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About Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1901)
Barbara was apparently following out some happy train of thought as she deftly fluted the lace on a pink satin cushion , for the dimple in her left cheep deepened with her smile. "A penny for your thoughts , Bab , " cried Eglantina ; "that is , If they're worth it. " "That's you all over , Teen ; always got to be sure you'll get your money's worth ! I won't take advantage of - you this time , for my thought may not be worth a penny and then again it may be worth thousands. " "I don't mind speculating a little , " retorted Eglantina , feeling around in her work basket. Discovering a well- worn one-cent piece she tossed it into her sister's lap , saying , "Now let's have it. " Barbara laughed. "I was only think ing what we might do to give Aunt Mehitable a merry Christmas. She's lived forty years without experiencing one Christmasy , peace-on-earth-good- will-to-men feeling and I'd like to make her once ; if I could. " "Hump , If that's your thought it may be valuable where kind thoughts turn to rubies and pearls like the good girl's words in the fairy tale but for hard cash " "Oh , Bab , I'm not so mean as to think of doing anything for anybody's Christmas in hope of a return ; if my thought was worth thousands , I didn't mean thousands to us : and that was only a kind of second thought anyway when you spoke of values. ' . ' "Well you'll never get a cent out of Aunt Mehitable , she's tighter than a drum.biit your imagination will have have to be lively if you think of any way to give a good time to a woman who is soured on everything. Nothing In this world will make Aunt Mehit able happy and it's to be hoped she won't be disappointed in the next. " "Teen , I'll tell you something ! When I was in the garret yesterday looking lor that yellow silk to line my sofa pillow I found mother's old diary wedged in behind the cedar chest ; mother had written it to within two weeks before she died. I knew she wouldn't care , so I sat up half the night reading. I know more about Aunt Mehitable than I did. " "I hope you know something good , " Eglantina's tone was skeptical. "I know she has reason to be very unhappy , " replied Barbara , gravely , "for when she was only eighteen she killed a little boy. " "Barbara Seabright ! what do you mean ? " "Accidentally , of course , and it hap pened Christmas morning. He was the only child of her dearest friend just two years old they were playing on the landing of a slippery oak staircase and the mother had twice cautioned Aunt Mehitable but she didn't think there was any danger. The baby slip ped and fell down the long flight he struck his head somehow and they picked him up dead. " "How dreadful ! But I don't see that aunt exactly killed him , " said Eglan tina practically. "Mother said she always felt she had ; it changed aunt's -whole nature. -She thinks herself a murderer , and yet rebels against a force Avhich can per mit one careless act to spoil a whole life. " "She's spoiled her own life so far as I can' see , " returned Eglantina , "but feeling as she does I guess it would take a greater conjurer than you are , Bab , to make Christmas a merry fes tival for Aunt Mehitable ! " "Yes , I know , " replied Bab , softly smiling again , "but I've been thinking and as it's four weeks till Christmas I'm going to keep thinking. " "Oh , Aunt Mehitable , I've come over to find out how you make junket , " ex claimed Barbara a few days later , making her.way . along the narrow strip of drugget which protected Aunt Mehitable's sitting room carpet. "Junket ? Humph ! Anybody sick ? " asked the angular spinster , with no in dication of sympathy. "Oh/dear , no ; I'm just getting ready for our Christmas dinner. Now you needn't look so surprised , Aunt Hitty , of course I know it's three weeks before Christmas and that junket isn't a fruity pudding to be prepared be forehand. We just want to experiment with the junket so's to get our hand in although I'm sure we shall never equal yours. " Aunt Mehitable did not soften per ceptibly under this subtle flattery. "I'll tell you how to do it and wel come , " she said , putting on her glasses and opening a desk drawer full of carefully assorted miscellany , "but vseems to me you must be getting up a queer sort of dinner. " "How sharp you are , Aunt Hitty , " cried Barbara , beaming good natured- ly. "That's exactly what we are do- Ing. I wasn't going to tell a soul , but since you've most guessed it I'll con fine in you. " Barbara seated herself in the high stiff-backed chair , spreading our her ( lounces as complacently as if she had been urged to stay. "You see it's no use for Teen and me to try to have a family dinner since mother's gone. You , " reproach fully , "never will come and eat with us and there's nobody else. Last year Uncle and Aunt Stone came over from Hilltop , but I knew they were wishing all the time that they were home , so this year we're giving a dinner to strangers ; covers laidfor twelve and the oldest isn't quite eleven1 and the youngest is exactly two ! That's why I want to try junket , as we're getting up a dinner which won't hurt' an infant but which will be a work of art so for as table decorations , culinary skill and varied menu ar.e , concerned and a Christmas tree in the middle ! I do wish , Aunt Hitty , you'd come over and watch the children. " Aunt Mehitable drew her thin lips together , but answered not a word. " " Barbara with "I know , continued unabated cheerines.s , "you're wonder- Ing who we're going to have. We've followed scripture injunction and gone into the highways and byways. There are the little orphan. Bents from the poorhouse and Mrs. O'Flarrety's chil dren five of them then we've got the queer Ting child who lives with his old grandmother and never has any fun ; and the little Beadles they'll give tone to the affair ; but our prize and treasure I do want you to see , Aunt Hitty , he's such a dear Joe Flint's baby , poor fellow. "They say Joe's drunk night and day and his wife , poor thing , has a dread ful time of it such a pretty girl as she used to be. But the boy is an angel. I wish you could see him won't you come over , Aunt Hitty ? " Miss Mehitable had found what she was looking for. Adjusting her glasses she jogged her memory as to the pro per proportion of rennet and curds. "Here 'tis , " she said , 'but it's tick lish kind of a thing to make. I can't come to your party you know I never go 'round Chrlstmasing but I'll make the junket if 'twill help out any I believe I'd like to. ' ' Barbara's eyes shone with pleasure. It seemed a small concession , but not to one who knew Aunt Mehitable. "If you only would , Aunt Hitty , and shall I send for it ? " "I guess you better , " snapped Miss Mehitable. 'How did you get her to offer ? " de manded Eglantina when Barbara told her story. "I didn't get her to , it's only rny thought working out , " replied Barbara mysteriously.- It was just a week before Christmas when Barbara visited Miss Mehitable again. This time she did not walk carefully up the strip of drugget , but rushed right in without stopping to wipe her feet or close the front door. "Oh , Aunt Hitty' , ' she cried , "I'm in the most awful trouble and I didn't know who to come to but you. Oh , you will help me , won't you ? " Aunt Mehitable looked her niece over sharply ; then touched by the hon est look of distress in tne eyes of her favorite , she said quickly : "Sit right down , Barbara Seabright , and let's hear what is the trouble. " ' "It's Fritz , Aunt Hitty , Joe's boy. He's awfully sick and I don't know what to do. " "Humph , can't see what business that is of yours , " returned Miss Me hitable as though her sympathy had been aroused under false pretenses. "But you don't understand , he's at our house. Mrs. Flint had a little girl born dead two days ago and we brought Fritz home. He was well then but today he is awfully sick. Eglan tina's waiting to start for the doctor and I can't stay with him alone. Oh ! won't you come , Aunt Hitty , and help me. What should I do if anything happened ? I never could forgive my self ! " "No that you couldn't , " replied Miss Mehitable huskily , "I'll get my bon net. " Miss Mehitable' was wont to say when forced to an opinion that she knew nothing about children and cared less ; but such a statement was grossly false. For many years she had never seen a child except to watch it with eager eyes and study it with a fierce longing to snatch it to her heart. The memory of laughing baby eyes , half hidden by the tousled tawny hair , the clinging touch of soft baby arms was ever present with her , pressing upon an unhealed wound , torturing an ach ing heart. With this one ghost child ever at her side she had reared a ghostly fam ily , bringing each to noble manhood in her dreams. No childish disorder was unknown to her , no garrulous mother's minute details of baby's ail ments had wearied her , an unsuspect ed , sympathetic listener ; though moth ers often checked their communicative flow in her presence , chilled by the stony supercilious immobility of her face. "J [ don't see's I'll be much use , " said Miss Mehitable bitterly as they hufred across the snow-drifted fields to Bar bara's home. "It's experience that tells. " "It's more common sense , I guess , Aunt Hitty , and you've got plenty of that. Teen usually has , but this has rattled her dreadfully. There she is all ready to get into the cutte's kuick as we get there. " Miss Mehitable pressed her way si lently into the cozy sitting room where on the comfortable lounge lay the ail ing child. His yellow curls were like sunlight on the white pillow , his soft round cheeks were flushed crimson. As Miss Mehitable laid her hardcold hand on the burning head the little fellow opened his great blue eyes and smiling angelically said : "Fits so sick you come to make Fits well 'fore Santa Tause bring Trismas twoo ? " With "Tsweet confidence the baby stretched out his little arms : "You take Fitz up. " With a fierce gesture unmindful of Barbara's devouring eye Aunt Hitty snatched the child and held him to her heart as if to heal some illness of her own. Seating herself with the boy Miss Mehitable jerked out abrupt questions , made curt demands for simple reme dies and applied them with a decision little short of marvelous to the aston ished Barbara. "Do you think he's going to die , Aunt Hitty ? " asked Barbara , her anx iety seemingly increased by her aunt's grim silence and absobed activity. "Die ? " exclaimed Miss .Mehitable with fe , sniff. "Children don't die of a little cold and fever ; not if there's anybody around with sense enough to take care of 'em. I'll stay till the doc tor comes , " she added grimly , "you fly around and clear up the house ; look's as if it was needed. " Barbara departed to the kitchen with cheerful alacrity and a suspicious observer might have fancied there was a slight , a very slight , twinkle in her eye accompanying the emphasized sigh with which she closed the door. If she executed a little dance of joy on the oil cloth before the kitche * table that was of course because Aunt Hitty had said Fritz would not die. * Miss Mehitable stayed for the doc tor's instructions. These were brief. The doctor did not seem to think Fritz' illness alarming though he looked grave enough. He brought sad news and his eyes , hardened to much suf fering , filled with tears as he regard ed the handsome little fellow who'was now motherless. "Oh , what will become of him"cried Barbara , sinking to the floor and bury ing her face in the mass of curls spread out over Miss Mehitable's right shoulder. "Nothing better than the poorhouse , " suggested Eglantina in a choking voice. Miss Mehitable said not a word , but held the child closer. "We'll keep him as long as we can- till after Christmas , anyway , " asserted Barbara. Aunt Mehitable did not go home un til late that night and came back ear ly the next morning. No one but her self and the barn cat knew she came almost before daylight and hid in the henhouse until an hour when she was not ashamed to knock at her niece's door. She spent the greater part of that week with Barbara and Eglantina and made the Christmas junket with their spice and rennet after all. Fritz was quite well in time for Santa Claus's visit , and not one of the eleven enjoyed the dinner more than he. he.Of Of course Aunt Mehitable was there she hardly went away now and after the eleven had disappeared she sat by the stove in the gloaming with Fritz cuddled up in her lap while Bar bara and Eglantina , "did the dishes" out in the kitchen. "Did the kids enjoy themselves , " said Eglantina , "your Christmas dinner was a howling success , Bab. " Barbara was silent. "Come why don't you acknowledge the compliment. What are you think ing ? " "Oh , excuse me , Teen , I was think ing of my Christmas thought. " Eglantina's eyes twinkled. "I guess that's been a success , too , " she whis pered. "Do you know she , " ( meaning Aunt Mehitable ) "went to see Lawyer Weight today and Bert says his father told him it's all fixed up. She's going ; to adopt him the father's willing. " "Going to adopt who Bert ? inquired Bab with an exaggerated assumption of innocence. "And Lawyer Weight's willing ? I didn't suppose you'd be willing to let her have Bert. " "Don't try to be so funny , Bab. You know well enough what I mean. Aunt Hit'ty's going to keep Fritz. Bert's going to bring round the papers all signed tonight. " "Listen ! " said Bab. Tiptoeing to the half-closed door the girls peeped through. There in the soft moonlight which was flooding through the casement window sat old Aunt Mehitable looking almost young again. In her arms cozily snuggled the sleepy boy , one dimpled hand patting lovingly the furrowed , sallow cheek , while in a cracked long-unused voice Aunt Hitty , as she gently rocked , crooned an old , old nursery song. "There , " said Barbara with shining eyes , "you see what thinking does ! No one could say this isn't the happiest Christmas of Aunt Kitty's life. " "You're a trump , Bab ! I always said so and it was a thousand-dollar thought , even if unworthy Joe Flint gets the.thousand dollars and the babe gets the rest. " "Oh , Teen , you're just as glad as I am you know you are , " cried BaY- bara. And Eglantina kissed her sister , say ing , "Of course I am , you blessed goose ; and so's Bert. " Isabel Winslow Bates in Table Talk , a Monthly Mag azine. A pretty Cherokee girl of 20 years , known among her tribespeople as "Lost Bird" and among the whites as Miss Ora V. Eddleman , is the editor and proprietor of Twin Territories , an illustrated magazine published in In dian Territory and devoted to the in terests of that territory and Oklahoma. "Lost Bird's" father is of German de scent , her mother a full-blooded Cher okee. She speaks the Cherokee lan guage with fluency ; she speaks Ger man , too , but English better than eith er. English is the language spoken in her home. Miss Eddleman says of herself : "I hardly know Avhere I was educated , but I think it was in a printing office no bad university. When I was about 14 my father bought the only daily newspaper published here. I was in school at the time and that is where I should have stayed , but 3 , didn't. I wanted to help run that newspaper and it wasn't long be fore I was on the reportorial force. One day I became city editor a proud day for me. " Miss Eddleman fills her magazine'with illustrations and scenes photographed in the Indian's habitat scenes dear to them , for the Indian is proud of his country and holds it first in his heart. i3C ' A Song of Home. + The heart is singing home again the heart is singing home , Wherever up and down the world the restless feet may roam. "When comes the time of holly leaves , of fellowship and mirth , , That marks the glory of the day the Christ child came to 'earth Then all about and all around , on mountain , plain and foam , The heart is singing home again the heart is singing home. The wander-love ! It leads us on be neath the dreaming star ; It beckons us with tempting hands from many lands afar ; It lures us where the lotos dream is filled with rare delight ; It guides us where the silent snows gleam through the endless night ; But now , to all who wander far be neath the sky's broad dome , The heart is singing home again the heart is singing home. i To every man in every place there comes the haunting song ; It rises like a glory chant , in cadence full and strong , To him who sleeps upon his arms be fore the tireless foe ; And he who bends above his desk the coaxing strains must know ; For , sweeter than the clover-tang that drips from honeycomb The heart is singing home again the heart is singing home. It brings a picture of the past a pic ture fair and free A picture of the good old home wherever it may be ; And o'er the waves it sings to us ; across the hill and plain ; Until the soul within us seems to echo the refrain. Wherever up and down the world the restless feet may roam , The heart is singing home again the heart is singing home. The Failure of a Skunk Farm , skunk farm Is a failure. The THE of riches in skunks has be come a nightmare. The skunk kills its progeny rather than raise it In captivity , and the skunk farmer holds up his hands and cries : "Skunked ! " Such is the announcement of M. L. Michael , a skunk farmer , who , with three associates , has just abandoned in Monroe county , Pennsylvania , a skunk farm in which they lost $25,000. Mr. Michael and associates organ ized the Monroe Farming Co. , Limited. They proposed to raise skunks. They estimated that 200 female skunks in two years would increase to 1,228,800. They bought a farm and stocked it at once with 200 skunks at $2.50-and $3 each. They began in the fall of 1891 and stuck to the sinking ship ten years. It finally went'down , and Mr. Michael is now relating his experience in re creation , as follows : We bought a farm in Monroe county , Pennsylvania , for the experss purpose of experimenting in skunk raising. We paid $6,500 for the farm. We obtained a charter from the state , and in Octo ber , 1891 , opened an office near the farm for the purpose of purchasing our skunks. We found this no small matter , and only succeeding after do ing a great deal of advertising and sending expert trappers into regions where the animals were numerous. We bought one male to ten females , pay ing usually from $2.50 to $3 for fine black specimens. A black skunk is one which has not white back of the shoul der excepting the tip of the tail. A temporary pen 80x100 feet was constructed to keep the skunks until spring. Early in the next April a three foot trench was dug around a 20-acre or June in this latitude. A warm win ter will , bring them about 30 days ear lier. The young of mature skunks have finer and better fur than the progeny of the younger animals , and their pelts are larger and more valu able. The females have one litter a year , numbering from six to sixteen. Seventy to 80 per cent of these are fe males. In buying our stock from trap pers this average also held , although we had not specified the proportions desired. The first year brought no Increase in our stock , but rather a falling off , due to natural deaths. This was entirely unexpected. We looked for 2,000 skunks in 1892. No reason could be assigned for our disappointment , but we deter mined to keep a strict watch In the spring of 1893. This revealed to us that the skunk is a cannibal. Though we kept the animals supplied with an abundance of the choicest food an-1 conducted water to their dens through iron pipes from a cold mountain spring , we found that they destroyed the young as fast as they .were born , the males being the chief offenders. We/saw many surprising and start ling proofs that the skunks were do ing in captivity what they were never known to do in the wild state. We several times saw a mother rush from one of the dens with a kitten in her mouth , a cannibalistic pack in pursuit. Our hopes of gathering a fortune by raising this valuable little animal in captivity had received a sore blow by this discovery , but the more sanguine members had plans to set this obstacle aside. It was certain that the males were the chief destroyers of the young. Why not separate them from the females piece of hillside land , sloping to the sun. In this ditch we set posts eight' ' feet apart , and to this we stapled gal vanized iron wire netting eight feet high , with a one-inch mesh. This made a tight fence five feet below the sur face. The trench was then filled and tramped hard. Then a 12-inch hemlock board was strung along he tops of the posts inside and out. This was to keep the skunks in and other animals out. Then we turned to the making of dens. The dens were made of heavy oak planks , or of stone , of various patterns and styles , but the prevailing size was 4x10 feet , just below the frost line. A hall ran the whole length of the den , with openings into rooms 2x2x2 feet. Each den had leading to it a tunnel 12 feet long and 12 inches square , so inclined as to give gravity drainage to the interior. Over the mouth of each tunnel , as cold weather approached , was placed a thick cloth to exclude the cold ; and many other minor matters looking to the comfort and safety of the inmates received our attention. April 20 the park received its fra grant population of about 200 kunks. We had discovered them partial to a meat diet , especially poultry. Beef , lamb or pork would be cast aside at any time for chicken. Fish were also popular food. Occasionally thawed fro zen apples would be lightly eaten dur ing the winter , and now and then in summer a dessert of berries or wild plums. Bugs , crickets and grubs of all kinds were delicacies for themand In search of these they kept , th"e 20-acre' ' park as thoroughly plowed as any , farm Implement could have turned , it ? As a rooter the skunk equals the p'lg. He will spend the whole night" over turning flat stones , chips , bark , rooting in toughest sods , and digging in old logs for insects and larvae. He Is strictly a nocturnal animal , and if seen abroad in daytime there1 Is generally argent need. The young skunks are born In May after breeding ? The suggestion was so reasonable that it was adopted. March 2 , 1894 , the females were segregated in a spacious inclosure especially prepar ed for them. In due time the'young were born. Then the females ate each other's children. One had been placed by herself , and she successfully reared nine young. We estimated the cost or raising this single brood at $30. , / Skunks are not especially quarrel some. We never knew one to use his scent except In self-defense. When two of them 'fight the battle is on the General De Wet plan a rear action and the location of the battlefield can be determined by the direction of the wind. The removal of the scent sack did not appreciably affect the growth of the animal , but seemed fatal to many , and beyond a doubt affected un favorably the general appearance , the furring .and consequently the value. So that In skunk culture the unwhole some scent gland Is quite necessary. During cold weather the skunk lies dormant in a burrow below the frost line , several usually living together. The mother skunk will sometimes move her young to a nev. ' burrow , do- Ing this at night. I made an estimate of the distance covered by one mother in moving a family of seven , and I found she had traveled nine miles , half the . .time with a kitten in her mouth. Skunks cannot be raised in captivity. It cost us $25,000" to find this out , but we are convinced. Mrs. John W. Mackay , who now lives abroad nearly all the time , and most of the time in London , has a pair of matched pearl earrings which are said to be worth $50,000. . She , also has a chain of diamonds nearly two yards long , besides many other exceedingly " valuable jewels. Nearly a million turkeys were roast ed this year as a Thanksgiving offer on the altar of prosperity. The bird is a feast and the feast is a bird. { PAYING THE MORTGAGE. We've done a lot of scrlmpln' an' a- llvin' hand-to-mouth - - , We've dreaded , too , wet weather an * we've worried over drouth , For the thing kept drawln * interest whether crops were good or bad. An' raisin' much or little , seemed it swallowed all we had. The women folks were savin * and there ain't a bit of doubt But that things they really needed lota of times they done without. So we're breathln' somewhat easy , an * we're feelln * less afraid. Of Providence's workln's , since we cot the mortgage paid. I wish I'd kept a record of the things that mortgage ate. In principal an' int'rest from beglnnln * down to date ! A hundred dozen chickens , likely fowl with yellow legs , A thousand pound of butter an * twelve hundred dozen eggs. Some four or five good wheat crops.an" at least one crop of corn. An * oats , an * rye It swallowed In Its lifetime , sure's you're born. Besides the work an' worry , ere Its % appetite was stayed ! So we're feelin * more contented , since we got the mortgage paid. We've reached a point , I reckon.where we've got a right to rest , An' loaf around an' visit , wear our go- to-meetin' best Neglectln' nothin' urgent , understand , about the place. But simply slowin' down a bit , an * restin' in the race ! In time I'll get the windmill I've been wantin' , I suppose ; The girls can have their organs , an * we'll all wear better clothes. For we always pulled together , while we saved an' scrimped an'prayed. An' It seems there's more to work for since we got the mortgage paid. American Agriculturist. ' FRILLS OF FASHION , - : - Green Is a favored color for coats for little girls , particularly in velvet. An * ecru lace collar , beaver fur or ermine forms the trimming. Velvet ribbons are now seen with velvet on both sides. The center is In solid color with striped edges combin ing the center color and white. Chantilly ring net In white or deep cream tints is a greatly favored ma terial for dressy high-cut gowns an4 those for full dress evening wear. The most fashionable hat for small girls is a big flat silky haired beaver , trimmed with feather pompons and immense bows with long streamers. For table use Venetian glass is en joying special favor just now and spec imens of this exquisite crystal ara day gifts. The modish hatpin Is topped with a pear-shaped pearl or round topaz or amethyst framed In gun metal. Crys tal beads with selling of gun metal are used for some of the longchalns , for which there is a decided liking just now. Some very youthful and pretty shoul der capes for matinees , concerts , after noon receptions , etc. , are made of plain velvet lined with gay pompadour bro cade , and trimmed with ermine or ot ter fur and narrow gold gimps , or rather showy buttons and jeweled neck clasps. The newest belts are fastened with a button in .gold , silver or gem , such as turquoise. Gun metal belts are a novelty and the snake belt is one of the fancies of the moment. The lat ter come in gold and silver and their effectiveness is enhanced if worn over velvet. The boa pin the handsomer the bet ter is an essential possession of the woman who would keep in touch with fashion's whims. Some of the designs in these fasteners are particularly handsome , one in silver set with rhine- stones and black pearls being an ex ample. Every woman who has ever burnetl her fingers , spotted her gown or ruf fled her temper trying to manipulate sealing wax will appreciate the In genious little contrivance that is now Included in the collection of desk ap pointments. The sealing wax is run Into a glass tube which is held slant- Ing upward over the flame until the required amount of wax is heated and then slightly tipped to allow a small quantity to fall on the envelope flap of each epistle. The wax does not cool so quickly as with the older fashioned method and therefore there Is less need for hurry. BLASTS FROM RAM'S HORN. A passive church soon passes away. Fretfulness is the cause of fearful- ness. The heart that sings wings itself to heaven. The gloomy church preaches a sun less heaven. No man finds his worli till he loses himself in it. Some churches make very success ful burial clubs. No duty is too small to embrace the sublimest principles. Holiness is never under the necessity of advertising itself. The true furniture of life Is made la the factory of drudgery. When the pulpit is a pedestal for pride It cannot be a power for God. Nothing would suprise some people more than to have their prayers an swered. It will not help ot pray for heavenly illumination after you have blown out the candle of sense. It makes all the difference In the' world whether our religion is an inner force or an outer fashion. Baltimore American : A minister in. New Jersey has had the moral courage to protest against the movement , in. which prominent women are interest ed , to obtain the release of a woman murdered from prison. The advice he gave the women interested not to let their sympathies run away with their common sense is wofully needed just now , and some progress might be made in fighting crome were it more gener ally taken ;
