The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1911-04-06
A SINGULAR
BIRD
By EDWARD BATY
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.
By EDWARD BATY

| uuu cuOuSu y tulS matrimonial DuSl-
ness. Anyway, l have, seem your
husban' he's run away with my wife"
"Yo' mean, Mr. Todler, tibet your
wife run away with my husban.'"
''Its just as bad one way as t'other
I'm goin' to shut my baby boy up and
never let him see gal" said Mr.. Tod
Ter.
Il was thinkin' O. dom the same
with my baby gal"
1--WE mought do ii up hyar in these
mountings and bring 'em clean up
without the boy SEEM a gal or the
gal boy
Its powerful lonesome. Nobody
ever comes up hyar unless it's rev.
enue men lo0kin' TO stills"
"Waal, mornin', Miss Barker"
'Mornin', Mr.. Todler.
The homes Of these two persons were
FAR up In the highlands of east Ten
nessee. They were successful in keep
ing their children from seeing one of
the opposite sex till they were sixteen
years old. Then the boy demanded a
gun. His father gave him one on con-
dition that he never hunt off the in
closure. But one day the yOungster
followed a bird from tree to tree till
he got on to Mrs. Barker's premises
There, sitting under tree knitting, he
saw Miss Barker. They looked at each
| other in establishment.
"Oh, mother" called the girl, come
| here! There's the funniest thing you
ever sawr
But Mrs. Barker was not within
hearing.
you mean," said young Todler, that
you are the funniest thing in the
world. Queer, isn't it! You can talk
| just like a man, only your voice is
different"
You must be some kind of a wom-
an"
you must be some kind of a man.
81 know; mother often told me that
there was a thing like you that l must
keep away from. She says they pol
son women's lives. She's always been
afraid I'd meet one of them"
Pops told me the same thing about
what he calls q she man. He said
one of them wrecked his life"
well" said the girl. 81 don't see
anything so terrible about you"
"Nor l about you"
She approached him, put her hand
on his shoulder, drew 1t away quickly,
put it on his neck, took off his hat and
combed his hair with her fingers. He
touched her cheek.
Are you going to bite me" she
asked.
mot I. Have you got any poison
about you"
Poison! No. Why do you ask
that?"
Pop says these she men are vipers.
That means snakes. Most snakes are
poisonous"
+ "Your pop must be horrid."
She patted his cheek with the palm
Of her hand. He put his arm around
her waist With the other hand he
pulled her chin around near his face.
Instinct told him to touch his lips to
hers.
isn't that nicer he said.
"Kind o. nice"
"Do you wish me to do it againT'
II don't care"
He did it again and again. Then he
noticed her hair done up in a knot at
the back of her head. Pulling at 1t,
he at last got the hairpins out, and
the coil fell on her shoulder.
"By gumv he exclaimed. What in
thunder do you let your hair grow
like that for"
"Why do you cut yours OFF,"
Following a natural inclination, these
two young things chung to each other.
the boy winding his arms about the
girl and the girl about the boy.
I'm thinking" said the girl.
about whatT
MY nom has warned me against
your kind, and your pop has warned
you against my kind. If we tell them
anything about this they'll tie US both
up the way they do the dogs"
1--WE needn't tell"
Suppose we don't"
They concluded that they were too
near the she-man's mother for safety,
so they strolled away to safe dis
lance and remained together several
hours. When they separated the he
woman kissed her, which shows plain
~ that lovers kisses at meeting and
parting are matter of instinct.
When the girl went into the house
and met her mother she said not
word about the queer creature she
had met. And this shows that prime
law Of nature with the sex is to get
the better of each other, which enables
them to get the better of their hus-
bands. Her mother asked her where
she had been so long, and she said she
had been out in the woods listening to
a frog croaking In the creek. A queer
sound came from 1t she had never
heard before.
When the boy went home his father
asked him If he had had any luck. He
replied that he had seen bird Of
paradise, but it was 80 beautiful he
hadn't the heart to kill 1t. His father
suspected from an observation-disclosures
about his boy that he had seen a girl.
He asked what the bird looked like.
Pretty near as big as Ia big top
knot at the back Of its head and no
legs. At least could not see any"
The father groaned
The next day Mr.. Todler held