The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1921-09-15
The
Scarecrow
BY RALPH HAMILTON
m 1aao. Western New.paper union.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.


sole owner Of q home Of her owl. For
fifteen years she had taught school
carefully saved her money and now at
thirty-tive with paid up annuity pol
Icy bringing her forty dollars month
she had settled down amid beauty and
comfort.
Tie house was very pleasantly ar
ranged and there was two-acre gar
den. This latter had been neglected
and Miss Burton had great ideas of
improving 1t as she accumulated the
money to do 80. An orphan niece, My
ra Davis, had come to live with her,
bringing the furnishings of two rooms,
Inherited from her mother. The mr..
rangement was TINT Myra should ns-
sist about TIE house, and If they could
get little fancy work to do they
would join in this feature of increas-
Ing their income.
"The first thing we must do Is to get
that old chicken yard In order" said
Myra. 1T will take about fifty yards
of poultry netting to patch lp the old
fence and new gate must be made
for It, There's laying boxes to get for
the chickens, too, and the inside shed
ought to be whitewnshed. You'lI leave
all that to me, won't you, .Aunty?'
Miss Burton was fully agreeable to
this arrangement. Her own hobby
ABOUT the place was II cherry tree that
occupied the center Of the garden. ut
bore for the first time last wear" a
nPiphbnrc foil ,l,o
Ihere was only little fruit then, but
this will be good year for 1t. All my
life I've longed to 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 and cleaned and polished some
old fruit jars and made great prepar:,-
tions for the harvesting Of Ter treas
urpS.
Meantime Myra lived in a sort of
elysum of delight. Her forte was max
Ing things spick and span and Keeping
them so. She was trying to straighten
stretch and attach roll Of poultry
wire to posts one afternoon when Il
young man of about Twenty-Five came
'''c't,' lIS W as lpIllnS IL ltWn IllDWnT
and had small canvas nag, 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 nails? Or, that won.
DO! Here's what YOU need for tacking
Sffl1 S>,,ll
ms kit box containing u-shaped
brndS.
Myra liked his face and manner
anybody would, for he was all smiles
and good nature. He looked as If ht
would feel hurt if she declined his
help, but she said, eve are doing mos,
of the work around here, Aunty ant
myself. We haven't got much money!
"Olr, that won't be work for me-" de-
clnrod the young man. 1--WE got lit.
tie leisure. Now then, YOU take this
Rwl and hold the wire true while !
nail. That's it. Famous! Just getting
ready to make farm OF the place,
oh? Pm picking up II sort OF tempo.
airy living staying here for week or
two. | know something about garden
work and IL YOU don't mind I'll drop
around once In a while and give YOU
some points"
"Oh, If you would !" exclaimed Myra.
and in her ingenious way told of Miss
Burton's agricultural ambitions. 1t led
to her interested visitor telling her
something about himself His was q
curious story. He gave her HIS name
as, Archie Lull, ana related thnt he
had come from another state where
he had been In charge OF grain ele.
vatOr for wealthy relative. One day
a mnutllin produce buyer had quar-.
relied With his wife in the elevator
office and had struck her. All the man.
hood Of Lull resented the brutality
He had given the man the trouncins
OF his life. The latter was influential
and threatened to prosecute Lull to the
limit.
1T was cowardly to run away" con.
fessed Lull, ''but was tired of the
monotonous job anyway, so I've sor4
OF made myself Scarce"
He was tireless worker, well in.
formed, agreeable and accommodating
ana lie made many new friends. He
won the heartiest appreciation OF Miss
Burton by putting up scarecrOw to
keep away the robins and blackbirds
from her precious cherries and cur.
rants.
In making the scarecrow Lull had
used IAN old coat Of no value" he de.
ciared. "too loud to wear on the
Treet-just used 1t inside the eieva.
tor office 1t was conspicuous and did
Its work well. One day man motor
ing by halted and came up to the
fence.
young lady" he spoke to Myra, "ex.
cnse me, but that coat on your scare