334

Date 1912-02-27

From 334

Tuesday, February 27th, 1918 oper stepfather brought them in, one under each arm. Bending, that they might not receive the least jar, he deposited them on the floor. Seating himself in a nearby chair, he removed his hat, drew from the crown of ft a red bun- dannz handkerchief and mopped his head aud shiny pate. Replacing the handkerchief, he put the hat on the floor by-his-chair; leaned-back, crossed -his legs and beamed. Evidently my stepfather's little tin cup of Joy was plumb full. The two hound-pupe-recuous-ef-exptessionwab- bling of legs, quivering. lt;f tail, nosed about my step- father s feet until the female pup, In a sudden rush of brain power, brought forth a fragment of a bark. The effort cost her a tuinble to her side, but my stepfather was quick to set her, on her unsteady vety ears, ering by holding her up by the nape of her neck, to test her grit. She howled, which, according to dog lore, was no the right thing. However, my stepfather was nowise cast down. He just shook the delinquent and set her. on her legs: then, as he watched her waddle around, he gave us a talk on hounds, especially the race from which his pups bad sprung. As pups they've not got much sense (that seemed trae), nor will thes know anything u to a year old. Then they'll develop head. Now, the mother of these pups A relghbor turning into the path which led to the house cut short the feats of one hound. , It was our assertive neighbor, 2 good enough man, but a born grater, at least to my stepfather. Hello, old man, where did you get them things? There it was Old man was an appellation like gcit to my stepfather s nerves; then to call the very apples of his eye things They are full-blood hound asserted my step- father, with much dignity. None of your worthless cur dog abont them. A fall-blood hound is one or the most ornery, no account dogs on earth. All they are fit for is to eat and yelp. They'll how to raise the roof if they stub thelr toe or a flea bites em. And, to my stepfather's unspeakable Indignation, the speaker added to his tirade the turning of a pup on its back with the toe of his boot, leaving it there +prawling.. My stepfather immediately bent to the resene, tenderly turning the helpless thing right side up, whereupon our neighbor winked at me knowingiy. Having had his flfg, be did his errand, which was to say that they were going to the bayou that night to gig fish, and would my stepfather come along. , As-he turned to leave, his own dogs, big brindles, a cross of all dog breeds, I guess, caught his eye. Now there are dogs that are dogs Just enough hound in em to give em a nose, enough bull to winke em fight, enough My stepfather stamped across the room to the water bucket, his heavy boots drowning the name of dox from the house- Just then-sy-mether-came.in fo i OUDEE neighbor went his way. - My step-parent-xat down to the table with an audi. ble grant, picked up fork and empaled potato. It was plain that bis thoughts were of bis neighbor. He's nothing but a bag of wind No things lik gt; his things No ways like Southern ways No: dogs like that pair of brthdl curs? Tle pups drew my. stepfather s attention. Ti had scented him otff and were tumbling over bis fee Gazing down upon them with. the satiifed alr of a proprietor he added: Now, there are dogs that are dogs, oF will be dogs For pups of thelr age they can't be beat Whatever the pups were to be, they led my step- father in--fact,-The whole-family a merry dance getting there. They began at nightfall, whines by Fubbing ber Tong, vel whimpering low, then tion in a half dozen different forms. I guess they were pretty hollow, and doubtless they missed cud: dling against the warm body of the mother hound., Raising Them on Milk. Ment for a man. More than once that first night 1 awoke to see him trotting out to them in his nigh shirt, a saucer of milk in his hand. Nor did he scold them the following morning. Instead hie made ex cuses for them. He expected to have a- t*me anti they were weaned. Well, if my stepfather thought that (te time would end with the weaning he found himself mis- taken. Really it had just begun. Worms at first, caused by feedini: to much cows milk, the nefZhbore said. For awhile the poor pups doses were mostly ears und stomach. My stepfatl - them with gunpowder and-calomet; then they h Later they caught the mange and wi with suipbur and grease. Soon they de head to suck eggs, and were tempted with apits sbells into which alot of cayenne pepper had. bows blown: the strff-into their eyesas wel) ax mouth, and for a time they were as blind as mivies. 4 However, their hankering for poultry quashed. Byer after they gave an ege as wuch roo 46 men given to the deadly bomb. At the age of eight months they e through it all and were long legged, gaunt. innocent looking product was for thelr misehlef they had way of sitting wn thelr haunches wide by side and looking up i us in the miost repentant, shame faced manner. 2 As a final expression of their good intentions they yeually laid themselves down, side by side, and, with nose resting on their forepaws, watehed us. Let us turn our backs five minutes, an they were digging holes w the garden, or chasing the chickens, or per- Saps turning some inoffensive betsy-bug on IIs back, that they might wateh it kick. When there w nothing else on hand they quarrelled with eact-oth scandaiously. . -About that time they -devetoped the Two hound pups were at our hevis the 1 stepped out of the house. + My steptather didn t object to their Howling atony A Fiic ik p-the New TSP METRE O8, AIT MEDIA FOSFRE and yeith-mnotter ferro brevet ko higher, then still higher, untll.from theirwalls ane would suppose that they were undergoing vivisec out that it was in the market for eggs On hearing My step-parent was very patient with tem Pa-. ject ue st the-ogse business alone:-still Iwas sure L . y beware. When-scpided saxsatrans lt;e From RAZzorRBACKS as * blows. but the Gry sassafras was brittle, and broken stick or a bulf hearted blow would certaisly enrage the sows still more. Cculd we drive the pups from us they comid eat- run the hogs, thus drawing them off and ridding we of the fracas. My stepfathcr tried it. The poor paps clung-still closer and- Of-cour ded to the fury of the rasorbacks. Indeed, their lunges at us became rather alarming. Moreover, at, their snorts of rage the rest of the drove begam gath- a ering other sows, shoats and several young mates. : Retreat to the Cabins. gt; Run for the cabins, Bila, sald my stepfather. 1 guess'that ending his career as hog meat was ta ble vision Just then. Somehow I couldn't leave him. gt; You come, too I pleaded. Le s back away? . We edged toward'the cabins, the point being to keep the pups as still as possible (they were onty even a cross word did we Gere give them Test thelr little ray of understanding vam- ish and howls commence. We were perhaps half the distance when we saw that some of the shoats were closing in behind ws. We were in a fair way of being surrounded. We'll run for it now You go- first directo my stepfather. + I flew, he close behind, the wonder being that the pups didn't trip him, for they still clang to him. To make matters worse, the moment we rushed they howled, a yelp coming at every jump. Sar Our sudden move dazed the hogs for a second an that saved us. However, by-the-time wo reached the . cabins they were right to us, At the door they halted, im fear of a pen. We scaled the log walls as ome climbs a rail fence to some bare poles which ba once held up a loft. I climbed to one pole, my step- HT By Mrs. Ella M. Paquin. A a (orate father to another; and, seated thereon, our backs th against the wall, we looked down on a m l e such ae lt;a only the backwoods can prodnce. SSeaoe Si YG gyn The cabins were set on blocks and floorless, so our pursuers were soon inside. The pups had entered at our heels, and, with the luck of fools, had managed to squirm under a couple of sills that had once been the foundation of a lean-to. There they stayed and te EG: oP howled defiance until the very eyes of the razorbacks LA AW were shot with blood. Out of the sills which shiclted ye their hated adversaries those old sows tore mouthfal after monthfnl of half rotten wood, thelr white tashes red from the bleeding of their lacerated gums. As I went up the wall my bonnet had fallen. The yours hogs pitched at it, and soon it was in shreds. My bucket of eges I had clung to that bucket until fore Mratedtostoctecte eg to climb It was.hard to part with the wherewith northe of that dress, saved egg by egg. Well, the where- with didn't go egg by egg. It went in a heap, extens . half dozen young razorbacks dancing juber upon i as they fought that tin bueket with the ferecity ef grizzly bears. Could we have made the pups stop their nokse the hogs would bave quieted down, maybe to the point of leaving. But no Not a thing we said had the least effect on the crazy hounds. Indeed, the more my step- father ordered them to Shut up the. louder ther aK peed rans It was not pleasant up there astride the beams, mer For a moment I guess the hair of my head stood as. straight as the bristles of the razorbacks. tes POSS Oreos At last the pups appeared to have given up the- ra: tight 1 sup) they really deemed their noise fight- the farm. 1t,would teach them to trail, he said. As The bogs, having silenced thelr foe, evidently believed a reault we were never at loxs as to the whereabouts themselves. victors; but the old sows stood with their Buy ne of any-of the family that happened to be out of doors. long snouts near the ground, listening wickedly. Ome The howls of-thoxe- pups located-them though they-hs Really, they yelped at everything, and about all things. Did 1 cross slash on a pole too small for their walking. they would stand and how because to follow they must wet their feet. Did the male pup dare to trot ou ahead the female jumped on bim and thrashed im until he made the woods ring. The female pup being the largest was the boss. and she always saw to it that the male pup walker ve hind. The one mercantile house at Lauratown had given pore by one the young hogs drifted out. Outside they get Into a rumpus among themselves, and the sows weat out to see about ft. Then it seemed that the whele drove haq d parted gt; Tanade'a: move to-get down- At-the-stir the pups. again set us their yelping. Back came the rasor- backs, and the performance, so to speak, commenced once more. The cloudy weather had darkened. More rain was jmminent- And as a hog appr ciates shelter in wet. times, our besiegers might bang around all night. The second act had been on perhaps ten minutes, when, peeping through a crack, spied two horsemes. approaching. They were coming straight toward us, attracted by -the racket, of course. A second peep. showed mie that one of the men was our assertive neighbor. Almost any one else would have been pref. erable Just then. But there be was, long, lean, lantera jawed tike a razorback a true. backwoodsman Sa never fat, only when a baby. * Through the doorless door it was easy for ou neighbor to take in the situation at-a glance. Grim fing prodigiously, he leaned forward on his saddle. enne, nor would they allow me to get my hands oD porn and peered up at my stepfather, sitting astride. Saath his beam. Shortly we.came to ap old deadening, a wreck -qyello, old man; what's the matter with your full of a house standing on a knoll at one end. The place 1900 Hounds? was known asthe double cabins, also as a relic of tne news th possibility of a new dress had dawned upon ine, and every egg upon which E could lay my hands was saved up until I bad elght dozen nicely packed in a tin bucket. The tradiug part bothered me. J wax too shy to 5 must pick the goods. The matter was solved when, on the ufteravon of a day too wet for ploughing, my stepfather said he must go to the town on business. +s FM do the selling: you can go along and pick what you want. 5 t He was rather surly about It. He deemed other nd hard to please-in the.line of garb,-so often we had tuted his roses he Lnvariably-selected roses POLITICS AND Run for the Cabins, Ella Bight candidates the Republican nor nor of Iitnois. Vermont Republi Montpelier April 10 at large to the Chi ening them with bis cane, They must stay sometimes, he informed -them. i They submitted, lying dowi side by side, each one resting its nose on Its fore paws, its tong, soft-ears. at howe usually as large 5 yellow or purple pre: framing. eyes that, justthen, were very bright and As I remember, my stepfather did not deign te. ferred is latest had been a waist. Over and over harp. However, they wer meek enough and we before the reply. Stiffly ke began unwinding himself for de- Governor Kitchir ther tad sald, White ground. with smal thought no mare of ther, aaa 1 nik the-eabins, started. ont to the earth a razorback distrusts men is making a stump rs tifought home white ground The road ted down to the coruer of the field, then razorback pig. With a woof it disappeared, the dog jyorses, and our lot bad bolted a8 oUF succor Fode wp hts-eax 7 SHFOWe: wItW Fed Posen the size OF A Quarter. Aid be furned an one side of it for maybe an after it in full tongue. In about two minutes they z oe ted States Senato: was 0 lated at bis success In choosing smu Hgures cichth of a ulle, there, turmlng ugaiy it plunged ito came back 8 fast as they Went, after them two old Punishing the Pup Albert H. Shaw, Hardly had my stepfather set bis foot on the. when out squirmed the pups, bounding about, Witt Ht le, glad-yelps- ow if my dogs had happened to be along . 4 ruzorbuck sows Si milk. wan 6 Hath, has Droves of half wila hogs were common in Arkin sas at-that Hime forty years ago, The millicnnaire Mumting Umber to multiply bis dollars, the workingmar-tn-bis wake cutting it for Tue wild howls of a couple of hound pups, be a bare living in a board hot, were not the order of labored with the remains of'a sspsafres cane tn my. things then, Consequently sturdy oaks sto. as they steptather s hand, nipped our negitor s gs tale se that an: hime 7) nother safd not one fault finding word ate dechared her belief t a bat 7 gl.) dress, xaeed up ess by es Wal. 9 ar faved up egg by emg. metines we cut across Insid the cor: nce at the Taxt turn of the road t duy IC waw too wet to du so. We had walked around in the outside track anti lt;o, wifely nat xurly. the choice of ny new garty we were at the last turn of the road. As we were Joa tan who was color blind waving the Held I looked back Two palr of wishful his best bat, my stepfather went around eyes were peeking through a crack of the rail fence. grown phn. wii Howere hat Deonin lo the chimney, where stool his canes in reality The wet hud not prevented the paps from cutting had-stood for years, showering thelr acorns down each the bud. s Sas they were dwartish poles, about the size and,length across that corner. * autumn. - - Phe ptimitive wild was everywhere, Whip one man over another man s shoufiers a of a brownstick. They numbered perbaps twefi 1 scolded them, my stepfather turned and shook and th Wilt of the razorback fitted in It well, Poor pups Howexer,they-had earned-a thrashing c moderns: TU sesmied That every Noe, straight sussn- tts-cene ut them. They appeared all broken up, Quite often 1 bad come apon droves of these hogs, their own account, no doubt of that. our-pries fras bus he came across was cut with his pocket crushed to the very earth, and we left them there, more-or less wild. Usually they disappeared, with The rain was coming down by that time, ond with, best peal knife aust trimmed Into cane. He cut them long ddled together. their characteristic woof, and that was the last of I hope you-won't be run ap any more walls, old man, wae Q that they might serve as a weapon to kill snakes, and We trayellod on, my stepfather ahead, I close at them. However, once I had se n them rally at the Our neighbors rode off. ss are C reeelve 0 I think that his choice of that particular wood w: his heels, carrying my precious eggs gingerly that squeal of a pig. Only a nearby fence over which we - The pups had left, too. For o wretched, call: that, after seasoning, it was light. not one might be cracked. had serarhbied had savea us a girl friend and my- hounds bad evolved enough sense to. go home. Coveted His Can A cottontail went by; after it, Mke a shot, two self from faring badly. My new dress baving passed into dream that was We: ese hound pips, in full tomgue. Those wretched dogs Well, there was no fence near now, and those old over, I longed for home'as well. Besides, I was bon- . sows were in dead earnest. - netless, and backwoods style absolutely forbade the To the pups my stepfather s legs were a haven of ppearancd of-a bareheaded female on the streets of refuge, and srotind said legs they fairly twined town. themselves. The hogs were not particular as to what. My stepfather they attacked exx or dogs were as one to them, 9 we both turne Eyen.yet 1 remember bis canes as an unsightly hloteh on the stde of the old-tog chimney, How my flugers used to Itch to end them asa part f a burn- hig brusti heap. fter select had sneaked behind atl the way. rabbit they had as they xneae themselves by father's belief in At the sight of a nrown aff caution to the winds. That, they had refrained from betraying single yelp rather upheld my si eir *head. 10g In no mood-to transact business, back, carrying my battered..tin ep est of his cane assortment the stron, my sept wan ready to start. So was L bucket They yeljed nuw. as they lost t nbbit to tind ir Only ishing hie cane could my stepfather bucket. 3 ee rabbit to tind if Only by flourisiing hiv cane could my stepfather sc apatce eee eee Ca atest oe Naa tgre Sanat eee Ue Ea Gee ee ee oe ie uterine enveloped. tn a gray diese of ale, came i, : ariund ux and barking at every Jump. living i dex joy. However, iney. we Had ine cane been of hard word, bic ry for In paws resting on the top bar of the fenea, as a Ny corres ' notre w hownd pups ready to welcome us . elon them to thelr kennel: threat , ken: Yam

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Attribution Image 334 (1912-02-27), from microfilm reel 334, (CU1771152). Courtesy of Early Alberta Newspapers Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.