Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-08-13
Orgy of
Birthdays
By RING LARDNER

Wei here IT is the open season for
picnics again and on Monday morning
our front yard looks like the chau-
tauqua had stayed a couple OF weeks
extra. Last Sunday they was 10 or
IL OF them little what nots from De-
troit parked In line along the road
and several passerbys thought we
must be having a auction or some
thing and come up to make inquirys
and | was about ready to get sore
when a kid about Is yrs. old that
belonged TO one of the picnieers
pointed to our COW and says oh look
mamma they have got a COW on that
estate.
Well you can't stay very mad when
they call your joint a estate and If
one Of them will pull something like
that every Sunday | will try and not
make no boiler about them uphoi
STEERING the front lawn with bread
and sardine cans, but | can't help
from wondering what that boy would
of called the Swope place next deor
where they have got a 4 or 800 TT.
front and suppose he would Of nick
named 1t Asia.
Speaking about the cow this amt
Flossie the one we had, but a bran
new one as Flossie had finely became
just a ornament The new one don't
seem to be no special brand and
amt got no family tree or nothing.
She Is plain black and when we first
got her we left 1t to the Riddles TO
give her a name and they thought IL
over all one day and then give ner
the name Blackie.
Kids will think of the #
things. But for some reason anoth.
er Blackie don't seem to like her
|. name, at lease she acts mad all the
time and has showed signs of Il
~vengefsl spirits. 1t seems that on
some parts of the estate they's quite
a growth of what they call wild gar
lie which now COW could possibly
enjoy eating it but Blackie eats 1t
to get even and l will say she gets
Sometimes you can shut your
eyes vile imbibing the oatmeal and
pretend you are enjoying the sl.W
table de hote at Madame Calls.
A few days of warmth and sun
shine certainly made the estate look
beautiful when all the flowers and
blossoms was out. All told they was
In bloom at one time (4) hyacinths,
2 crocusses, a u dozen tulips and the
fruit orchard. The last named Is
unluckly hid behind the garage so as
the picnic parties can't enjoy it. Last
yr. 1t yielded pretty near a straw
berry box full Of plums which come
as q big surprise as when we bought
the place they told US 1t was a
cherry tree.
! Annual work started last wk. on
the tennis court. The men promise
to have 1t ready by Sept. this VI. as
they amt nowheres near as much to
do to it as other yrs. as this winter
only n Of 1t caved In. Personally |
amt in no hurry as | agree with the
u. S. tennis assn. that a man can't
write and play tennis both and 1t
Is a whole lot less trouble to write
because when you play tennis you
half to wear special white shoes and
pants and shirt but you can write In
a kimona and slippers and In fact
some of my best writings has been
done entirely bare foot.
Three OF the 4 Riddles was born
In the spring time so we been having
quite a orgy Of birthdays and gen
orally when they's one In sight we ask
the hero Of same what he would like
for presents and most always the
reply is a pony or a sail boat or a
parrot or something else that they
amt no chance Of hin getting.
But the I'd. boy is different and to-
day is his birthday and we asked
him a wk. ago what would he like
and he says he would like something
that would clean the rust off his
bicycle. That Is the way he has al
ways been and will always be the
same way, not wanting nothing and
nothing is probably what he will get.
The Mrs. decided a vile ago that
1t was about time we was getting a
new vehicle to ride the Riddles back
and 4th. to school and back as the
one we had been using for that pur-
pose the last 3 or 4 yrs. was acting
kind Of sullen so we called up the
man and told him to bring something
around and so we asked him could
we trade In our old one and he looked
at same and kind Of swallowed hard
but says yes he would half to take 1T
over to Port Washington to get 1t ap-
praised.
So we was scared to death for q
" day as Port Washington Is 4
miles from here and the betting was
even that the good old wagon wouldn't
never complete the round trip, but
she done 1t all right and the deal
was closed and the papers signed and
now the Riddles is sQuawking be-
cause all the fun has been took out
of their daily trips to and from
school.
They always insisted OF setting In
the back seat of the old car and
about 2 days out of every 8 the ma