The Iuka vidette. (Iuka, Miss.) 1894-1912, 1910-05-12
Ike Bodkins Writes A Letter.

/
thing ov the doings out here on
Slashy Creek. Me wife says tn
me luther da thst she's thinkin'
NV takin a fu days vacashnn is she
had somebody to care for her COW,
hogs, chicks and goslins. So | jist
says ter her go whin yer git reddy
for l haint got but bout rs more
rods ov ditch to dig an can do
that an tend to the things too in
the two days she's gone, so she
just went and one little boy staid
wi me. an tell you she hadn't
got ov site whin all ov them chicks
went to cheeping to the very top
ov their voices, the goslins got in
mi corn an one hen and chicks
broke in the garden and gin to do
things round like section har-
/, row. So me and the boy whit to
feedin' an totin water and had the
groun kivered wi feed an water in
everything we could git. | start
ed for ditch an | hadn't shoveed
more an a basket full ov dirt an
| thought NV one old hen an her
brood that was in a box an | run
for the house as I guessed they
had starved or died for want ov
are. Whin got in hearin ov the
house | tell you never heard such
cheepin in my life an the mockin
birds had put in an the racket was
just orful an thin | sposed | had
overfed. So | opened the door to
see ii the sun was strait in the
door an it was on post an we eat
dinner an made another dive fer
our ditch an worked till erbout 8
O'Clock an it gin til look like rain
an we went and put up all the
chicks and goslins and went back
to work an in 80 minutes the sun
was shinin SO hot l lowed they
would all die from suffocation an |
run back and turned them out an
oh me they had just learned to
cheep loud and fast, an l just
sposed it was frum being overfed
an went back ter wurk. Thin the
census taker came ON an he axed
me a hundred things erbout chick
ms an things an | jest wanted tn
tell him flat that there hadn't been
a cent made on fowls since the
war but was fraid he'd tell some
woman what Ide said. So whin
he got through with me | went in
and | never heard such cheepin.
think the old hens and ROSTERS
had all learned to cheep and the
geese had learned new way to
hollow. 1t was sorty like bunch
of sheep a balm an the hogs was
a CRU ntin like they had bots an the
COW was lowin like the whistle on
a pay train, SO | jist still thought
it was all overfeedin an | thought
|
I'd give them another good feed
and kill the whole layout md put
EN- up so they would be handy tn
git TIL with the wagin next mornin.
thin went ter milk Their COW. |
got on pretty well mllkin but my
anne at the milk bucket was bad
an me shirt sleeve served as a milk
pail and strainer, too. Now the
next mornin there wasn't corpse
on the hill but another hen had
Matched off another brood ov chick
ems and they come off cheepin too,
SO the ditch was soon gone the
first thing | knowed and my ditch
was not.dug. The cooking never
bothered ME much as IN an old
band at that. | set the table only
once an found that | hadn't cook
ed any bread, but since my wife
got back everything is doing bet
ter, rather guess there is mon
ey in raising fowls an Pm to fin
ish that ditch in about two more
days. Next time she wants to go
on a trip I'm not going to be
harsh about it but will just tell
her to wait until there is another
money panic. ] guess wages will
go down and I'll hire two men and