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Entered according to Act of Congress, in June, 1869, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia
Vol. 111-— No. 42.
THE NUT-CRACKERS.
Friskey were two little
nut-crackers who lived in an
out-house in the midst of a
great forest. It wasn't such a house as
we live in, with steps, and floors, and
ceilings, and shutters, though it had a
window in it, and instead of doors, two
of the cunningest little holes'to creep in
and out at that you ever did see.
It was a two-story house also, but
without a bit of a staircase in it. I pre
sume you would think this very funny,
but Chip and Friskey didn’t. In fact,
I don’t suppose they would have used
it if there had been one, because they
could scamper up and down inside or
outside a great deal easier and quicker
than we go up and down our stairways.
To tell the truth, I doubt if you would
have called it a all, for it was
only a tree, just a hollow old oak tree ;
but it made a very handsome home for
nut-crackers, and was thought to be the
most stylish dwelling in the whole for
est. For you must know, there were a
great many of these little people besides
Chip and Friskey, who lived in this for
est. There was scarcely a tree that
hadn’t a family in it somewhere , either
stowed away in a sly nook among the
branches, or in a cosy knot-hole or de
cayed place in the trunk.
But there was no one beside wdio had
a tw r o-story house; and on this fact,
Chip, who was very much given to the
vanity of this wicked world, prided him
self not a little.
When these young people •were look
ing about for a home, before they had
fairly set up housekeeping, and Chip
brought Friskey to look at this dwel
ling, she had objected very strongly to
taking it. I don’t think she was quite
as proud, naturally, as Chip, and be
sides she had been used to a very plain
kind of life ; her father’s family had all
been brought up in only one room, and
that was down at the very root of an old
chestnut tree; in fact, on what might
really be called the “ground floor.”
She was not accustomed to such a pre-
MACON, GEORGIA, APRIL 16, 1870.
tentious style of living, but she did not
mention this ; she only said, as any sen
sible housekeeper would have done,
that “ there would be too much running
up and down stairs.”
But Chip was like other persons of
his sex, and had set his heart upon the
two-story dwelling, and urged his wishes
with so much earnestness that I pre
sume an older head and a harder heart
than Friskey’s might have yielded to
him. But she was naturally very soft
and loving, and besides she had not
been married a great while, and so of
course she did exactly what he wished
her to.
And then Chip was very cunning and
persuasive. He declared that he would
carry up all the heavy nuts, and bun
dles, and leaves to the upper story him
self ; that Friskey never should hurt her
dear little soft paws with any kind of
work; that he would bring in all the
nice warm hay and moss to make a bed
in winter time, and she never should go
above the first story at all unless she
wished to do so. Yes, even more than
this that he would crack all her nuts
for her with his own strong jaws, so
that she should not spoil either her teeth
or her beauty, but keep them both to a
green old age.
This he said to her one day in early
summer-time, as they sat close together
on the bough of an old tree, stripping
the rough husks off from some green
young hazel nuts, and cracking the shells
to get at the tender kernels inside. An
old mother bird, perched on a twig
close by, who had known much of care
and trouble in her day, and whose do
mestic life had not been very happy,
looked sideways at this young couple,
and thought how pleasant the world
might be if all the husbands in it were
as thoughtful, and tender, and atten
tive as this young nut-cracker. And
Friskey, though she had a good deal of
wisdom for one so young, and knew that
very much of what Chip was saying was
only “talk,” still looked very much
pleased as she listened and rubbed her
soft little head against his shoulder, but
went on cracking her own hazel nuts as
before, and didn’t ask him to commence
now to do it for her. Wise little Fris
key !
Well, the summer-time went on gaily
in the new home when once they got
accustomed to the ways of the house.
Whole No. 146.
As for running up and down stairs,
Friskey didn't mind that at all. In
fact, during the whole summer, while
there were plenty of roots and tender
herbs about, and it wasn’t much trouble
to get meals, she and Chip used to run
up and down inside and outside all day
long “just for the fun of the thing.”
You would have laughed to see them.
Starting from the upper door which was
right in the crotch where the lowest
large limb joined the trunk, they would
race down to the very roots, where the
other door was, Friskey usually taking
the inside, while Chip came down the
outer bark. Whether Friskey’s way
was a little bit nearer, or whether, as
her name implied, she was uncommonly
sprjq I can’t say; but certain it is, she
would almost always get down first, so
that wlen Chip reached the lower door
there wereher sharp little nose and saucy
brown eyes poked out at him as cunning
as could be. Then, as soon as she saw
him, whisk! she went back again, and
he alter her as fast as he could go.
I think that through the summer they
both preferred the upper story. It w r as
cooler aud more airy up there, and out
on the landing, in the crotch of which I
told you there was almost always a fine
breeze, so that when of an evening they
sat out there to enjoy the sunset for a
little while before going to bed, they
found the place very delightful indeed.
Well, the summer went by at length,
and then came the merriest season of
the year, for the fall is the nut-crackers’
feast-time. Walnuts and butternuts,
chestnuts and beechnuts loaded down
the trees in the forest where our little
friends lived, and the way they ate them
would have deen a marvel to most boys
and girls, I think. They didn’t crack
the shells with a hammer on a stone ;
nor they didn’t get their grandfather, as
we used to in the winter evenings, to
crack them on the edge of a flat-iron,
which he held between his knees ; and
they didn’t have patent iron nut-crack
ers, such as you find in almost every
house now-a-days. They always open
ed them with their teeth. No matter
how hard the shell, the sharp little ivo-