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RECREATION 



SULTAN. 



BY M. M. JAMES. 



We called him Sultan before we had 

 owned him two weeks. When we bought him 

 his name was Mighty, but as soon as we saw 

 how many wives he had and what a despot 

 he was, we changed it. 



He was a prize Plymouth Rock and only a 

 year old. Of course every one knows that 

 Plymouth Rocks, though very strong, are 

 usually poor fighters, because so large and 

 unwieldy. Sultan was an exception to all 

 rules. The day he came he killed the Buff 

 Leghorn and drove the gamecock from the 

 yard. 



After that we sold all the roosters as 

 spring chicken, though now and then some 

 member of the family, most often the Big 

 Man, would bring home a new one just to 

 see if Sultan was still master. The newcomer 

 invariably was vanquished. Sultan would 

 tolerate no rivalry in his harem. 



Every evening this monarch stood guard at 

 the henhouse door until it was locked. If 

 this were neglected there he would roost the 

 whole night through ; but if he found every- 

 thing satisfactory he would go to the stables 

 and roost at the head of Old Billy's stall. He 

 and Billy were great friends 



Tucker was the harem favorite. She was 

 black and glossy, with iridescent greens and 

 blues showing in the sunlight. She was a pet 

 at the house, too, and the Big Man and Sul- 

 tan vied in giving her dainty morsels. She 

 had a private nest in the storeroom at the 

 house. It was rather a long walk from the 

 chicken yard, but Tucker was exclusive, and 

 therefore felt repaid when she had made a 

 collection of thirteen beautiful eggs far from 

 the clacking confusion of the nest-houses. 



When twelve hungry puffballs emerged 

 from the shells she soon forgot the unlucky 

 thirteenth egg and strutted to the yard to 

 show her charming family to Sultan and 

 make the other hens jealous. The chicks 

 were all brown and yellow except a larger 

 one, which was black, with eyes like jewels. 

 This chick was Tucker's particular pride, and 

 one could almost hear her say : "Why, now 

 like his papa." 



When this black perfection reached the 

 age of long legs and pin feathers, his mamma, 

 who was as fond of him as ever, must have 

 warned him of his father's dangerous dispo- 

 sition, for he went to live in the second or- 

 chard. There he grew tall and strong and 

 comely, but not so large as his father. With 

 size came confidence, and each day he moved 

 nearer the barnyard. Surely he was now ro- 

 bust enough to throw off the tyranny of his 

 father. It was a mighty fight, but in the end 

 Sultan fell exhausted and conquered just be- 

 yond the fence of the first orchard, while his 

 son fell weary, but victorious, on the barn- 



yard side. Thus Jupiter, the son. vanquished 

 his sire, as in the days before Olympus, and 

 a new reign began in the harem. 



Sultan, wounded and downcast, went to the 

 far orchard. No one ever heard his jubilant 

 crowing again. Disconsolately he scratched 

 for worms, refusing every tempting bit 

 brought him from the house. About two 

 weeks after his downfall the Big Man went 

 out to try to bring in his old favorite. Jupiter 

 had been removed to one ot the other farms. 

 Sultan had been . roosting in a very gnarled 

 and knotted old apple tree, and his body was 

 hanging from a fork where it would have 

 been impossible for it to have fallen acci- 

 dentally, at least that is what the Big Man 

 said. He was hung by the neck, and the Big 

 Man mentioned it in his diary as the "Sui- 

 cide of Sultan." 



A NEW ROLE. 



Is the city of Duluth to become a game pre- 

 serve, or are black bears in the North to take 

 the place of the turkey buzzards in the South 

 and act as city scavengers ? It seems so from 

 this account whirh appeared in a late issue of 

 the Duluth Trib, ne : 



Wandering singly and in pairs, big, black bears 

 with a penchant for sampling garbage in the rear 

 of residences in the East End continue to invade 

 the city and fall victims to the unerring aim of 

 Duluth nimrods. 



T. J. Griffith, a department manager in Frei- 

 muth's store, added to the list of dead bears yester- 

 lay morning. He shot a female weighing 200 pounds 

 as the prowler was in the act of eating a lunch 

 from a garbage barrel in A. L. Warner s yard. 



When bruin s presence became known, residents 

 in the vicinity of Fourth street and Eighteenth 

 avenue East took the trail with firearms. The 

 bear _ was located and Mr. Griffith was summoned 

 to dispatch the animal. 



A number of bears were seen yesterday, but they 

 retreated to cover too rapidly to be shot. 



THE FIRST ON RECORD. 



Game Warden Burr, of New Castle, has 

 been present when a number of surprises 

 were sprung, but was considerably surprised 

 himself when approached by a man named 

 William White, of the southern part of the 

 county, who wanted to find the game warden. 



Burr confessed that he was "it," when 

 White informed him that he had violated 

 the squirrel law last May and wanted to 

 satisfy the law. According to White, he 

 had killed a single squirrel last May and 

 his conscience pricked him until he came 

 here and confessed to the violation of the 

 law. 



In 'Squire Koons' court he pleaded guilty 

 and was assessed a fine of $^0.75. No one 

 'knew of the violation, and the authorities 

 would still be in the dark about it but 

 for the man coming forth and telling the 

 story himself. — Elwood (Ind.-) Call. 





