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U niversity o f O regon M o n t h l y
th e ir m other had to b rin g her ow n w o o d ; and half the tim e
th ey w ould not come hom e to dinner, nor w as it unu su al for
them to go.off before breakfast. N atu rally , the boys w ere not
favorites in the neighborhood. “ If M rs. D ouglass d o n ’t p u t
reins on them kids of hern th ey 'll be h u n g some day,” one
neighbor predicted. “ She lets ’em ru n plum b wild. I d on’t
see w h at th ey do in the w oods all th e tim e n ow ay.”
B ut this m an did not look w ith th e ir eyes. E v ery crea
tu re a ttra c te d th e ir atten tio n , F o r some reason th ey gave
new nam es to m any of these, T h ey called w asps “g a sk e rs”
and wood peckers “shigew s”. T h ey found seven kinds of
lizards. T h ey nam ed each kind after a m em ber of a fam ily
of seven by nam e of C ated w ho lived in th e neighborhood.
T h ey had the M r. C ated lizard, the M rs. C ated lizard, th e
T om m ie C ated lizard, and so on dow n to the baby.
S w im m ing w as a n o th er pastim e. .T h e y w ent in from
tw o to half a dozen tim es a day. Jo h n w as a good sw im m er
and a good diver. G eorge w as a tolerable sw im m er b u t not
m uch good as a diver. Jim could n o t sw im or dive either.
H e w ent in, how ever,, as often as his b ro th ers. H e w as not
afraid. H e did not paddle ab o u t in th e shallow p a rts of the
pond b u t boldly w aded into w a ter up to his chin.
Besides the three little boys W id o w D ouglass had a
grow n up son, w ho w as called W ill. H e w a s ' supposed, of
course, to look after the farm . Some people claim ed he did not
do th is very well. T h ey said he sp en t too m uch tim e w ith
the girls. P erh ap s he did. O ne m orning, at any rate, he a n
nounced to his m other and b ro th e rs th a t he w as going to get
m arried on the th ird S unday in A ugust. “A nd ma, I {vy&nt
to have the w eddin’ h ere,” he said. “As th ere ain t nobody b u t
M ary and her pa we couldn’t have it a t her house very well.
You can cook up a little so m eth in ’ for u s.”
I t did no t take long for the S atu rd ay before the w edding
day to come. T he boys were, kept b u sy th a t day helping th eir
m other. T h ey felt tired at n ig h t and w ent to bed early.
A bout five o’clock next m o rn in g G eorge and Jim heard
th e ir dog b ark in g som ew here out in the field. T h e dog had
run a ra b b it up a hollow tree. T h ey soon tw isted it o u t and