Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-02-16

"Six-eighty, wasn't it, Susan?" Jim
was always great hand to know the
price of everything.
As Jim was rocking and picking,
he would say, well, you got your
moneys worth"
! Ma would come to the door and
say, SIS your wife coming to the
chapel Sunday?"
II expect so. She's a great hand
to 60 to church."
"I'n get to see her, then," Ma
would say and 60 into the kitchen.
At last Pa would say, II expect
we'd better 60 back" and we would
all get up and start, me little in
the rear.
1t wouldn't be long till the saw was
again going grh-grh-grh.
After while the calves would all
be on the same side of the fence,
walking around and shaking their
heads and now and then giving
below.
How long you goin' to feed,
Amos?" Jim would ask.
"I'll hold them a year at least. I
don't believe in turning light stock"
That's just the way I see it,"
Jim would say and wipe off his
saw and 60 to the tank. "I'n get
the rest off at home"
"You want your check now?" Pa
would ask.
If you wouldn't mind" Jim
would say politely and Pa would
send me to the house for his in
delible pencil.
We'd put the team on and the
dehorning chute would rise out of
the wheel holes. Scattered on the
ground would be the horns; some
would have little patches of hair
clinging to them. Pretty soon the
chute would be swaying and teeter-
ing toward the road and Pa would
begin picking up the horns and
burying them so the smell of blood
that night wouldn't keep the cows
from giving down their milk.
Dehorning day would be over.
But after I went to bed I could still
hear the calves giving their plaintive
bellows, and I would feel sorry for
them.
At about this time I got my first
"lesson" in life. At least it is the
first "lesson" I can remember:
My mother raised chickens and,
since she was not ''strong," I had
to help her. She liked to study
them, and especially the way they
treated one another. One day, as
we were sitting on the porch and
the chickens were scratching in the
yard, she said:
"Chickens are just like people.
They have ways of grading each 9TH
er just as we have. They look up
to some hens and they look down on
others. The hen that keeps her
feathers oiled and makes the best
impression is the one they respect
most. She's the one that gets the
tidbits and she's the one that gets
the last peck.
"People are like that. The ones
that put up the best appearance in
the way of money, or home, or posi-
| tlOll, SCI lllC IllOSl lSSpeSl. CVGly
henyard is run that way and every
human group is run that way. Now
you watch, as you 60 through life,
and see if it don't work out!"
1t was such a whimsical idea,
could hardly believe it; but my
mother pointed out hen that was
the leader, and it was exactly as my
mother said. This was not only true
with the hens, but also with the
ROSTERS. We had a sort of head
rooster who was really cock of the
walk. Something had happened to
his voice; there was hoarse note.
Early of morning his voice would
be the first one to go off; then the
other ROSTERS crowed in exact turn.
We had a vivid illustration. A
hen, that was leader and got the
last peck, was caught by a hog
and her feathers we're torn out so
that she presented lugubrious ap-
| pearance. That hen lost her leader
ship and never got it back.
Homely and simple as it was, my
mothers bit of philosophy made
deep impression on me.
In March my father would say,
Homer, it's time to clean out the
smokehouse, and my heart would
hit the floor. Work. I would have
to move all the loose odds and ends
out, knock down the mud-dauber
nests, tighten the tin can lids that
had been nailed over the knotholes,
and sweep. The stove, from one
season to another, was kept in a cor
ner, and now I would have to haul
it out and set it in the middle of the
floor.
When everything was ready, Pa
would say, "All right now, we'll
rub" More work.
He would fill candy bucket a
third full of brine, and sit down on
little bench outside the smoke
house and slosh the ham up and
down; then he would pull the ham
up on the bench and rub in salt and
brown sugar so the ham would not
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