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Show THE WISDOM OF DADDY CROW dy CALEB B. WHITFORD. A very wise old crow that lived in the north with his big tribe found the I winters were too severe for him so he concluded to take the crows, over which he ruled, and migrate to a more southern country where it was not so cold. But when he called the crows together to advise them of his decision to take them to a warmer climate they made some objections to going to a new country. "We are -doing very well here," said young Jimmy Crow. "You must not forget," answered the old crow, "that I am a very wise bird. I liave lived here a great many years and have taught most of you all you know about getting your living liv-ing and keeping out of trouble. I want to continue to help you. Perhaps Per-haps you had better put Jimmy Crow at the head of the community and depose de-pose me. I've noticed lately that he professes to have a wonderful lot of wisdom for a young crow." After some wrangling In which Jimmy Crow made himself very conspicuous, con-spicuous, It was finally decided to follow fol-low Daddy Crow south. It was a long hard journey, and when their destination destina-tion was' reached the crows were poor in flesh, hungry and very much out of humor with Old Daddy Crow. Jimmy Crow did all he could to stir up trouble and finally succeeded In persuading all the crows but little &&&&& . Daddy Crow Provides a Clam Supper. Billy that he was a much wiser crow than Daddy Crow and should be given the leadership. "Here we are," he said, "a long way from home, unable to find anything to eat but rank seaweed. We ought to punish Daddy Crow for taking us away from home, then we should return." re-turn." All the hungry crows favored Jimmy Jim-my Crow'B plan except little lame Billy. This was what Jimmy Crow desired. He knew he could not very well carry out his ambitious scheme to rule so long as wise old Daddy Crow lived. He was therefore very happy when It was decided to find Daddy Crow the next day and put him to death. Little lame Billy slipped quietly away from the noisy council to find Daddy Crow and tell him the awfm news. He went straight to the thick cedar swamp where the wise old crow had chosen his hiding place. Not finding him he concluded to wait until he returned. Poor old Daddy Crow was very downhearted, not so much because of his own suffering but rather for the suffering of his tribe and the ingratitude they showed show-ed him. He found a quiet place on the seashore, where he tried to think Df some way out of his difficulty. As he paced back and forth along the muddy shore an old soft-shell ;lam, a little below the surface, was annoyed at the tramping over his lead, and finally concluded to go to ;he surface and see who it was walk-lig walk-lig on the top of his bed. Just as le stuck his head up Daddy Crow let his foot fairly In his open mouth! Quick as a flash the clam closed his ihell! As he did so Daddy Crow iquawked and leaped Into the air, iragglng the clam out of the mud aith Mm! Instantly he seized the slam with the free foot and tried to jull him loose from the otier foot! Although the clam had a tight grip in Daddy Crow's foot, he was not lauslng him any pain; but Daddy Crow was awfully frightened.. He lew away as fast as his wings would tarry him, tugging with all his might rtth one foot to release the other from the grip of the clam. As h crossed a big road the clam loosec his hold. Daddy Crow was glad to bf rid of him, so he let go with the other foot and down went the clam tc smash on the hard road! As soon as Daddy Crow got over his flight he Hew back to the road and dropped down to look at the creature that hac scared him nearly out of his senses He walked around the broken clan, several times. l':cr, going quite close to him he stuck his bill out and pecked at the meat. He found it sc del'.cious he walked boldly up and devoured the last morsel of it and then stepped back with a satisfied look, congratulating himself on his extreme good fortune. Very soon he returned and hovered over the road with a clam in hie claws. In a little while the clam was dropped and lay broken in the road. Then Daddy Crow went to his roost in the cedar swamp, where he found little lame Billy waiting for him. "My! My!" was little Billy's greeting. greet-ing. "You look so bright and cheerful cheer-ful and your craw sticks out so I suspect you have found something good to eat! But I've got bad news for you." "Come with me," was all Daddy Crow said, and away they flew to the smashed clam in the road. And what a meal little lame Billy had, to be sure! He declared he had never tasted food so delicious. Then he told Daddy about the dissatisfied crows and their decision to put him out of the way and return to their old home. "We'll see about that," said Daddy Crow. "You go back and tell them I'm coming over to see them. Take a little piece of that clam with you, and strut about right in front of Jimmy Crow. Stick out your craw so he can see how full it is, and then- let him taste the little bit you have in your bill." Little lame Billy went back to the crows and told them about the good meal Daddy Crow had furnished him. Then he let Jimmy Crow have the little lit-tle taste of clam he brought with him. Before he had got through talking about the delights of a clam dinner Daddy Crow put in an appearance, his big full craw , pushed out to excite ex-cite the envy of the dissatisfied crows. All the crows except Jimmy Crow were loud in their protestations of loyalty, and begged him to tell them how to get a good clam supper. "Why don't you ask Jimmy Crow to get some supper for you. I've been finding something to eat for you for many years. Let him take care of you and I'll look out for little lame Billy and myself." But they begged him so hard to do something for them he finally promised prom-ised to give them all a clam breakfast. break-fast. "Oh, Daddy!" they exclaimed, "let's have some clams for supper! We are so hungry we can hardly wait until morning." "No," said Daddy Crow. "The wise young Jimmy Crow will find you a suoDer. At sunrise all of vou come over to the big road and sit on the fence. I'll be there and see to it that you get a splendid breakfast and some good advice. Come, little Billy, let's go to our roost." Long before sunrise Daddy Crow and little lame Billy Crow were at the shore' gathering clams for the big feast. Little Billy soon learned the trick of catching the clams and taking them away to be dropped in the big hard road. The sun was not all above the horizon hor-izon when the big flock of crows perched on the fence, waiting for Daddy Crow to invite them to the feast of clams. Daddy paced up and down the road In front of the crows, lecturing them on their want of loyalty loy-alty and for allowing a young, ambitious ambi-tious crow to turn their heads. Then, after promises for their future behavior, be-havior, he said: "All of you may now come down except Jimmy Crow, and eat the most delicious breakfast you ever had. Jimmy Crow can eat at the second table after the rest of you get through. It will do that impudent young rascal good to be disciplined. It may have the effect of teaching him he is not such a wonderful crow as he thinks he is." In due time, when the rest of the crows had finished their meal. Daddy Crow invited Jimmy Crow to come down and eat The ambitious young crow felt very sulky and disliked the humiliation, to which he had been subjected, but he was too hungry to show any temper. He walked up tc the feast and enjoyed it greatly When he was through Daddy Crow said: 'Now, Jimmy, turn your head to the north and fly back to the -land we came from as fast as you can. When we are rid of you I'm sure the rest of us will live In peace, because you are the only disturber we have ever known. I will teach all the rest ol my tribe how to catch clams and smash them. We will feast on this delicious food all winter and In the spring we will fly home, fat and sleek. If you behave yourself after we get back, Jimmy, you may come with ui next year. Now go." (Copyright. 1913. by Universal Frui gyn. dlcato |