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THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTEAJfD, OCTOBER 21, 1906.
TR1 AM" EUR lR-"3 IP UTM.
J olrJ by "Giinmie Fadden'-EdwarJ W. TownsereL B. Cory Kilverh
V " . " ' '-k . 30e&
-a3f??J l ' 1 :
HETfAVI? CO.
WHEN" Bob and Mary came back
from their wedding journey we
had a rlrping time at their house
warming, though the house was warmed
days before they came home. As soon as
the furniture began to arrive from New
York grandma paid the house must
ta urea, and "Aunt Jane said it must be
warmed, so Eggy and I passed days open
ing doors and windows for grandma and
building: grate fires for Aunt Jane, until
Uncle Tom said sometimes when he came
in he though It was a cold storage ware
house and sometimes a bakery.
It really was a bakery and a cook house
the day before they returned, for grand
ma brought in Kggy"s mamma and they
started in early in the morning baking
and cooking such a lot of things it made
a fellow wish to be married, too. and
coming home to a house-warming. Grand
ma said that she knew perfectly well that
the poor children hadn't had a decent
thing to eat all the time they were gone.
She often calls Bob and Mary "poor
children." though they are ever so old
and Bob Isn't a bit poor. Grandma has
never been In New York, but she is sure
she knows all about It. and the surest
thing she knows about it Is that people
there eat only lobsters and messy stuff
stewed in copper pots by heathen French
cooks froge and snails, mostly enough
to poison a God-fearing body, she says.
The "poor children." when they ar
' rived didn't look a bit starved, but as if
they'd been rather well fed while tear
ing about with my papa and mamma.
They didn't neglect any of Grandma's
nd things, though, and after supper Bob
and Mary brought out the present they'd
brought for us ail. and then the house
began to warm up. I tell you; and we
kids (Eggy was there) were allowed to
sit up until we sang "Home. Sweet
Home." which Mary played on the piano,
and grandpa played on his flute, looking
like a tanned old angel that he is.
Eggy and his mother are living in the
cottage out at the farm now, but Eggy
comes in to school every day, carrying a
new pair of boots, which he puts on only
for school hours and shinny. His feet
won't wear out he says, but his boots
will. We are good friends again, though
we had a deuce of a row after he played
croquet with Pussy when I went to sleep
to cure what ailed me after the hard
cider. I told him I thought It was a
mucker thing to do to leave his shinney
game and break into my croquet game
without being asked. He said he knew
Pussy Wentworth before ever T came to
town and he had as much right to-play
with her as-T had when he was aeked.
I wish girls were not so pretty, for if
they were ugly one wouldn't care.
Anyway. 1 sajd to Eggy that since I'd
seen what a Jolly lark It was to come
home from a weeding Journey to a house
warming with rive kinds of pie (preserved
huckleberry pie!) I'd made up my mind to
marry Putsy and I'd thank him not to
go about all the time looking for invita
tions from her to play croquet. That
made him mad. and he said that when he
wore shoes he had as much right to play
with her as I had. and. what was more,
he wasn't so sure but that he'd marry
Pussy himself.
"We'd stopped our game of shinny to
jaw out our row. and as we stood there
who in ever should we see 'vrlnr along
but Pussy herself, ao I said that if he
wanted to be Pussy's beau when I
wanted to be we'd settle it right then and
there.
"How?" said Eggy. "By a fight?"
I said I didn't mind a fight, as he very
well knew, but I wasn't ashamed to say
that I'd hate to fight with him. especially
about such a stupid matter as a woman's
love. What I proposed to do was to ask
Pussy which of us she'd rather marry,
and he'd have to hurry about agreeing to
that way of settling it, as she was almost
up to us. Eggy said all right, so I stepped
forward and said to Pussy: "Which of
us would you rather marry?"
"Neither"' snapped Pussy. I was so
flabbergasted I couldn't say another
word, but Eggy gasped out:
"Why neither?"
"Because I scorn you both for not get
ting me an Invitation to the house-warming.
Five kinds of pie and me not there!"
Then she swept on as haughty as an
actress on the stage, leaving Eggy and
me standing there, a couple of sillies,
with the other fellows jeering at us. After
a while Eggy began to giggle, and he
said: "How does the game stand. Ham?"
"What game?" I asked.
"Our shinney game, of course. Come
on."
Shinney is better than girls, after all.
for. while a crack on the shin hurts worse
than a woman's scorn, you can swipe
back at the other fellow's shins.
There was a tangling old frost that
night, so I hustled out to Grandpa's early
in the morning and found Eggy waiting
for me. Chestnuts! We gathered a pail
ful in just no time. Then Grandpa told us
to go down to the pond and catch some
fish, Ha built a fire on the basic and
Bob, who turned up smiling, went over
to the wood lot and we heard his shotgun
pop a couple of times. When we'd caifght
a mess of fish we rowed ashore, and
there by the Are was Mary, and with her.
smiling as if she'd never done anything
else all her life, was Pussy Wentworth.
I never saw such a girl! Just plant her
where she sees a fair- chance for some
thing good to eat and you'd think she'd
never broken hearts in haughty scorn, but
had always been an angel of sweetness
and light, like a heroine in a poem. I
knew what she was looking so sweet
about when Mary began to unload a bas
ket of Grandma's cakes and pies.
But we men ate no such silly stuff, for
Grandpa gave us a dinner fit for sports
men, though soft kids who play croquet
with girls might not have liked it. Grand
pa had taken our fish, and with the big
blade of his old pocket-knife he'd cleaned
each with a turn of his wrist. The two
fat gray squirrels Bob brought in Grand
pa dressed and cut up with no more trou
ble.' The fish, he gave to Mary to fry; the
squirrels he put into a stewpan. with
some butter, pepper, salt, shreds of onion
and little squares of potatoes, with a lit
tle water. He covered the pan and put It
into a circle of hot stones he drew from
the fire, and let it alone. Then he threw
handfuls of chestnuts into some hot ashes
and let them alone.
"Camp cooking is mostly to let things
cook themselves." he said.
But he made Eggy and me roast some
apples on the ends of switches, and I
guess that was to keep us from poking
into the stew which I was dying to do.
But I could see the stewpan cover hop
ping up under the steam, could hear it
ieiirgie and blob, and could smell the rlp-
pingist odors from it even if I couldn't
poke into it.
When that meal was served I made up
my mind that I would camp out the rest
of my life! Honestly, Eggy and I ate so
much of that stew, poured over bread,
that we couldn't eat a single piece even
of mince pie. When we got to the roasted
apples and chestnuts with cider (new
cider for kids, hard for the grown-ups)
Grandpa winked at Mary and said to Bob
"Well, son. you seem to enjoy this as
much as do Ham and Eggy you, a mar
ried man!"
"Dear Grandad." said Bob. filling
Grandpa's glass and bis own, "if I seem
to enjoy this my looks belie roe. I am
doing his from a sense of duty. If I pur
sued the dictates of my heart, gave rein
to the impulses of my ambition, I should
plunge Into the vortex of this Industrial
age, mix in the struggle for gold and
things. But those insistent yearnings I
subdue in order to help preserve for pose
terity the traditions of our forefathers
and grandfathers. At times I am content
to deny myself the idle delights of the
world to be found in the aforesaid vortex
and return to In order to preserve those
stern Puritan habits, customs; return-to
the meagre fare Mary, my love, if you
give Pussy yet another pie the child will
explode. Granddad, my regards."
Pussy and Eggy and I are good friends
again now. HAM bukk.
iliupa nujacu - " - j -
"Dogs Arc Indispensable for Carrying Burdens
The native Alaska dog: is known as
the "huskie" or "malamoot" and Is a
mongrel one-half timber wolf. He
has characteristics which especially fit
him for his work he is heavy set.
witn a thick coat of long hair, im
pervious to cold, and with Just enough
wolf In his nature to make him rest
less, eager to go, and with a- sufficient
mixture of dog to temper a fierceness
and treachery which might, and some
times does, become dangerous.
Ali this is understood In fact, care
fully studied and watched by the
Alaskan, and those qualities which
manifest themselves In fidelity and
gentleness are encouraged by .kind
treatment, while the wolfish side of
their nature is quickly and effectually
subdued by numerous whippings. These
animals have not yet learned to ex
press tbemselvea by, barking, and .tbo
only noise they can make is a dismal
howl.
It is a rare occurrence for them to
bite a human being, but they will
fignt among themselves on the slight
est provocation, and it is not an un
common sight for half a dozen "hus
kies" to hold a pitched battle on the
main street of Fairbanks. A bucket of
cold water will generally put them to
flight, but in the majority of cases
the miners pay no attention to the
melee and allow the dogs to fight It
out.
The wolf nature manifests itself In
their thieving propensities, and all
food must be "cached" out of their
reach. A hungry "huskie" will open a
box of canned beef with ease by bit
ing through the tin. He will lie be
fore the door of a tent or cabin, pre
tending to be asleep, when in reality
he is waiting for a chance to ransack
the kitchen. One day I saw a miner's
I dinner, jweaked, bi bis pwa dog. a J
splendid, big. wolfish fellow, who over,
turned a pot of beans and in the most
unconcerned manner walked oft with,
the hot bacon in his mouth.
No matter whs-t, depredations they
may commit, severe punishment, so aa
to cripple or kill them, is out ot the
question, on account of their great
value in the transportation of supplies.
It is an inferior dog that is not worth
$40, and many of them, say their mas
ters, are not for sale.
Two good dogs can haul a man 40
or SO miles a day on a good trail or
carry from 500 to 6.10 pounds of freight
about 20 miles in six hours. They are
faithful to the last degree, and will
work even when weak from lack of
food. When in this condition, how
ever, they sometimes become danger
ous, and should the driver fall he may
be attacked, but these instances are
rare, and more often the dog is sacri
ficed to save his master from starva-
lion- J-slle'a -Weekly,
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