The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-02-17

lOuCu ucI. w udtcVeT ludL KISS lucdut
to him. he recognized 1t was the Low.
ing impulse of child under stress Of
strong emotion. He was fine and man.
ly as any man ever could have been"
Mclean lifted his hat. THANK you,"
he said simply and parted the bushes
for her to enter Freckles' room.
1t was her first visit, and before she
left she sent for her cameras and
made studies of each side Of it and Of
the cathedral. She was entranced with
the delicate beauty of the place. and
her eyes kept following Freckles as IL
she could not believe that it could be
his conception and work.
That was happy day. The Bird
Woman had brought lunch, and they
spread 1T, with Freckles' dinner, on the
study floor and sat about. resting and
enjoying themselves. But the angel
put her banjo into its case, silently
gathered up her music. and no one
mentioned the concert.
The Bird Woman left Mclean and
the angel to clear away the lunch and
with Frccklcs examined the walls of
his room and told him all she knew
about his. shrubs and flowers. She an
alyzcd cardinal flower and showed
him what he had all summer wanted
to know-why the bees buzZed inef
fectunlly about 1t while the humming
birds found In 1T an ever ready feast.
Some Of his specimens were so rare
that she was unfamiliar with them.
and with the flower book between
them they knelt. studying the different
varieties. She wandered the length OF
the cathedral aisle with him, and it
was at her suggestion that he lighted
his altar with row Of flaming foxfire.
AS Freckles came up to the cabin
from his long day at the swamp he
saw Mrs. Chicken sweeping away to
tho south and wondered where she was
going He stepped into the bright,
coy little kitchen. and rs he reached
down the wash basin he asked Mrs.
Duncan question.
Mother Duncan. do kisses wash
OFF,
Lord. ma. Freckles!' she cried. eat
least the anes We get from people We
love dinna. They dinna stay on the
outside. They strike in until they find
the center Of your heart and make
their stopping place there, and naeth-
ing can take them from ye-I doubt II
even death. Ma, lad, ye can be rect
sure kisses dinna wash off"
Freckles set the basin down and NUT
tered, II needn't DO afraid to be wash
ing, then, for that one struck in"
~ WISH" said Freckles at breakfast
one morning, ''thnt had some way to
be sending message to the Bird Wo-
man. I've something down at the
swamp that I'm believing never hap
pened before, and surely she'll be want
ing it,
"What now, Freckles?" asked Mrs.
Duncan.
"Why. the oldest thing you ever
heard Of" said Freckles. "The whole
insect tribe gone on spree. I'm sup
posing it's my fault. but it all hap
pencd by accident-like. You see, on
the swale side of the line, right
against me trail, there's one Of these
scrub wild crab trees. Where the
grass grows thick about it Is the
finest place you ever conceived of for
snakes. Having women about has set
me trying to clean out those fellows Il
bit. and yesterday noticed that tree
in passing. 1t struck me that it
would be a good idea to be taking it
out. First thought I'd take me
hatchet and cut it down, for it amt
thicker than ME upper arm. Then ]
remembered how 1t was blooming in
the spring and filing all the air with
sweetness. The coloring of the bios
SONS is beautiful. and 1 hated to be
killing 1t. l just cut the grass short
all about it. Then I started at the
ground. trimmed up the trunk near
the height of me shoulder and left
the top spreading. That made it look
SO truly ornamental that, idle like, I
chips off the rough places neat, and
this morning, on me soul, it's sight.
You see. cutting Off the limbs and
trimming up the trunks sets the sap
running. In this hot sun 1t ferments
in few hours. There isn't much
room for more things to crowd on
that tree than there are, and to get
drunken isn't noways possible"
"Weel. I be drawed on" exclaimed
Mrs. Duncan. what kind of things
do ye mean, Freckles?"
"Why, just an army Of black ants.
Some Of them are sucking away like
old topers. Some of them are setting
up on their tails and hind legs. fid-
ding away with their fore feet and
wiping their eyes. Some are rolling
around on the ground. contented.
There are quantities Of big bluebottle
flies over the bark and hanging on the
grasses about. too drunk Ito steer a
course flying. SO they just buzz away
like flying and all the time sitting
still. The snake feeders are too full to
feed anything, even more sap to them
selves. There's a lot of hard backed
bugs-beetles, guess-colored like the
hrnxvn h1no and black Of a nnacOck'S