Lower coast gazette., 1913-12-20
The Kettle Of the
Singing Bird.
BY c. A. Stephens.

BY c. A. Stephens.
Among the odds and ends of seven
ty-fve year of domestic life, put
away in the farmhouse attic at the old
squire's in Maine, was a battered cop.
per kettle that would hold about six
quarts. 1t was of such red copper as
to be quite ruddy. It's origin was un-
known. Shape and workmanship we're
c~uriously antique; but to our young
eyes the oldest thing about it was
the rude picture Of a bird, perched on
a bough, with its little bill wide open;
it was etched into the copper inside
the kettle, evidently by savage hands.
We called it the kettle of the sing
ing bird, and long afterward we learn
ed that we had hit upon a most appro-
pirate name, for it had formed part of
the dowry of an Indian girl,--a chiefs
daughter of the st. Francis tribe
who, when young, had been called the
Bird-who-sings.
But years afterWac1. when she was
nearly a hundred years old, and fright
fully wrinkled, the whites called her
Old Molly-ocket, and were in some lit
tie fear of her. She was said to be a
witch" who dealt in Charms made
from the dry, powdered livers of white
men, ridiculous falsehoods, of course.
Still, she was rather a formidable old
sonaW. She ranged the wilderness
mysteriously from Maine to Canada,
and appeared here and there at the
farms, sometimes asking for food,
sometimes merely making a silent call
of an hours duration, after which she
would depart as she had come, with
out speaking. She always had some
silver money in her pocket, and some
times she gave a small coin to the
housewives in payment for food.
Apparently, she knew everything
that went on in the country, and some
people said that she told Of occurren.
ces before they happened.
She often came 10 the farm. Grand
mother, then a young woman Of tWen-
ty-two, was afraid of her, she did not
like her Watchful Indian eyes, or the
short, heavy horse-pistol that the old
squaw always carried under her loose
blanket frock, and that she kept con-
stantly loaded and primed. Rumor
had it that the old creature could
shoot very straight.
The kettle had come into the old
| squire's possession in a curious way,
when he was young, and had been a
source of care to him in his later life.
He was not inclined to talk much
about it. We young people at the
farm never really heard the story till
one week in February, the winter that
Joel Pierson taught the district school
Pierson was a junior from Bates, Col
lege. He boarded at the old squire's
and after the term closed, we had a
fortnight Of private school in the sit
ting room at the old farmhouse, and
began to study Latin under his instruc
ton.
Our first Latin lessons were, Gu,
short, however, by n of those con
tagious maladies Of youth that we al
dread, yet are afterward very gladtt t.
have had at home and done with. .
We made OF sad discovery on {
Sunday afternoon, snowy, bleak ant
cherries. / had felt strangely i'll a
ease all day. Ny bones felt queer, m!
throat ached. We had attended
singing school, at "Baghdad, tn
evening before, and had come hom'
thoroughly chilled. | thought mus
have taken cold | noticed, too, tina
my cousins, Addison and Ellen, wer'
shivery and wan.
At the supper table ADDISON asked
What's good for %earache, grandma
ther?"
Onion p%oultice,. replied the oil
lady. Does your ear ache?"-
"Ached all day." said Addison.
so does mine,' said Ellen. IN
jaw on the left side feels queer, to.
1t is swelled."
Addison said that his jaw alsofelt
queer.
"Do you suppose it is the Latin,
Ad?o Theodore asked. LAUGHING.
Il shouldn't wonder" graidmosler
observed. Il have been experimental
something would happen 70 all your
jaws, from the strange talk nave
heard in the sitting room thu week
should not like to put my jas aoou'
! in that way"
i Il could not eat a Baldwit TINS lore