Mexico Missouri message., 1918-09-26
Fl[ O4DEY'S EyENNC
g,y .EAIRY TALE
k,l9 s. EiArG GUAVA!1.eCAyNtR
ABUSED CROW.

ut makes me pretty angry at times'
said Charlie Grow.
"What makes you angry? Cav,
Cav, Cav, what makes you angryF
asked Mrs. Charlie Crow.
''The farmers make me angry. Their
lack of appreciation of me makes me
feel terribly. Oh, it is beyond words
Mt times, to tell how sad feel" And
Charlie Grow wept tear which fell
on his handsome black coat.
''Poor Charlie" said Mrs. Grow. MY
poor child, Charlie"
For when he was feeling sad and
mournful Mrs. Crow always treated
him as though he were child crow
iastead of grown-up Mr.. Crow.
"And they still put the scarecrows
in their fields. They still do"
"You mean those creatures made out
of sticks and things, which are dressed
up like men with guns, eh?" asked
Mrs. Grow.
ayes, they are called scarecrows'"
said Charlie. "They are put in the
fields to scare away the crows ana
that is why they have such name
you see-scnrecrows, or Let US
scare the crows"
"Ah, that is a sad and sorry tale"
said Mrs. Crow. "To think OF farm
ers stll putting those scarecrows In
the fields. Why, they actually Keep
many, many crows away. We under
stand them. We know they are only
make-believe men and that they carry
only make-believe guns. But it's not
kind of the farmers TO try to frighten
us away. We are really such good
friends of the farmers"
"That's So" said Charlie; "that is
where the sad part of it comes i'll. On
dear. oh, dear" and poor MIR. Charlie
Grow wept another bitter tear, which
made his black coat quite wet.
Mrs. Charlie Grow took her maple
leaf handkerchief which Mr. Crow had
given her on her last birthday (she
had birthdays very often, so as TO get
lots of presently, and wiped the wet
SPOT which had been made by the
tear.
"Don't weep, Mr.. Grow. Don't weep
Charlie, old boy. Nothing is so bad
that it mghtn't be worse, I've heard
wise people say"
"Ah, that's so, I suppose" said
Charlie. "But I can't think of any
tfhng that could be worse than the
lack of appreciation which the farmers
show me.
'Tt is true, we do steal the grain
| ~. Wy,
do. And many of us are thieves-in
fact, most of us are thieves, believe.
But we must eat and we must live,
and If we can't go to the markets and
put down pennies and nickels and
dimes for our food, we just have TO
take it as we can.
eve can't shop like people. We
have no money, no pocketbOoRs, no
bank accounts. The squirrels have
savings banks where they save nuts,
like children save their pennies. But
we are without all these things"
''We are without all of them,''
agreed Mrs. Crow. "And it is most In
sulting for the farmers to put scare
crows in the fields, and it is still more
hard-hearted of them to let us think
for a moment that they would have
guns fred off at us-that's what they
try to make us think.
"Yes, it's hard, very, very hard" she
said.
"And though will admit that oul
family does steal and that we do rob
the farmers of some goodies-still, the
harm we do doesn't half come up tC
the good we do. We eat the grubs and
different kinds of worms which would
destroy the corn, and we really save
the crops for the farmers, maIy and
many time" said Charlie.
"Yes," said Mrs. Crow, "the harm
we do is little. The good we dc
amounts to great deal. But, Charlie
don't be sad or insulted, for things
might be so much worse. You are
alive and well. You have a loving
mate and a fine brood of children.
'You have good strong wings, ant
your handsome black suit; you have
your eyesight and your voice.
whenever you get discouraged
think of the creatures who have rea
trOubles-who are sick and miserable
and who actually suffer"
"That's So" said Charlie "my trou
bles are very few compared to what
some creatures have to put up with
But 1 do wish could tell the farmer:
that I do try to do all can to hell
them-even if they think it is impossi
BILE for me to have anything goo(
about me-"
Sooner or later they'll know ant
thank u.s." said Mrs. Charlie Crow.