Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-21

footed it for the fence. He never did
go back to get his berry pail. If we
are to have sheep, therefore, Ned In
sists there shall be no rams in the
/ flock
| Only a Few Turkeys Left.
| Jane has lost a lot of her enthusiasm
on the subject of turkey raising. She
has been taking stock and finds that
Of flfty-seven which she Matched last
| spring only eleven are on hand today.
| She doesn't know what became of them
/ or when they died. One flock of eleven
got caught out in heavy rain and all
but one persisted forthwith. but aside
from these she knew Of the deaths of
| only six or seven. The others simply
! disappeared one or few at time
and their absence was unnoticed ex-
cept in general way. Whether they
! just naturally died or were caught by
j hawks or some animal there is no way
| of telling. At the last previous count
she had twenty-five. and at that time
all of them were supposed to have
passed the age of high turkey NOR
tality. They were big enough. in fact.
to have made turkey broilers-if such
| Instead of turkeys. she says, next
year she is going to try ducks and
geese as poultry sideline. Last
spring she set two hens on twenty duck
/ raised all but one of them. We have
had two dinners Of roast young duck
and | tell you it is hard to beat For
Thanksgiving and Christmas. of course,
but for just every day eating the fam.
lily that isn't satisfied with young
duck and chicken is mighty hard to
Iplease. I don't know whether we would
have had 1t but once since we were
married, and we didn't make much
Roadway then at eating it. 1t would
not be fair, Of course, to judge the
entire goose tribe by the toughness OF
that particular member. for 1 think
he must have died of old age, but L
never since have been able to get up
any enthusiasm on the subject. Geese
are said to be not particularly difficult
to raise. and If money is to be made out
of them I certainly shall interpose no
objection if Jane wants to give them
a trial.
Guineas Are Not Popular.
had a big bunch that we could
make pot of money raising guineas.
so last spring I sent away and got
setting of eggs. The hen Matched out
eleven and all but two of them lived.
The nine 1 had planned to keep as a
breeding flock, but we have decided we
don't care much for guineas. They are
supposed to be half-wild bird and
to run far afield. but our guineas evil
IDENTIFY have been over-domesticated.
Instead of spending their time Tar
away. chasing bugs and grasshoppers,
and the Internal racket they. make
drives Jane almost distracted. We
never have eaten guinea. but two OF
them are to furnish our dinner tomor-
row. If we like them we'll enough we
will endure the rest of the flock until
such time as we can eat them up.
otherwise, the first huckster who goes
along the road can have them for what
he is willing to pay:
One thing the rain has done about
which we have no complaint is to
bring on an enormous crop of .mush-
rooms. Down in the field, where the
COWS pasture the ground is almost COW
cred with them these mornings. We
have been having them creamed and on
toast for breakfast and with meat and
in other ways for dinner. and still the
supply exceeds the demand Jane mas
started canning them and ALREADY mas
about two dozen pint jars filled she
hasn't consulted the merchant who Is
to handle her other canned products,
but If he doesn't want item we IL Keep
them for home use. There are srea.
cooked and served, and they ought to
taste mighty good next winter.
Boys Get into Trouble.
When 1 got home from the office the
other evening Jane met me with an
elongated face filled with grief ana
despair The minute l caught sight OF
her I knew something awful had hap
pened, and l nerved myself for the
blow Perhaps some accident had be-
fallen one of the children, or. at the
very least. the horse or one OF the
cows was dead. So many things have
happened to us lately that 1 was pre-
pared to hear of almost any disaster
My apprehension was only increased
when Jane showed reluctance to tell
me what was wrong. 1t must be some
thing worse even than I had imagined
But finally the story came out. Her
sons had been smoking!
How long they had been at vt is not
quite clear, and they might have kept
too ambitious. Having spent my boy
hood in the city, I never had heard of
corn-silk cigarettes, but it seems that
almost every country boy knows c. OF
open faced. frank-eyed, seemingly
guilless son of our neighbor. had mi
tiated Jim and Ned and Buster" Rob-
inson into the secret of the forbidt.
indulgence. IHdI Is, II Hdu OecH IoT-
hidden to Bud" but as my injunc-
tions to Jim and Ned against smoking
always had applied to tobacco, they
entered technical plea of not guilty
of disobedience, so far as the corn
silk cigarettes were concerned.
Where Jim came "cropper," bring
ing on exposure and robbing him even
of the technical defense. was when he
got hold Of Lee Custis' old clay pipe
and filled it with strong black tobacco
from Lees pouch. From descriptions
furnished 1t would seem that Jim
posed as a very dashing hero when he
struck a match and lighted the pipe.
In something less than three minutes
he wasn't getting a bit Of fun out of
the hero role: had. in fact, about lost
all interest in earthly things.
Jim Expected to Die.
Jane. summoned by the thoroughly
frightened Ned. found one of the sick
est boys it ever had been her misfor-
tune to behold. Even If the pipe hadn't
been there as unimpeachable evidence,
no attempt was made to conceal the
facts. Jim was convinced he was going
to die, and he had no intention Of dying
unconfessed and unforgiven. While
Jane was wondering what remedy to
apply. nature took things into her own
hands and Jim was relieved of the
worst Of his suffering. the while he