The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-03-27
MISTAKE OF OBED
MADE scAREcRoWs or CLOTHES
WIFE AND DAUGHTER
! WANTED. Il
H Frightened the Birds Away From
the Corn, but He Had to Give
s'lome Money for New
Things.

"My graciousl" calculated Mr.. Gun
ney. He passed from the fervent
warmth of the June sunshine into the
welcome GOODNESS Of Caleb Peaslee's
wagon shed and famed himself vigor
ously with his straw hat. my gra'
cious!" he repeated. Mr.. Peaslee
looked up from the rake that he was
mending.
What's the matter of We now
Obed?" he desired to know.
my wife and daughter" replied Mr.
Quincy, shave jest gin me a kind OF
goin' over, guess you might call it,
and me as innocent as baby. II
sort Of took my breath away, and I've
skun out a spell, to give 'em chance
to get over It."
''What you been up to now?" de-
manded Mr.. Peaslee.
II amt been up to single thing, -
asserted the culprit stoutly. "At any
rate, amt done nothin' further'n to
make a mistake that any man might
have made. dessay you would have
done jest the same as I did"
''Mebbe," admitted Caleb. "What
you been doin'?" IT..
"Well," hesitated Obed, 'Tll tell you
how twas. My wife an S'lome have
been away visitin' for bout three
weeks, and they left me to do as I
was mind to In most ways; but when
any little thing'd come up that was
onsartain bout, I'd write to 'em, or
one Of 'em. There want much
bout whether I'd set another hen, or
how much Mis- Griggs owed us for but.
ter, or some such thing as that.
'Bimeby, though, wanted some adj
vice bout what to use to make scare
crow. I'd got my corn in, and them
pesky crows was clawin' it out Of the
ground Eastern I could put it in. I
didn't know where to find the things
to make scarecrow Of so wrote to
'em and wanted they should tell me
where could find somethin'.
''Mebbe you remember" said Obed
with a questioning glance, shat wom-
an and her daughter that boarded at
our house last summer?" Mr.. Peas
lee signifled that he remembered them
well. ...
SWELL" Obed went on, "when they
went away they left a raft of stuff
that they didn't giant in the way of
clothes, ] mean Some Of the things
were clothes that they'd worn fishin'
and trampin' round in the woods, and
they was c'nsid'able tore to pieces.
There they was, hangin' up in
clothes-press, and S1ome wrote to me
to 60 and get somethin' to dress the
scarecrow. She didn't tell me what
to take, he added defensively, $50 how
In tunket they blame me is more'n
can figger out. r..
swell, went up there, and paved
over the mess of stuff and picked out
some things and took 'em out to the
field and dressed the critter up in 'em.
There was a fancy rig for a hat, and
. long, jacketlike thing that they
called a blazer, and skirt with red
and white stripes In 1t, and the stripes
was an inch and half wide. I don't
believe" Mr.. Quincy declared, in the
pride, of creation, shat when I got
through you could have found a tastier-
dressed scarecrow anywheres.
81 took a lot of pride in it," Obed
admitted, sand guess it's just as well
I took 1t before them womenfolks got
home. Well, I amt had q quiet min.
ute since, and no knowing when I win
have.
"Come to get at the rights Of it," he
explained, ''there was some things
there that both my wife and S'lome
was cal1atin' to wear themselves. My
wife was goin' to FIX over the hat for
herself, and Stoned been picturin'
herself rugged out in that striped skirt
md that fancy jacket.
Course they couldn't use 'em now
never do to have it said
hat they'd been Robin a scarecrow
70 get things to wear. So the upshot
% that I've had to give 'em more
money than could RELY afford, to lay
,ut in new clothes. There's Jest one
,omfortin' thing bout the whole bust
1ess."
"What is itT' asked Mr.. Peaslee.
"Them crows" grinned Obed con.
"There amt been crow
hats felt it safe to come within a !
quarter Of a mile Of the field since
legged that scarecrow up. So mebbe !
I'll get my moneys wuth out Of it
liter all."-Youth's Companion.