Show HOW SCARECROW I CHANGED HIS NAME I BY FRANK H SWEET Scarecrow was hired boy on Silas Teffts milk farm Of course Scarecrow was not his name but when he applied to old Silas for work and said his name was John and nothing else he was told that lie must have a double name There were half a dozen Johns on the place already So when one of the men suggested Scarecrow In derision of his haggard and grotesque appearance it was adopted with acclamation and the boys Indignant protests were received with loud guffays of laughter That was two years ago No one knew where he came from He was very reticent about his antecedents but by putting one thing and another together they had a strong suspicion that he had runaway run-away from some town poor farm The words overseer pauper and selectmen se-lectmen always filled him with terror anu nausea nun 10 coon arounu apprehensively appre-hensively as though he way fearful of I being pursued Silas TetftH farm was a hard place so the men declared long hours hard work and poor pay But Scarecrow seemed to think It a very Eden of comfort com-fort and luxury lie was up with the earliest of the hired nnen and always Intensely anxious to make himself useful use-ful Hardships and discomforts and slights were accepted as a matter of course but when he was spoken to kindly or favored In any way his wondering won-dering gratitude and pleasure knew no bounds I And however exacting Silos Tefft might be in the mattei of hours and wages his table was always generous At first the boy ate doubtfully as though he was afraid of being watched and ordered away from the table But when he found that Instead of allowancing allow-ancing them Sljas Tefft always urged thpm to eat more he began apparently for the first time In his life to fully satisfy the cravings of his hunger As the days and weeks went by his starved lank figure began to fill out and J rolor creep Into his checks and laughter Into his queer little cracked voice And In spite of their pranks and goodhumored raillery everybody about the place soon grew to like the grotesque little fellow who was so eager to please them And while one of them gave him a hat and another a pair oft hoC9 and another an old Jacket Jack-et hut the name still stuck One Sunday morning when the family fami-ly and the men had gone to church Scarecrow was left to look after things He took his primer and went out on the porch to study It was early autumn and on the hillsides across the valley the maples nnd beeches were beginning to assume glowing tints Hundreds of bees were hovering about the honeysuckles honey-suckles which covered the porch and through the opening In the vines he could see the cows grazing contentedly In the broad fields below the barn Across the stubble quail whistled cheerily cheer-ily to one another and from somewhere some-where down In the garden he could hear a robin calling to his mate It was hard to steel his senses n nlm tall t-all these outside attractions But Scarecrow had plenty of determination stowed away somewhere In his neg lected mind and he bent resolutely over his book and placed both hands on his ears Even the house dog who wagged his tall enticingly and gazed up wistfully Into his face could not arouse hlin But at last his head was brought up suddenly by a Hey there boy Folks to home Two ragged disreputablelooking tramps stood before him One held a short knobby bundle tied In a red handkorrhlff Scarecrow looked them over apprehensively What dye want 7 ho asked Oh notjiln pertloIcr answered the man with the stick as he slopped unconcernedly un-concernedly on tho poroh and sat down on the bench beside the boy Men railed to pmis a howdodo So you say theyve all gone to meetln hey If didnt say nothln about It Didnt Well never mind I must aheard It somewhere Mighty fine place youve got here The boy was silent YesUay was tho rust day o the month the man went on reflectively I rpose the boss look In stacks o money whon he went around collect in Como quit this foollnl growled the other man angrily Tell the boy what you want an be done with It Easy Jake easy Nothln1 aint done right lu a hurry Folks wont be back from meetln In lessn two hours Then turning suddenly to Scarecrow he added add-ed with a wicked gleam In his small I eyes Now sonny spose yc show us I where the moneys hid Scarecrows face had grown white I and he trembled violently as he rose slowly to his feel I dont know noth In about any money he faltered No Well ye knows where old Tefft sleeps an where hes likely to keep his papers and vallyblcs You Jest show us to his room an help all you kin an well give ye a pile of money Were goodnatured folks we air Only ye inns step lively But into Scarecrows eyes a new expression ex-pression had come His face was still white and his knees trembled as violently vio-lently us ever but his voice did not hesitate I wont Youn beat me an kill me If you want to but I wont help ouoneblt to rob Mr Tefft Hes been good to me If you try to rob him Ill fight an holler an do everything every-thing I kin to bender you his voice rising In passionate protest Here give me that rope Bill cried the man called Jake Ill fix him And In spite of the boys resistance he was quickly bound and gagged and throvXi violently Into one corner of the porch the mart gave him a brutal kick and followed his companion IntO the house Scarecrow heard them tramping noisily from room to room and opening drawers draw-ers and boxes In his haste the man had not bound him very securely moreocvr Scarecrows Scare-crows hands were small At the end of 10 minutes he found that he could slip one hand from the rope After that It was a comparatively easy matter to free himself The tramps were now in the pantry helping themselves to Mrs Teffta Sunday Sun-day dinner Moving softly from the porch Scarecrow Scare-crow hurried down the lane to the barn keeping behind the trees as much as possible But when he reached the barn he found that all the horses excepting ex-cepting Old Nick had been left out to pasture Old Nick was what the men called a wicked horse and was never trusted to any of the new hands Scarecrow Scare-crow admired him excessively and he was so strong and masterful and had such an Independent way of shaking his head Lately the boy had been trying to propitiate him by offerings of apples ap-ples and corn but so far had never dared to approach him from behind Otto Ot-to try to gain his hackBut hack-But he never thought of these things now There was no time I to lose If I he wished to save his employers money Tn a few moments he had bridled Old Nick and was leading him from the stable And apparently the horse was too much astonished by the suddenness of the movement to make any resistance resist-ance Once outside Scarecrow led him I I cautiously along a hedge of willow and hazel hushes until they were nl quite a distance from the house Then findIng find-Ing a convenient stone he climbed I nimbly upon his back I At first Old Nick had been so pleased at leaving the barn that he walked I along quietly but finding the boy did not remove the bridle he soon began to shake his head Impatiently Whon I ho felt the alight form upon his back he sprang forward with a snort of anger I an-ger But Scarecrow had not ridden the animals to water for two years for nothing Aat the horse flew along tho I 1 1 1 1 nl It Ien and j Instead U of trying I to slop him he struck him again and again with his open hand to make him go faster Silas TelTt was seated near the open window of the little country church when he heard the wild clatter of Old Nicks feet coming down the hill One amazed look and ho was hurrying to the door knowing Intuitively that something was wrong Several of hIs men followed him and strong hands grasped Old Nicks bridle There wore a few hurried questions and answer and then a dozen men ran for their horses and were soon speeding away toward the farm Scarecrow Scare-crow followed them as rapidly as possible pos-sible on foot Whnn he arrived at the farm he found that the robbers had been captured and were being led away to the county jail Silas Tofft rarely commended ono of his hands but that evening he glanced across the table at Scarecrow jnd said approvingly Ye done fast rate Scarecrow Then something else seemed to occur to him for he rose Hlnwly to his feet and looked down tho table at the two long rows of faces turned toward him Look here men he said Interrogatively Interroga-tively Scarecrow dont necm Jest the right sort o name for that hoy what dye think Scarecrow never < < rose from that table After supper It was John Fearless by unanimous consent who went round shaking hands with the men and receiving re-ceiving their congratulations |