The Paonia progressive and the Paonia newspaper., 1911-06-08


prietor of a Jersey COW
and a gasoline go-devil. 1t was the
latter I was aiming for. but, as It was
dar,rr than a stack of negro coal
hea .Ss at midnight. mingled with
the cow AS soon as discovered her
proximity ! made a grab for 1t. but
was thrown lightly across several
stalls into a far corner OF the barn.
At this point. however. the rank odor
Of gasoline in a terribly rundown con-
dition of health smote upon me.
reached out my hand tenderly and
patted the go-devil on the brow.
At about this time OF night Kidder's
back door opened. allowing food OF
Hight to pour forth. In the doorway
was silhouetted the figure OF a man
huriedly getting outside OF huge
bowl of breakfast food. He was ac-
countred in all the habiliments OF
war Finally. with a last. despairing
glance into the bowl he cast It from
him and seized a steaming tea-kettle
from the stove.
With this he came forth and by the
nickering light OF a weak-kneed Ian
tern he cautiously poured the hot wa
ter up and down the go-devil's spinal
column. Having done this. he seized
the persuader. gave II viliainous
twist and the thing commenced a vio-
Ient. hacking cough that caused great
chunks OF sympathy to well UP under
my sweater.
After turning on the binacle lights.
Kidder grasped the handlebars and
we backed out till we hit the chicken
park across the alley. BY some dex-
ferrous manoeuvring we got the thing
pointed right and cut her loose
II was early. No one was abroad.
The family cats were all peacefully
curled up In the bread pan. Only a
few weary citizens were up taking
look at the meter to see II II had slid
merriiy-roiled up in our big fur coats
getting quite wideawake by the time
We had covered couple OF miles.
Suddenly a surprised rabbit sat up
in the glare OF the headlights. blinked
a couple OF times and made a brilliant
leap for the tall timber. i promptly
took my cue and got my artillery In
trim. Rabbit after rabbit appeared.
My ammunition wavered and ran low.
No sankuinary results were noticed.
although I am positive ! succeeded In
winging the left fender several times.
II must be borne in mind. however.
that my poor shooting WAS the natural
result OF poor ammunition. cheap gun.
worry and insomnia. from which was
suffering so bad that II kept me awake
nights.
Daylight was Just cracking in the
east when we pulled briskly into a
farmyard and anchored in front Of
badly irritated dog OF the hound va
riety. The farmer was out in the COW
barn husking the milk crop. He came
out and told us that between seven
and nine thousand ducks had gone
over the evening before and. Judging
from their looks. they had n date with
q cornf,eld about two miles to the SOU
by-sou'west He informed us that the
ducks exhibited a marked partiality
for the cornields which had been op-
ernted on by husking machines In
stead of the old.fashioned Armstrong
method used by our forefathers. He
said this fact. combined with the long
dry season and the Iowa habit of
planting game warden on every alter
nate section OF land. was working mir
acles for the ducks and chickens.
In a bashful maner he told us that
n we felt equal to shooting twenty or
thirty prairie chickens as a mere start.
er we could find them down in the
cornfield at the right OF the hoghouse
He said the chickens were getting SO
tame that some OF them had the nerve
TO sneak In and board with the family
poultry.
We looked at our license from the
state and saw that the prairie hen
could not be legally shot in such chilly
weather. with a sigh. we thereupon
loaded our guns and started for the
cornfield.
We curried and cross-curried that field
thoroughly and finally strolled out onto
n forty-acre field of fresh plowing to
rest or legs. We had not gone far
when something about the looks and
size OF q clean white tablecloth arose
in front OF Kidder and started south
at a beautiful clip. II was n Jack rab-
bit. Neither of us shot. and Kidder
mumbled something about thinking 1t
was a sheep.
BY this time daylight had become
entirely broken In the east, and We