Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-25
MAGAZINE SECTION for February Is, 1917

were all around the shore for two or three
rods, and you couldn't see over them.
They rustled like corn when we pushed
through them. But we knew there was
big clear place in the middle of the pond,
SO we waded on out to it. 1t was the
place where l learned to swim. 1t wasn't
over head anywhere.
Well, Ting came to the open place first,
and he stopped and said:
"There's somebody out there
Me and Eddie peeked, and there was.
Right off we saw who it vast was
Scratch-cat. She was in where the water
was under-arm deep, and she was sort of
crying, she was so mad. Then we saw
what she was trying to do-she was trying
to learn herself to swim. 1t was enough
to make anybody laugh.
1t looked like she had been at it long
time, for she was so cold she was shivering.
We were near enough to her to see that
the black spot on her arm was mole and
not leaf or a vaccination, and we could
see her shiver as plain as could be. The
way she was learning herself to swim was
this: she put her hands out in front of
her and sort of jumped off her feet and
then kicked and pounded the water and
went down under. guess you know how
that feels. You can't get your head above
water when you are that deep unless you
stand up; so you paw in the mud, and
get scared because you can't get to your
feet. Dell Brown would come up scared
to death, and spit and blow, and sort of
cry, and shiyer, and then she would do it
all again.
I GUESS it was pretty tough. Every
: time she went down she must have got
scratched up by the weeds with scratches
on them-sOme kind of smartweed-and
she was scared and chilly. 1t was mighty
funny. guess laughed out aloud.
Anyway, all at once she saw Ting and
us. She ducked like shot, until only
her head was out Of water, and me and
Eddie laughed. But Ting didn't. He
pushed me and Eddie back and said:
@Hey! Scratch-cat! Wait; I'll show
you how to swim.' Only, he said aI'u
shown you how to swim, the way he
always says SHOW"
So he slid his hands out on the water
and turned on his side and swan towards
where she was. He didn't mean nothing.
All he meant was to show her how to
swim, because she would never learn the
way she was trying. But Scratch-cat
turned and held her arms straight out in
front of her and hurried for the shore,
pushing the weeds away with her hands
Ting kept telling her to wait, and once
he came up to her, and she turned and
hammered him with her fists, crazy mad,
and he let her go ON. The weeds must
have scratched her pretty bad, ripping
through them that way; but she got to
the railway track and began putting her
clothes on fast. So Ting said:
"Garsh! l bet she gets our clothes and
hides them or something!'
So me and Eddie and Ting hurried to
where our clothes were and dressed. We
got most of our buds ON and were putting
on the rest, when we heard somebody
yelling. 1t was woman, and she was
over on the river road, across cornfeld
from where we were, and she was yelling
like she was being murdered. was
mighty scared. All thought of was that
whoever was numbering her would murder
her and then come over and murder us.
l guess Eddie thought the same thing,