Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1940-10-18
''Chirps" ~
from the
Democrats Pen

i
ton of you people to the cut on TINS
page showing just what pranks Ma
ture will play, now and then. You'll
see a pick with a handle which ac-
tually grew through the eye of the
pick; originally the top was on the
tree, but that was cut off to reduce
the size of the photograph from
which the cut was made.
Now, I don't know anymore about
that freak except what I see. There
wasn't any way to slip that sappling
through that pick, because the body
of the tree had began to spread a.
bove and below the eye, predicting
that, in time, the whole utensil would
have been enclosed in the trunk. That
would have been nice thing to in
troduce to a mill saw in the years
to come, wouldn't it.
Now, some of these unbelievers-
these good sceptical souls-are dis
posed to reason within themselves
concerning that pick and its natural
handle. Some say that the man found
it where it wasn't lost, and that back,
a year or so ago, he showed the way
to baby pine through that eye, and
then left Nature to do the rest.
Well, now, he may have performed
that little operation in tree surgery.
but he would have had peach of a
time keeping it under cover. Natural
thing for him to do was to tell his
wife about it-and you know what
that means; if you don't I do. 1t
would have been hard for him to keep
the matter inside his own brain; but
II he once told it, well, it wouldn't be
a secret any longer, would it?
Then, again, some people are mean
enough to say that the pick was in
the hands of one of these WPA work.
ers; that he struck one lick with it,
laid IL down, the handle rotted off, and
nature supplied the one you see in the
cut before said worker struck another.
/ wouldn't go so far as to say that,
because it might give some Of these
WPA, WAP, PWA, APW, AWP, OF
PAW workers an idea; in that case,
the tree might cover the pick entirely
before progress is made, and wed
never see the finish of some of our
projects.
Well, there's been a good many
people who have looked at that Curl
osity, but I haven't heard yet Of one
who says he needs something of that
sort; that he would like to shape that
handle to his hands, and try it out
on his ditch bank. No, sir, he says,
by his silence, "Let Bill do it." That
pick is too much of a rarity to spoil
It's best to leave it as it is, says the
industrious dirt worker. So, I'm a.
fraid those roots will die, that bark
rot off, and the pick itself become a
victim of rust, ere it will find home
But, everybody will agree that Ma
ture did q good job. There is a
truism which says: Mature abhors q
vacuum. This little. pine shoot saw 9
way through that iron affair, and
evidently, came to the conclusion Ma.
ture should make good on its reputa-
ton. In it went, and: in timej there
was no vacuum. The vacuum was left
to the WPA man, and it was in evil
dence between strokes. - ~ !.
Well, this little instrument of tor
ture to the Relief man is, at least, ar
example Of the crazy things Nature
will do. Not long ago, T saw cut
of an oyster which had a paddock
right through the two shells where
you stuck knife to open the luscious
bivalve = locking up what I would
call it's mouth. Reckon that oyster
had been talking too much. I cannot
help thinking that would be goot
appliance for the traps of some peo
pie I know. I've often heard about
persons shutting up like a clam
An oyster is of the same family, and
as a rule, you don't hear much from
any of them; but this one may have
strayed away from the habitats of its
ancestors, had mingled with such fish
as croakers, GROWERS, and such Other
denizens of the deep, and, thereby
departed from the habits of those who
were pioneers in the oyster business
So, I don't care whether the "picl
cut" is little pleasantly prepared
for the public by the man who dug il
up. He may, for all I know, have
been experimenting in tree possibili.
ties,-that's neither here nor there
all I know>is what I see and I see a
handle provided for that pick by ma.