Show S KM t i HOMER lJ ar j f fC LUre C f THE TilE STORY THUS FAR R Amos Croy settled on a farm a aj Marysville Mis- Mis louri where he be married and a son Homer nomer Ho no- mer was wai born Sunday meant church company for lor dinner and st steer er weight Dehorning of the calves curing cur cur- Ing big of hams barns weaning of calves and sausage sau sac sage making were Jobs that Homer had to belp help with One of Homers Homer's bl big thrills was helping Newt a neighbor break In his mules Newt used his own system be he would hl hitch h the mule moJe double doable to a wagon wagon wag wag- on and force them to ran run away He lie always always al 11 al- al ways said that a mule mulo was wu no good until after It had run away and he made money mon mono ey by breaking mules proving his system system tem tern was pretty good The neighbors did not approve of his method however CHAPTER IX It took experts for tor this for a crazy quilt Is twice as hard as an ordinary quilt But Phebe knew how howand howand howand and would go from one to another arranging patches and making sug sug- And now as the days day's quilting drew to a climax there would be a great hubbub as they tried to decide which color of thread went with which patch and what kind of stitch to use But Phebe knew She wouldn't fancy stitch at ataU atall atall all aU herself because she would be too busy showing others Ma would come in and and- stand in the background background background back back- ground handing out pa patches and picking up the chalk when it rolled off on the floor Phebe Pheb would lower her voice Aunt where do you want the campaign campaign campaign cam cam- ribbon to go I In the middle Ma would say The women's voices would fall away to a hush because they allI all I knew what the campaign ribbon meant It could not be finished in a day sometimes it took a woman years working forking alone winter evenings to deplete her crazy quilt But it was wasi i helped Aped along and the women all wanted to say they'd had a part partin in the quilt They would begin looking out the window to see if it the men were coming Theres Newt Mrs Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Ken Ken- nedy would say One by one the themen i men men would arrive and stand in the lot talking to Pa never dreaming to togo togo go to the house One by one the carts and buggies would leave Mrs Gerilda Knabb would come out but there would be no surrey now so I would have i to go to the granary and get two 1 1 sawhorses I would try to maneuver maneuver maneu maneu- ver her horse up but he had been standing all day and wanted to get home Mrs Knabb standing on top M II of t the sawhorses would shout Whoa Whoa Stand still now Aland and I would shout too to the prancing t jing lag ing horse Ma and Phebe would hear us shouting and would come to toI I the door and begin calling warnings I to o Mrs Knabb and and instructions to tob b Sine e. e And now with everybody shout- shout r Sing i g the horse would prance more pan ever Finally Pa would come pP p through the hog lot and take hold of Df the bit and I would help Mrs I Knabb abb and p pretty soon she would I r e on and going toward the main a ad pulling and sawing at the snorting animal THomer Homer take down the frames a would sa say once more coming to charge 1 iThe The people in our section took few pers apers but the ones we did take here ere read and reread and stacked a pile and treasured We even evenIe evens s Ie kept ept pt our order mail-order magazines That as as the final test t Everybody tried to subscribe to toC toe i e C home weekly but there was a inch it was a ye year r. r When a a went to town Saturday and ond asked r the mail there It would be with witha's withas a a's as s 's s name written across the top In ad pencil We couldn't wait till tille e got home so Ma would put on r r glasses and read snatches aloud I we jolted along in the hack Buti But i wasn't until after the chores re done and the lamp lighted at we really tore into it Item by bym em m then After nearly every everyone on one e i lere ere re was a discussion Ma would t tad cad ad a name and there would be a ence Then Pa would say Why aw him not three weeks ago Everybody took a farm paper 0 Or r arly any everybody Wallaces' Wallaces Farm Farm- J was the most popular but Th The e iva va Homestead was on its heels t tid d there was The Mail 1 and Breeze U rt t hardly any family took more D n one Two dollars a year there would read the Farmer aloud alou d j. j J d it opened up a world the count counts count's county y t s ekly didn't know existed There Ther Theress e ss i uld ld be mention of towns we never il sl den en n heard of far of off places in Iowa i d Nebraska Now and then there pJ pT uld be a mention of Ohio P Pa Po a uld lean forward a little very Every family took look a religious pa- pa Ours was The Rams Ram's Horn comes of an evening Pa would woul d reading Wallaces' Wallaces Farmer M Ma 1 Mauld 1 uld ld Id be reading The Rams Ram's HornI Horn I I would be breathless In The Tin e kith's th's Companion Especially i in n packs pack's nek's End by Hayden Carruth f re the Indian came crawlin crawling g ugh the snow tunnel ut lut there was another kind o of f that everybody took An And d vas S what we called the mail mail- monthly The reason ever every every- took It was because It wa was S ID P twenty cents a year e e the thing got coming it kept kep t Ie B I coming It not like was The Tin e js 5 th's Companion which gave yo you ou r u Wrecks weeks weeks' notice nolie and meant meon it Il Sometimes it would keep on a year or two after alter your subscription ran out before it would whack you off oLI The one we took and the one that was most popular in our section was Comfort published in Augusta Maine where they all seemed to spawn I can still stilt see the heading which said COMFORT Key to a pillion lillion Homes The letters in Comfort Comfort Comfort Com Com- fort were strung along a gigantic key It seemed to me there was no limit to human ingenuity This along with others of its tribe carried order mail advertisements which had to do with How to Make Money Raising Belgian Hares How to Cure Bed Wetting and Big Money Money Money Mon Mon- ey In Squabs There was an ad that was tremendously persuasive I Ito I to me Send me Send Ten Cents for Big Mail I loved to get mail and so I saved up and subscribed to one or two Of course it was all advertising advertising advertis advertis- ing matter and it never had my name right but Just the same it was something coming through the post office addressed to me me Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Some Some- times I got more mail th than n Pa He would say Homer why do you want to carry carryall all that trash home But I clung to it I had many hours with nothing to fill them soI so soI soI I pawed through it from How to Get Rid of Chicken Worms toMake toMake to toMake Make Easy Money Selling Soap to Your Friendly Neighbors We had a patent washing machine machine machine ma ma- chine Just as most of our neigh- neigh 1 I i r L r e a r y yi i The one most popular in our section section section sec sec- tion was Comfort bors bore had The patent consisted ofa of ofa a big iron ball fastened to a pendu pendu- lum When you pushed the handle back and forth the pendulum with its iron ball swung to and fro clumping clumping clumping clump clump- ing everybody on the shins The printed notice pasted on the side said that running this machine was wasa a pleasure I would look at the notice no notice notice no- no tice and wonder what kind of man had written that My mother was not strong so I always had to help with the wash wash- ing How long and dreary and harrowing harrowing harrowing har har- rowing Monday was Carry water from the wash boiler on the kitchen stove and dump it into the Ezy Family Family Family Fam Fam- ily Washer then push the damned handle back and forth till I thought I would die Now and then Ma would come out I would swing up the lid hd and she would peer into the steamy depths A moments moment's rest and Id I'd hope the clothes had been washed long enough But they never never never nev nev- er had The lid would have to go godown godown godown down and the pendulum again started started started start start- ed swinging back and forth I used to read as I pushed the han ban dle die A book was too heavy and too awkward to hold But COMFORT COMFORT COMFORT COM COM- FORT Key to a Million Homes was just about right So I would grasp It In one hand and read about people in Newport It did not take me long longto to discover they were a pretty bad lot Also I thought I would like to have a fling at it myself One day as I was pushing the pendulum back and forth I read an announcement which said the magazine magazine maga maga- zine zinc was going to have bave a true dream contest open to any subscriber This was before the post office departe department department depart depart- ment got ideas And that all you had to do was to write plainly on one side of the paper and see that your sub subscription was paid up As I swayed the pendulum back and forth I began to think hink up a true dream A little trouble with my conscience there Still sun the Newport Newport Newport New New- port set wouldn't have hesitated I laid told the scene in the Ozarks al although although al- al though I 1 had never been there The Idea dealt with myself and a companion who had gone on a camping campIng camp- camp Ing trip In the Ozarks The poorman poor poorman poorman man got lost and lOd I dreamed whet e he was and I went to the cavern cover n I where he had fallen and lowered a rope rape which I happened to have e handy and pulled him out Then The we looked at his watch which had stopped when he had fallen into th the e water It had stopped at exactly the hour I had wal wakened ened from Crom my dream I felt pretty hopeful about the watch touch I wrote It plainly on one side of the paper as instructed and sent it to Our National True Dream Contest Contest Con Con- t test est without sa saying ing a word to anyone The watch touch might not really work I expected the winner would bein be beIn bein In the next number for I did not know that a monthly magazine had problems our weekly didn't have to contend with One day I would be sure I would win the next I would be sure I wouldn't that being the nature nature nature na na- ture of hope One day Pa went to town alone and when I saw him coming I rushed out to get the mail as I always did There among the advertising matter was an envelope addressed to me on a typewriting machine the first I ever received The big mail concerns wrote my name In lead pencil pencil pencil pen pen- cil except now and then when I seemed promising enough to have my name printed on a slip of paper and pasted on When this happened I was sure to get mail from them for quite a while But after a time they would get discouraged and Id I'd have to make new contacts But there It was Yas I opened it it- it Dear Mr Croy We take pleasure pleas pleas- ure in telling you that you have won I first place in Our National True I Dream Contest and we are herewith I enclosing check for first prize I opened the check and there it was was was-a a check for a dollar It was a thrilling moment I went around to the side where Pa was unhitching and said with a tremendous effort at casualness Well I got a check He stopped with a tug in his hand and looked at me incredulously A check Here it is I fluttered the docu docu- ment meat How much is it for I told him How did you get it I told him Take it in and show it to your mother he said and led the horses down across the lot to the water tank Ma thought it was wonderful It wasn't long till Pa Pol came up from the barn walking faster than usual took off his overshoes and sat down in his Ws rocker Well Susan it seems the boys boy's got a check It was a supreme mom moment mo mo- m ment nl for tor me How long did it take tako you Homer Two hours Two hours' hours he repeated and andI I could see he was doing mathe mathe- matics I guess you'd better read his piece aloud Susan I tried to look as modest as I could As Ma read the expression on Pas Pa's face changed He quit rocking rocking rocking rock rock- ing and sat there puzzled and dis dis- appointed The piece about the calf caU to drink was fine helpful anybody could put it to use But a adream adream adream dream Id I'd made up out of my head He praised it a little but only a little for he wasn't a man to say something he didn't mean Finally choring time came and he put on his Ws overshoes and started back to the barn lot But Ma wasn't disappointed It was a fine piece One day shortly after this as Iwas I Iwas Iwas was going down the street In town I saw in the window of the racket store a picture I knew the instant I saw It that I wanted It was a apanel apanel apanel panel containing pictures and a caption caption cap cap- tion which said Six Famous American American Amer Amer- ican lean Authors Under each was printed the name Henry Wadsworth Wadsworth Wadsworth Wads- Wads worth Longfellow John Greenleaf Whittier Nathaniel Hawthorne Ralph Waldo Emerson James Russell Russell Rus Rus- sell Lowell Edgar Allan Poe I looked at them and thought what great men they were and wished that I myself sometime could do something worth while I was able some way or other to raise the money and bought the panel When I got home my mother moth er wanted to know what I had Iwas I Iwas Iwas was suddenly self conscious and did not show it to her because my secret was so precious She came up after after aft aft- er I had gone to my room and there was the panel unwrapped She looked at me for a moment seemed to understand my hesitation in showing showing show show- showing ing It and said Ill help you put it up And she did but neither of ofus ofus ofus us mentioned the significance of the picture In July my father would say to my mother Ive just been through the watermelon patch and some good melons arc are coming on I think wo we might have a swimming party Then hed he'd say to me In his sly humorous humorous humorous hu hu- way Homer would you mind telling the neighbors Of course I wouldn't because nothing nothing noth noth- ing was more fun than a swimming party The evening of the party wed we'd get the chores done early and eat an early supper then get the plates I and knives and benches ready and go out on the front porch to wait for the neighbors It'd seem to me they'd never come but at last wed we'd see them coming down the road roud in I Newt Kennedys Kennedy's spring Pad lean lenn forward I I do bell believe eve hes he's got cot a new mule on the wagon spring Hes He's goin to kill somebody sometime sometime some some- time you just mark my word I TO BE CONTINUED |