The Washington times., 1938-01-28

Sf16 was Qra1C morse, COuueIlucu
as such by the accidental mating
of Robert, the big Percheron stall
lion, with Cricket, the slim Nor
gan. She became one Of the thou.
sands of cross-breedS that still do
the heavy work in farm and vii.
lage, despite the prevalence OF
the automobile, the station
wagon, the tractor.
She was just as much without
personality as those thousands Of
others. She had her big, intelli-
gent head, her big, feathered feet,
her heavy shoulders and her long
barrel.
On the morning Babe was born,
Henry Minute and Roberta, his
nine-year-old and only daughter,
were returning from the Old Bury
ing Ground in Willows where
they had Just buried Ellen Minute,
wife and mother. Henry was a
tall. thin man with sad eyes AMI
sandy hair.
He was a bit Of a scholar. He
was the kind who gathered use
less information from the news
, papers and magazines. But none
Of the stuff he knew helped very
much in the running OF farm.
FARMING HARD WORK
Running a farm was not so
much a thing of specialized knowl-
edge. Rather it was a dull, mo-
notonous round of hard work.
Not that Henry Minute feared or
despised hard work. He didn't.
He liked it. 1t was only that ne
Just couldn't resist taking a few
minutes off here and there in the
days work to learn with infinite
satisfaction the reason why dawn
came later in winter that 1t did
In summer. Things that weren't
worth anything to anybody at all:
Z Strangely, this spe cialized
knowledge of Henry's was about
the first thing which had at;
tracted Ellen to him. Ellen had
been a big raw-boned girl, pretty
in a massive way. She had been
slow to think, to talk, to act, be-
cause thinking came hard to her.
and even when she had achieved
a complete thought, most OF the
time it proved not worth talking
about.
And here was Henry Minute. a
: farmer, who knew the darndeSt
things. And he was pretty good
looking too in his army uniform.
SO they were married. That had
been in 1918 and Roberta had
come along within the first year,
Roberta, dark and vital, smart as
Henry, smaller than her mother
and pretty.
When they rode back from the
Old Burying Ground on that Feb
ruary morning of Babes birth, it
was the year 1928. And 1928, ii
you remember, was a booming
year.
The Minutes didn't ride in a
nice automobile. They were lucky
to have any automobile at all
They had an old Star and Roberta
really believed that sometimes II
would run without gas. They had
the automobile and the rundown
farm and there didn't seem to be
much chance, even then, that the1I
condition would ever get any bet
ter. That may have been partly
the reason why Ellen Minute just
,curled up and died.
= BACK TO THE FARM
So there they came. Back to the
farm from the Old Buryine
Ground in the rickety Star. Henry
felt pretty bad. He felt worse thar
bad. He felt afraid. Without tht
slow-moving efficiency of Ellen
he was lost.
He glanced sideways at Roberta
sitting there so dark and vivid be
side him on the front seat ant
he thought to himself. What an
am I going to with her? Wha
am going to do about her?
can't take care of her. can't evel
hardly take care of my own SELF
And then he thought, but Henr'
Minute, you got to take care o
Roberta. She's your own daughte
and you love her. You just got to
somehow. And to her he said,
3, "How do you feel, Bertie?"
=. "All right, Pa" she said.
> 81 guess" Henry was never on
to let we'll enough alone. "You ar
,.goin' to miss your NAV. know
am. declare, BERTHE, just dom
know how to go about things"
- Don't you worry" she said
giving him a sideways feminin
and all.knowing glance. "Yo'
Just take care Of the farm. II
take care Of the house. I knoV
a lot about cookin'. Ma taugh
me. Didn't you like the flapjack
made this morning?"
"Yes, I did," he said hearth
but falsely. He hadn't remen
bered eating. "I guess we ar
goin' to get along all right, Berti'
You're right smart little girl
"Sure we are" she said as the
swung off the road and into til
rutted roadway that led to tt
farmyard. They were almost dow
to the barn when Henry though
s,of the mare.
Gosh, Bertie!" he exclaime
.a'I almost forgot. Cricket is ju
about due to have her colt. Jee
ers, Creepers! I hope she hasr
gone and died. I clean forgot
take care Of her"
''THE COLTS HERE"
Roberta didn't say anythin