The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1920-09-17
The
ScarecroA
By L HAMILTON
o. lsao. Western Newspaper unionl

she tau Tedchtu tle very hefglt OF
earthly felicity when she became the
sole owner Of a home Of her own For
fifteen years she had taught school,
carefully saved her money aud now At
thirty-hye with a paid up annuity pol
icy bringing her forty dollars a month
she had settled down amid beauty and
comfort.
Tie house vas very pleasantly ar
ranged aud there was a twO-acre gar
den. This latter had been neglected
und Miss Burton had great ideas of
improving 1t as she accumulated the
money to do 50. An orphan niece, My
IA Davis. had come to live with her.
bringing the furnishings Of two rooms,
Inherited from her mother. The ar-
rangement was that Myra should as
sist about Ike house, and If they could
get a little fancy work TO do they
would join in this feature of increas-
Ing their Income.
The first thing we nus do is to get
that old chicken yard In order" said
Myra. at will take about fifty yards
Of poultry netting TO patch up the Old
fence and "a new gate must he made
for IL. There's laying boxes to get for
the chicken, TOO and the inside shed
ought to be yhifewashed. You'll leave
all that 10 lne, won't you, Aunty2'
Miss Burton was fully agreeable to
tfis arrangement. Her own hobby
about the place was a cherry tree that
occupied The center Of the garden. ut
bore for the first time last year." Il
n~eighhors tell me-" she said f Myra.
There was only a little fruit then, but
this will be- a good year for II. All my
life I've longed 10 be able TO put up
fruit raised by my own hands
So Miss Burton sprayed the tree and
watched the buds grow into little green
globes aud cleaned and polished some
old fruit jnrS aud made great prepara-
lions for the harvesting Of Ter treas
ures.
Meantime Myra lived in a sort Of
elysiun of delight. Her forte was max
Ing things Spick and span and keeping
hem 50. She was trying to stralghten
stretch and attach II roll Of poultry
wire ~ posts one afternoon when n
Young man of about twenty-five came
along. He WAS rolling a lawn mower
and had a small canvas bag, evidently
containing tools.
Just let me save you time and
trouble. young lady" he spoke briskly.
You've got too pretty fingers to
scratch and mush up with such rough
work. Using, nailsl OF, that won't
10, Here's what you need for lacking
and holding wire" and he took from
his kit = box containing u-shaped
RAIDS.
Myra liked his face and manner
nyhody would, for he was all smiles
nd good nature. He looked as II he
would feel hurt If she declined his
help. hut she said. I'VE are doing mos
\ the work around here. Aunty and
Myself. We haven't got much money.
"OI, rIn won't he work for me- de
Jared the y ing nan i've got a III
lie leisure. Now then, you take this
dwl and hold the wire true while ]
nall. That's Il. Famous! Just getting
cudy To mike n farm of the place.
h? Tin picking mp u sort of tempo
AIRY living staying here for a week or
two. | know something about garden
work and II you don't mind I'll drop
around once in Il while and give you
some points"
'Uh, II you would" exclaimed Myra.
and IN her ingenious way told Of Miss
Burton'S agricultural ambitions. II led
To her interested visitor telling her
something about himself. His was a
curious story. lie gave her his name
aS Archie lull, and related that he
had colne from another state where
lie had been in charge NJ a grain ele-
vator Tor II wealthy relative. One day
a maudlin produce buyer had quar-
relied with his wife In the elevator
office and had struck her. All the man
hood of I.ull resented the brutality.
lie had given the man the t%rouncing
Of his life. Tile latter was influential
nnd threatened to prosecute Lull to the
limit.
1T MAS cowardly 10 run away" con-
fessed Lull. hut I was tired of the
monotonous job anyway, so I've sort
NJ made myself scarce"
He was a ureless worker, wen IN.
formed, agreeable aud accommodating
aud he made many new friends. He
won the heartiest appreciation OF Miss
Burton by putting up u scarecrow to
Keep away the robins aud h~lackbirds
from her precious cherries and cur.
rants,
In making the scarecrow Lull had
used IAN old coai N no vulue," he de-
clared, "tou loud to wear on the
street, Just used It inside the eleva.
tor Office II WIS conspicuous and did
It's work well. one day II mar motor
ing py halted and came up to the
fence,
Young mdy," lac spoke to Myra. sex.
use me. hut that coat ON your scare
crow strikes me rs familiar. Would