Show till J Z 11 U HOMER B CROY lip 7 M al hi ipar V ak V lar dl W lv S THE STORY THUS PAR FAR arnos amo croy settled on a farm at Marys marksville marysville ville missouri where he married and a ton son no ho aier was born homers earliest recollection was of a cyclone which blew the ta aw V VY virn down and wrecked the orchard alay meant church company for din awand nsf and guessing the weight of the steers De horning homing of the calves was always a big event on the croy farm curing of hams was a distasteful lob job to homer a as 3 he had to clean the smoke house and get the fuel ready then keep the fires burning he was well repaid however when his mother started to serve the baked and tried fried ham homer did not like farm work although he enjoyed the fruits of his efforts CHAPTER VI the ordinary way to feed a call calf when it is being weaned and made to drink out of a bucket is Is to put the bucket on the ground and push the head in and try to hold it there till he has to gasp for breath in doing this he is supposed to get 6 f nj itaster taste of milk and finally learn V arink out of a bucket it works after er a fashion but I 1 shudder to think of the sunday suits that have been sprayed with milk tor for a calf has no good opinion of having its nose held under the milk so raises his head and blows the milk like a paint sprayer sometimes I 1 was in a hurry and thought the calf would not do that tonight so I 1 would not change my clothes when I 1 got back from town and I 1 would go to him with the bucket of milk the eyesight of calves is that of eagles and the moment I 1 would get inside the calf lot he would come flying at me having some fool notion that I 1 was his mother the moment had arrived I 1 would seize his empty head and shove it to the bottom of the bucket and hold it there hoping to god everything would be all right it never was he would lift his head out of the warm sweet milk and lope to the other end of the lot and bawl for his mother who was going crazy on the other side of the fence I 1 would follow with the bucket and hold it out temptingly but he knew there was nothing in it but disappointment and would have nothing to do with it I 1 would try again he then would get the smell of the milk and would begin to butt and plunge harder than ever the accepted way was for me to get the head in the bucket then hold up my finger and let him think I 1 was his mother his tongue would wrap around my finger and his sides would go in and out and vis js tail would give little tremors ct C t k last a trickle of milk would get manto anto his mouth and I 1 would stand beside him till he had his meal the next morning or the next evening it would be the same thing over then bit by bit I 1 would slip my thumb up my finger and shorten my grip until at last he got only a button then came the day when he would discover he have to have my finger in the bucket and could do the job alone that was a big day the calf was weaned one day i I 1 took a piece of rubber hose off the steam cooker and cut it into about a five inch length and nailed one end of this to the wooden bottom of the bucket there was waa a hole through it of course so that milk would gouid travel up to it when feeding time came and the calf made a flying tackle at me I 1 shoved my and into the milk and when he 1 rf I tried to find my finger I 1 slipped the tube into his mouth it was a breathless exciting moment A satisfied glaze came into his eyes the he t brush on his tall tail flapped back and forth his gullet went up and down his sides went in and put out I 1 had won he seem to know that human ingenuity had outwitted nature but there it was wa working before my delighted eyes I 1 tried it on another call calf who also thought I 1 was his mother I 1 called pa and showed it to him and he said it was the first time he had ever heard of this being done if it was anything about farming fanning pa would know that night he told ma about it but not in a way to go to my head because he believe in boys getting too much praise my mother thought it was wonderful day after day it worked no spraying no calves bawling up and down the fence no cows going crazy I 1 was what the people in my section called a book boy the printed word fascinated me as machinery fascinated some boys and ideas fascinated me sometimes it seemed to me an idea well expressed was one of the most lovely things in the world things that I 1 liked in our fa farm 1 r in papers I 1 would read over and over I 1 woula would ask what the words meant sometimes pa and ma knew and sometimes they but that was all right I 1 would wait patiently until I 1 saw that word again and maybe this time I 1 could make sense out of it we had no dictionary but like everybody else we had aa a good horse doctor book at night before I 1 would blink off to sleep in my chair I 1 would read and reread wallaces farmer we also took the county weekly and that I 1 would read too but it the world of enchantment that wallaces farmer was one section was devoted to new methods and discoveries co then and there an idea was born I 1 set to work on it without a word to my father or mother at last it was lying on the kitchen table my words my thoughts my idea never before had I 1 experienced the joy of creative effort and the pain too for they seem to walk hand in hand like a brother and sister toddling off to school now that I 1 had it done I 1 know what to do with it lost as I 1 had been in creation I 1 copied it however and with my secret locked in my heart wrote a letter to my friend mr wallace for he seemed that near and real to me and when we went to town saturday shoved it in the brass slot at the post office one saturday when pa brought home the farmer there it wasl something I 1 had written my name I 1 showed it to ma not quite able yet to show it to pa she gazed at me wonder eyed and yet she quite surprised for she thought I 1 was wonderful you know mothers pa came in from slopping the pigs and ma said sit down amos I 1 want to read you something I 1 tried to look casually out of the window pa leaned forward as he recognized the idea there at the bottom where it was printed ma read my name it took pa about a minute to speak finally he said homer did you really write that 1 I guess I 1 did I 1 said trying to pretend it anything let me see the paper he put on his glasses and looked suspiciously cious ly as ag if ma and I 1 had perpetrated some sort of hoax then read it to himself from beginning to end his lips moving to form the words real helpful information homer you was smart to think of writing it up and sending it to a paper it was a splendid moment but other things had to be done dome the farm work had to go on and bit by bit my glory faded my mother had the quality of believing in people no matter how unconscionable a rascal a person was my mother always found something about him to believe in sometimes we would tell her that so and so was a no good but my mother still clung to the unwavering faith she had in human beings As a result our place was a regular halfway house for tramps ive heard that tramps have a way of making a private mark on the gate or a post to show that a gullible person lives there well there must have been one at our farm for they all turned in and what is more they all got fed no matter how busy or how tired she was she would even stop while bluing the clothes to get up a plate of food tor for f esz I 1 the brush on his bis tall tail napped flapped back and forth tome some wretch who said he was hungry but she would always tell them very sternly here that she give them a bite unless they earned it then she would ask them if they were willing to work they always were or so they said she would send them to the woodpile and pretty soon they would be whacking away sometimes they would develop a splinter in their hand or a sprain in their back she would feel sorry for them and tell them that at least they showed a willing spirit and that they could now come and sit down on the edge of the back porch and eat the little we had she always said that yet we always had abundance As they ate she would draw up a chair and sit just inside the screen door in the house talking to them and suffering with them as they told of their frightful hardships no matter how wild the story was she always believed it and she always believed in them but one day a different type of tramp came along hungry of course just about starving he said my mother began her regular speech she would give him something to eat but he would have to earn it the tramp looked at her without speaking evidently making up his mind about something have to chop wood she ann announced bounced the tramp who had bad an accent shrugged he had never chopped wood in his life and he know how he said well then have to cut the grass in the yard she pointed to the scythe hanging in our northern spy the man was pained he would like to cut grass for or her but he had never cut any grass in his life and it was now too late to learn leam then you can help milk she said the tramp was again distressed in the old country they had no cows and he know how to milk well what can you do the tramps face lighted up 1 I am a sailor I 1 can pull ropes he went through the motion of pulling ropes hand over hand oh he was very eager to pull ropes mother was nonplused nonplus ed but for some reason she still believed him and got him a plate of food after he had eaten it he went jauntily out of the yard and down the road we tried to twit her about it and told her shed been completely taken in then she said im glad I 1 gave it to him the poor man hes so far from home but on the whole this quality of my mothers to believe in people never really harmed her now and then she was duped but on the whole she got along better than most people who believe everybody Is a rascal and cant be trusted out of sight sometimes I 1 think we discover in people what we look tor for my mother looked for the best and she usually found it she also was the quietest teacher I 1 ever knew sometimes I 1 did not know I 1 was being taught sometimes the impact of what she had taught did not hit me ma until long after at this time the farmers farmere were putting in croquet grounds so of course I 1 wanted one this meant work for I 1 had to get our spade and level off some of the humps in the yard and fill in the holes but I 1 got the work done and my father brought home a long wooden box with a little iron hook and eye on the side I 1 was delighted with the wooden mallets each had a band of color around the handle and each ball had a band of color too the stakes wore a rainbow it was a fine croquet set and I 1 was thrilled ma and pa and phebe my mothers niece and the hired man and I 1 would play I 1 would stop work any time one day when I 1 was in town a neighbor boy earl came to see me he had become bored by having to play alone and had banged things about then he left when I 1 got home two of my precious mallet handles were broken I 1 was mad and that night after work I 1 sat down to write earl a letter I 1 could not wait tin till I 1 saw him I 1 wanted my revenge then and there I 1 told him exactly what I 1 thought of him then I 1 went back and told it all over again just to make sure my mother kept watching me as I 1 destroyed earl and when my masterpiece was finished she asked me to read it aloud which I 1 did with a great deal of pleasure As I 1 read she kept nodding her head and saying my my going to scorch him thata it homer give it to him I 1 was pleased with her approval and went back and added some fine touches the tha best one yet tear into him again I 1 tore into him until pretty soon earl was in a worse condition than my mallet handles when my letter was wa completed and I 1 was glowing she said 1 I think you can improve on that tackle it again tomorrow night I 1 was for getting it into the mail while the thing was still sizzling but under her advice I 1 waited the next night I 1 got out my letter and read it through again it did not seem quite so good tear it up she said I 1 looked at her in amazement tear it up I 1 repeated flabbergasted berg asted yes you rn must st never mail a letter youve written in anger write it but dont mail it now write him a nice polite letter and ask him to come over and play croquet with you I 1 wrote the letter muttering to myself it nearly the masterpiece ter piece the other was but it did ask him to come and play with me I 1 took it down to the mailbox and put it in thinking my mother know much about boys A few days later earl came to see me and brought with him two mallets from his own set with the exact colors of the ones he had broken he said he was sorry hed broken mine then he saved his hi face he had been getting ready to bring the mallets over when he had received my letter he said it long before earl and I 1 were whooping and screeching and banging the balls about in the utmost good fellowship my mother did not mention the matter and it was not until some time later that the full force of what she had taught hit me in january my father would say 1 I expect wed better get ready to butcher and my heart would go down again more work ill help you carry out the kettle homer J another of his sly jokes for he would have to do most of the carrying wed get the big black iron ke kettle atle and carry it out and put it on an old tumbling rod from a threshing outfit it was my duty when the kettle was dangling on the rod to bring wood and a basket of cobs to start the fire pa would be cutting and sharpening the gambre ls when that was done wed haul out the bobsled work work no end of work the way it seemed to me yet kind of exciting too for tomorrow be lots of people and lots lota of laughing and codding the next morning I 1 could hardly wait till id see the neighbors coming down the road by the time they arrived the fire would be leaping the scalding platform and the cutting tables would be ready one of the neighbors would be newt kennedy newt with his overcoat held together in front by the huge brass safety pin his trousers stuffed into the tops of his felt boots and his butcher knives in his hands these hed lay carefully on the cutting table tor for one man dream of using another mans knives unless given permission then newta head for me because newt and I 1 liked each other and we would talk about rabbit hunting and mule breaking and where wed seen prairie chickens TO BE CONTINUED |