1903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Hope Farm Notes 
I have had over a dozen requests for an¬ 
other story such as the little folks at the 
farm like to hear. As some of these re¬ 
quests come from grown-up folks older 
than I am, I will try it. I hope there will 
be “practical” matter enough elsewhere to 
satisfy the people who are not Interested 
in 
Cousin Woodchuck and the Ghost.— It 
was at the end of a cold June, day which 
had made one think of October. I started 
a fire in the fireplace as night came on, 
and as the old fence rail cracked and 
sparkled, we drew our chairs up into the 
fire glow. Aunt Sarah started the call for 
a story, and the children began to beg. 
“Well,” said the Hope Farm man, “this 
ought to be just the time for a ghost 
story.” 
The Madame was undressing the baby 
back in the shadow, but her face was in 
the light so she could frown at the Hope 
Farm man and shake her head, but she 
was in a small minority on the ghost ques¬ 
tion. 
“Oh, yes,” said the Graft, “I have seen 
’em at night!” 
The little folks thought they were very 
brave, but I noticed that each one took 
pains to lean up against one of the grown¬ 
ups during the story. 
“Well,” said the Hope Farm man, “I 
will tell a story in three parts. Here is 
the first one: 
“Young Mrs. Mollle Cow never did have 
much sense. She always thought she 
would like to wander over the hill into the 
woods to see what she could find. One day 
the farmer put a rope and halter on her 
and tied her to the road fence. The grass 
was thick and green there, but the silly 
cow was not satisfied until she pulled and 
pulled and finally broke a board off the 
fence. Then she made a run along the 
road and up the lane to the hill, with the 
rope and board dragging behind her. 
“It was late in the afternoon, and she 
ran on and on till she came to a wild 
country full of brambles and thick bushes. 
The sun began to go down, and the shad¬ 
ows began to deepen, and the cow began to 
feel that she had had all the fun there is 
in running aw'ay. She turned around to 
go home, when ail at once she found that 
she was tied fast! Tlie board on that rope 
had caught on a bush, and the more she 
tried to pull it out the faster it stuck. She 
was caught! 
“Now let us think how we would like to 
be held fast in a strange and lonely field, 
with night coming on and any quantity of 
sounds all around us. It grew darker and 
darker, and just as the last twilight was 
going, the poor cow heard something 
creeping through the bushes around her— 
put, pat, patl All of a sudden, under a 
thick tree, two bright eyes shone like 
little balls of fire!” 
It w'as a strange thing, but just at this 
part of the story the fire let out a series 
of loud cracks, and the flame seemed to 
hide behind a big log until the light went 
down and we saw two glowing places in 
the fire! The Madame’s face was a danger 
signal, and the Hope Farm man was trim¬ 
ming his words with care, so as not to get 
too close to the something which shone in 
the big eyes of the little folks. 
Judge Lynx Appears.- “I am sorry to 
tell it, but that was Judge Lynx looking 
out from that tree!” 
Every little face was in despair at that 
announcement, for Judge Lynx is the 
sworn enemy of their animal friends. The 
fire was burning low now—so low that 
Aunt Sarah reached over to punch It into 
better spirits with the poker! 
“Judge Lynx was hungry—he had had no 
food for two days, and Mrs. Lynx and the 
four children were hungrier still. When 
he saw the cow tied fast in the bushes he 
thought his dinner was in sight. He didn’t 
dare to attack her, because, though she 
was tied, her horns were sharp, so he de¬ 
cided to wait until she grew faint and weak 
for lack of food and water, and then pull 
her down! He made sure that the rope 
was fast and then ran home to his den 
under a rock. Mrs. Lynx was waiting for 
him in no gentle mood. 
“ ‘Where is the meat for supper?’ said 
she. ‘You are a nice man to provide for 
your people. You have no business to have 
a nice family! I have a notion to go to 
work myself!’ Judge Lynx found It best to 
be polite to his wife, no matter how he 
treated others. 
“ ‘Why, my dear,’ he said, ‘I have found 
meat for a week. It isn’t exactly ready 
to serve yet, but with your valuable help 
I can secure the finest meal of beefsteak 
you ever tasted.’ 
“ ‘Don’t ray-dear me,’ said Mrs. Lynx. 
‘I know you of old. If you don’t attend to 
the wants of your family you will have a 
few wants of your own that need atten¬ 
tion.’ 
“Then Judge Lynx told his plan. They 
were all to go back and hide in the bushes 
and try to scare the cow to death, or weary 
her out. So with much grumbling Mrs. 
Ijynx and the children went back and made 
a liorrible noise.” 
Here the Hope Farm man tried to give 
an imitation of this noise, but the Mad¬ 
ame’s eye seemed to get into his throat, 
and set him to coughing. The little folks 
all looked around Into the shadows with 
great care, and Aunt Sarah punched up 
the fire again. 
“Judge Lynx had a very quick ear. All 
at once he stopped to listen. Then he 
nudged Mrs. Lynx and said: ‘Run down 
to the old pine tree and bring up what you 
will find there; we shall need a ha’rnt to 
help us.’ Mrs. Lynx grumbled as usual, 
but went off and soon returned w'lth what 
she found. 
Johnny Bee on Deck.— “It happened that 
Johnny Bee had been very busy that day. 
He was slowly flying home with two bags 
full of honey. In order to make a short 
cut he flew over this field. All at once he 
heard the most awful noise a mortal ever 
heard. It was enough to scare anybody. 
Johnny Bee had a good heart, and he 
thought some of his friends might be In 
trouble, so he flew back to see what It was 
Just as he got near the bushes a fearful- 
looking thing jumped up right In his path. 
Great horns stuck out on either side, there 
were great holes where there should have 
been eyes, and you could look right through 
a great mouth and see the moon beyond! 
This thing went bobbing around and of all 
the noises you ever heard”- 
Eight little eyes saw all this in the fire¬ 
light, and their size showed that the Hope 
Farm man had come within a hair of the 
danger line. It was a good thing that just 
then the fire snapped out a spark that 
made one of the children dodge. 
“Johnnie Bee had good nerves, but when 
he saw the moon through the mouth of 
that ‘ha’rnt’ he thought he would save his 
honey bags, so he turned and flew home 
for dear life. By this time the poor old 
cow had twisted her rope around her neck 
and was so faint she was almost ready to 
fall. Mrs. Lynx wanted to run in and 
finish her, but the Judge was too much of 
a coward to risk it. 
“Johnny Bee made what I may call a bee¬ 
line for home. As he was working hi.s 
wings as fast as he could he heard a well- 
known voice call: 
“ ‘Good evening, Johnny Bee—what’s your 
hurry?’ 
“He was so frightened that he had for¬ 
gotten he was close by the hole, and 
there were Cousin Woodchuck, Brother 
Rabbit and Squire Possum taking a little 
fresh air.” 
You should have seen how the doubt and 
fear faded out of the little faces when 
Cousin Woodchuck came into the story. 
The children pin their faith to the brain 
of this awkward and squatty little animal. 
I wish I could make grown-ups have simi¬ 
lar faith in my ability to help the troubled. 
“Johnny Bee was glad to stop and rest. 
He told his story and his voice trembled 
as he described that terrible ha’rnt. 
“ ‘Nonsense,’ said Cousin Woodchuck, 
‘there is no such thing as a ha’rnt. Some 
bad work is going on over there.’ 
“ ‘Well,’ said Johnny Bee, ‘I saw him, and 
if you could see him you would say the 
same thing.’ 
“ ‘Where is he?” said Cousin; ‘you lead 
the way to him.’ 
“So Johnny Bee unloaded his honey bags 
and led the way. Pretty soon they heard 
the awful noises. Brother Rabbit said he 
was well satisfied and wanted to go back. 
Squire Possum was almost persuaded, too, 
and when he saw that head with the holes 
in it, above the bushes, he was all ready 
to quit. Cousin Woodchuck was a little 
staggered, too. He shaded his eye with 
his paw and had a good look at the ‘ha’rnt,’ 
and then he said; ‘Now, Johnny Bee, 1 
think that is a fraud and you can prove 
it. I want you to take a good running 
jump and aim about three inches below 
that mouth and let out your sting hard. 
Then what follows will prove whether it’s 
a ha’rnt or not.’ 
“Johnny Bee didn’t relish the job, but 
the others egged him on, and so when the 
‘ha’rnt’ stopped howling a moment he 
made a running jump and let out his sting 
to full length. I’ll give you my word that 
a yell went up that you could have heard 
for half a mile. That head fell right down 
on the ground, and such a running and 
scampering you never did hear. Then it 
all came out. The ‘ha’rnt’ was nothing but 
our old friend Judge Lynx. Mrs. Lynx had 
brought him the skull of an old dead cow, 
and the tricky old Judge had been holding 
it on his head with both paws. That was 
what they saw in the moonlight. Johnny 
Bee stung him right in the eye and It hurt 
him so that he dropped the skull and ran 
for his life with Mrs. Lynx and the chil¬ 
dren at his heels. It didn’t take Cousin 
Woodchuck long to run in and gnaw the 
rope, and this set the cow free. Almost 
before he had finished they saw a lantern 
coming and the farmer and his boy found 
the cow and led her home. She had all 
471 
the running away she wanted. Cousin 
Woodchuck and his friends went home, 
where Johnnie Bee passed around his 
honey. As for Judge Lynx his eye was in 
bad shaiie. He wanted to go to bed and 
nurse it, but Mrs. Lynx turned on him 
and scratched him so that he had to go 
down to the brook and lie all night with 
his wounds in the cold water. Between 
Cousin Woodchuck and his wife he may 
be honest yet.” 
Bedtime came with the end of the story, 
and the little folks were in great glee ai 
the sad plight of Judge Lynx. They 
agreed that it served him right, that 
it doesn’t pay to run away from a 
good home, that we should always stay 
right by our friends, and that there is no 
such thing possible as a ghost or “ha’rnt,” 
and that Johnny Bee’s method of exposure 
is a good one. I sincerely hope that these 
firelight arguments will remain fixed. The 
niglit was thick and dull outside, a 
“creepy” night if there ever was one, yet 
when the fire slowly faded out all the Hope 
Farmers from the baby to Aunt Sarah 
slept the sleep of the just. That Is, they 
dreamed of Cousin Woodchuck rather than 
the “ha’rnt.” h. w. c. 
A Blue Outlook.— Regarding the condi¬ 
tion of the farming in this section it is 
very serious; farmers have been cutting 
their rye for fodder. We had a very hard 
rain June 10. and as I am writing this it is 
raining very nicely. These rains will help, 
but we need a good soaking. w. a. d. 
Chatham, N. Y. 
A Brighter Outlook.— Our dry spell of 
over 50 days came to an end June 7, when 
and since we have had nice rains. Farm¬ 
ers were becoming quite alarmed over 
prospects; they are feeling better now, and 
if frequent or ordinary rains come from 
now on crops, except hay, will be fairly 
good. Pastures were getting very poor, but 
will revive now h. b. d. 
Angelica, N. Y. 
Baling Hay from Field.— A large por¬ 
tion of the hay grown in this country is 
baled direct from the shock. The hay press 
is located at a convenient distance in the 
field, and the shocks of hay are hauled up 
to it with a two-horse rake, which gener¬ 
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cured hay baled in this way does not spoil 
in the bale, no matter how closely stored, 
and sells generally as well as hay that has 
been stacked and salted, although it seems 
reasonable that the latter way is the best. 
However, in this valley, stock of all kinds 
need very little salt, and do not eat much 
when It is kept constantly before them. 
This may be accounted for by reason ol 
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found that the cattle on the range ate con¬ 
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