quickly as candle
flame when the snulfer is clipped
down on it,
Hard times had hit the beasts as
we'll as humans" the narrator went
on. Them mount'in lions were plumb
hungry. They were so hungry that
Ter howls of distress were heart
lending, and after sundown, with your
window open toward the ountains,
eu could hear their tails slap de-
,2a'ringly against the cliffs.
Ore night there came to the back
door Cf the shack where me and
Niobe Smith were quartered the rang
est. boniest mountin lion ever
Tapped eyes on. My partner was fry
ing bacon and the lion smelled it. He
sat upon his launches in the yard, the
on did, and shifted once or twice.
Then he walked forward and scratched
@l the door, looking through the mos
nitO nettin' with the saddest eyes I
ever see. Standing there, he slowly
ubbed his left paw where his waist
band would have been if he had one,
cling us as plain as day that he
would be mighty thankful for a little
aling.
Smith was about to pass it some
bacon when | held his hand. We didn't
ave overmuch bacon in the house;
5ut we did have some cold oatmeal,
and I set this out That lion went
through that oatmeal like water
trough mill wheel, after which it
sat up and begged for more We had
20 mere oatmeal handy but l threw
it couple of slices of cantaloupe and
some Dutch black bread (what do you
call it, Owgust, pumpernickel?) and
t was pleased. When it had eaten all
! had to spare it began to purr and
rub itself against the mos quito netting
il the mCst friendly way.
Nay I drop this pipe and break
II if that lion left us for a minute after
Tat It curled right up by the back
door and went to sleep. When morn
ng came, there ii was in the same
rot, with its head on its paws, one
We open and wa; ching the house as
if to see that no harm came to us
I'VE began to think of name for
i'm. Smith--his name was really
chmidt being of German descent
biected when I suggested Gustare,
and | certainly wouldn't stand for his
calling the. animal Kelly, after me-
We nearly had a falling out over it,
but finally settled that when we were
both present it should be referred to
as Max When | was away Smith
called it Kelly, and when he was not
around | addressed it as Gustave. 1t
vas quick to answer all three names;
but when the Swedish cook came he
Kept continually addressing it as 'Du
Yustave Gustave Max Kelly Du Yus-
ave sounded too complicated; so we
firally dropped everything but the
Du' which was short and simple.
We taught Gustave how to meet
the letter carrier and take the mail
in, to take the milk pail out to the
pasture in its teeth and how to re-
lrieve rubber ball. 1t got to be quite
handy around the house, but it was a
'ong time before visitors grew used
to it. Niobe and l at last gave up