Kansas University Weekly.
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though at other times I did not differ from most boys of my age in regard to possessing a ravenous appetite. When the boys who were to be my companions on the hunt arrived, I was waiting outside the door and, for once, did not have to search for my cap and mittens.
The morning was bright and frosty, a most suitable autumn morning for such sport as we anticipated. As we trudged along the country road, occasionally slapping our hands together or rubbing our ears, we bantered each other as to who would be the most burdened by the amount of game he would bring home. After a while we came to the place we had for our operation selected, and in order that there should be no occasion for dispute as to who shot the first rabbit seen, we divided the field. I was left in a patch of tall trees and underbrush with my big double-barreled shot gun for company, carefully inserted two shells and with both hammers raised cautiously crept along, all eyes and ears. As I thought how manfully I would slay the first innocent "cotton-tail" that might be so foolish as to show itself I quivered with expectation; but before I had an opportunity to test my marksmanship I became quite tired of holding my gun in readiness. Finally, away went a little bunch of grey fur through the bushes and with a "bang" I pulled the trigger. To my utter amazement the thing did not immediately drop dead but calmly sat down and looked back at me. Although astonishment and the reflux action of the gun had nearly knocked me down, I still had presence of mind enough to remember the other trigger and taking good aim at the now motionless victim, I pulled again, but this time there was no bang. Several times I excitedly attempted to fire but in vain. There was no response to my frantic jerks of the trigger. Not untill the rabbit had innocently hopped away and I had made a careful examination of my refractory fire-arm, did I realize that in the confusion of my first shot I had fired both barrels at once.
FRANK HOUSE.
How We Broke the Calves.
A good many years ago when I was a mere boy I had an especially intimate acquaintance
and companion whose name was Tom. We were almost constantly together, and like other boys we were often doing those things that we should not have done, and leaving undone those things that we should have done. And not infrequently our boyish enthusiasm in attempting new experiments got us into difficulty of some kind. Sometimes our curiosity brought down upon our juvenile heads the ire of our parents, at other times our thoughtlessness led us into danger, and not seldom were we so unfortunate as to get into danger and go counter to the wishes of our parents at the same time.
One incident, in particular, I shall never forget. In the pasture at my home we had two pet calves of which we were all very fond, and as Tom and I had seen the neighbors breaking prairie with oxen, we concluded that it would be a great deal of sport to yoke up the pet calves and "break" them. We hadn't had any real, genuine sport for several days as Tom's father had objected to our swimming in the watering-trough and the ponds had all "gone dry," and therefore we hailed this new idea with delight and began to make preparations with all the ardor possible. We worked zealously one whole forenoon and succeeded in making a yoke, which, though not particularly handsome, was yet good enough for all practical purposes. Having decided to make our first trial in the afternoon, we hid the yoke back of the smoke-house and went into the house to dinner. After dinner we took the yoke and went down below the orchard where we could not be seen from the house, and after having refreshed our languid spirits by smoking a few grape vine cigarettes, we brought the calves from the pasture and yoked them up. They seemed to enjoy the prospect of fun as much as we did, and in fact probably they had a better time than we did on the whole. Although they were quite demure while being yoked, they suddenly became scared at finding themselves fastened together and began to run. There was a log-chain fastened to the middle of the yoke, and on the end of this chain, which