The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1929-12-12
THE KENNEWICK COURIER-REPORTER

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try with Paul Bunyan, all this val
ley was covered with water and
the Horse Heaven hills were
dense forest.
You have no doubt heard how
Paul Bunyan cut a way the tim
Der and in order to get his logs
out it was necessary to blast
away the falls that retained the
water and left the sand and rocks
to bleach in the desert sun.
Believe me, it was wild and
woolley country! Some one, in try
ing to describe it said, where the
woodbine turneth, the wood chuck
chucketh and the whang doodle
/ mourneth her first born" Did you
ever see one of those strange il
lusive animate, the whang doodle?
It is one of the strangest and most
difficult animals in the world.
1t has the size and strength of
a bear, the speed of a deer, the
cunning of a coyote and the cour-
age of a cougar. They are very
scarce for the reason that they
mate only when Friday 18th comes
at the time of the full moon.
That all happens this week SO
if YOU hear any strangs haunting
! sounds this week you will know
it is the mating cry of the whang
/ doodle. The male beasts are light
pink and the females are blue,
hence comes the age-old tradition
that our boy babies should be
dressed in pink and the girls in
blue. Also the males have green
eyes and are very jealous so we
are want to associate green eyes
with jealousy. The males are so
Jealous that they kill their own
young because they get so much
attention from the females, hence
the saying sThe land where the
whang doodle mourneth her first
born"
And now here comes the strang-
est part of all when ever the fe-
male loses her off spring, she i'm
mediately hunts up a full-grown
man to take its place upon which
she bestows all her mothers
thwarted attention and affection
while her mate tries just as zeal
ously to kill the usurper. Now you
can imagine this is not a very en-
yiable position for the captured
man-hence the idea that Friday
| the 18th at the time of full moon
is an unlucky date.
Now it was my misfortune to
be captured by one Of these mourn
| ing females, who tried her best to
kill me with kindness, while her
disconnected mate tried to kill me
with everything else. ! didn't spend
a very pleasant six weeks and my
final escape was little short Of
Miraculous. Ne and my foster moth
er were quietly feeding in quiet
little glen one sunny afternoon.
She was industriously digging for
roots and bugs and such and as
all good mothers always have done,
insisting upon my eating too much.
Everything was so quiet and peac-
| full that we had entirely forgotten
every idea Of danger and had
drifted farther apart than usual.
All at once we were forcibly re-
minded of our carelessness. With
an inhuman scream that set all
the birds a-twitter, crash that
made the hill side tremble and q
roar that filled the canyon, the
living, breathing avalanche OF de-
struction was upon us.
| Without even once looking back
to see what fate my foster moth
er had met, I started to run and
believe me, run ! did. Up the
gulch, over rocks, through tne
brush, leaping over and down islis
and splashine through the brook,
On and on in breathless haste ana
at every step or leap felt the
hot breath of the Infatuated whang
doodle upon my neck.
On and up until to my amaze
ment and digust / could see tne
hills closing in upon me. The can
Won became narrower and narrow
er until there was no room TO run
and was forced to stop with my
back against rock wall. On came
the crazy beast with his mouth
wide open and his green eyes blaz-
ing with wrath. And then just as
the gates Of sure death opened to
receive me did the only thing
left for me to do. thrust my arm
far down the creatures throat,
grasped it's tail and with a
mighty heave turned him wrong
side out and he went laundering
and roaring back down the cam
yon.
Yours for Friday thirteenth Of
December, the time Of the full