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Show 30 banks, frantically searching the roiled water before they looked anywhere else. On the farm it was the river and the railroad which threatened the safety of the children. Once Uncle Hen found Eldon asleep on the - train track; his short legs had tired out when he tried to follow Papa to the land above the railroad. Now it was the canals, and one day (before my memory) I became lost. "I thought she was with her father, who was talking to Bob Ross, " recounts Mama. "I grew uneasy about her, though, and began to search for her because she wasn't in sight. I could hear her crying, finally, but she seemed far off. I could better hear the gobbler making a noise such as turkeys make when they are punishing something, usually one of their number who is sick. 'Twrk! Twrk! " There he had her head down in a box used for a hen's nest. He had picked one side of her face and one eye black and blue. He had picked out some of her hair. I set Gyp onto him and the dog pulled out his tail feathers. After that, whenever she cried Gyp would attack the gobbler until that bird didn't dare come near the house. " It was at the Leavitt house I learned my first remembered lesson in rebellion, quickly quelled. Mama's was the voice of wisdom, usually, and Papa's was the voice of authority. He was away from home a good deal, riding on the range, and I have little recollection of him in my baby years. My first trauma came when I was a little past three. In town we had more visitors than on the farm, and I was always fascinated by |
