Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1912-07-26

they are. IHey are just niue DAiSAliJ
colored cocks and hens. But what
would you say to me wild chickens be-
ing a good deal tanner than yours here
in your yardY
''Hoot, lad.7 cried Duncan.
snake yours light on your mead and
eat out of your hands and pockets"
challenged Freckles.
$50 tell your fairy tales to the wee
peopiel They're just brash on be-
levin things" said Duncan.
81 dare you to come seer retorted
Freckles.
Take yer said Duncan. IF We
make JUST ane bird LIGHT on your held
or eat frae your hand We are free to
help yourself to my eorncrib and wheat
bin the rest Of the winter"
After that Freckles always spoke OF
the birds as his chickens. The next
Sabbath Duncan. with his wife and
children. followed Freckles to the
swamp.
Freckles chickens were awaiting
him at the edge Of the clearing. They
cut the frosty air about his head into
curves and circles Of crimson, blue and
black. They chased each other from
Freckles and swept so closely them
selves that they brushed him with their
outspreaG wings.
At their feeding ground Freckles set
down his old pail of scraps and swept
the snow from small level space with
a broom improyised from twiss. AS
soon as his back was turned the birds
clustered over the food, snatching
scraps TO carry to the nearest bushes.
Several Of the boldest, a big crow and
a couple of jays, settled on the rim
and Toasted at leisure, while a cardi-
nal that hesitated to venture TUNED
and scolded from a twig overhead.
Then Freckles scattered his store.
At once the ground resembled the
spread mantle Of MOntezuma. except
that this mass Of gayly colored feathers
was on the backs of living birds. While
they Toasted Duncan gripped his wife's
arm and stared in establishment, for
from the bushes and dry grass with
gentle cheeping and queer. throaty
chatter as If to encourage each other.
came foczs of quail. Before any one
saw it arrive q big gray rabbit sat in
the midst of the feast, contentedly
gnawing a cabbage leaf
''Weel. I be drawed onr' came Mrs.
Duncan's tense whisper.
"Shu-shu! cautioned Duncan.
Lastly Freckles took off his cap. He
began filing it with handfuls of wheat
from his pockets. In a swarm the grain
eaters rose about him ike a flock Of
tame pigeons They perched on his
arms and the cap, and, in the stress
of hunger forgetting all caution, q bril-
liant cock cardinal and an equally
gaudy jay fought for perching place
on his head.
s'Weel. I'm beat!v muttered Duncan,
forgetting the silence imposed on his
wife. ~I'll haze to give in. Seem is
believin'."
A week later Duncan and Freckles
rose from breakfast to face the bitter
est morning of the winter. When
Freckles. warmly capped and gloved'
stepped to the corner Of the kitchen for
his scrap pail he found a pan of
steaming boiled wheat on the top Of it.
He wheeled to Mrs. Duncan with a
shining face
'Yere you fixing this warm food for
me chickens or yours2' he asked.
"Ifs for yours. Freekles,'' she said.
Freckles faced Mrs. Duncan with n
trace of every papg Of starved mother
hunger be had ever suffered written
large on his homely. spiotched. narrow
features.
ooh, how I wish you were my moth
err, he cried.
Lord love the lady' exclaimed Mrs.
Duncan. "Whv. Freckles, are ye no
BRIGHT enough to learn without being
taught by a woman that 1 am your
mither? If great man like yourself
dinna ken that learn it now and ne'er
forget it. -Ance a woman is the wife
of any man she becomes wife to all
men for having had the wifely ex-
perience she kensi Ance a man child
has beaten his way to life under the
heart of a woman she is mother TO all
men, for the hearts of mithers are
everywhere The same. Bless We. lad
die. am your miiher."
She tucked the coarse scarf she had
knit for him closer over his chest and
pulled his cap lower about his ears,
but Freckles, whipping it of aud hold
ing it under his arm, caught her rough,
redeemed hand and pressed It to his
lips in 4 lorg Hiss. Then he hurried
away to hide the happy. embarrassing
tears that were coming straight from
his swelling heart.
Mrs Duncan threw herself into Dun
cans arms
ooh. the puir ladr' she walled. ooh,
the puir mither hungry lad. lie breaks
my hearth
Duncan's arms closed convulsively
about his wife With a big brown
hand he lovinslv stroked her rough
sorrel hair.
sarah, you're a guild woman he
said you're q MIGHTY guild womanl
Ye haze a way o speakin' out at times
that's like the Inspired prophets Of the