The man who lived next door is dead. He took a draught of poison and only lived two hours after. His wife was once the belle of the town. She keeps crying, "I'll take poison myself." Yet he was a poor provider; they had meat only once a month, and their table was always ill supplied. He was also as meddlesome as a flea and of very uncertain temper. Quite lately he quarrelled with me because of my statement concerning a lump of iron ore which he owned. Answer this soon and don't forget about the old ewe. Ah, another bit of news. The woman at the candy store has found a dye that has turned her gray tresses as black as a coal.
A few weeks ago the Allen Chapter, 715, was on the verge of "breaking up." The writer, who is president and a Founder, thought long and at last found a way by which he could start an interest again. It was this. We began to publish a paper called the _Allen Courier_. Only one copy was made, and that was written. A circuit was started--_i.e._, a member, after keeping the paper a day, handed it to the next on the list. In this paper the writer, who is editor-in-chief, inserted stories written by the members, clippings, Chapter news, etc., and so started a fresh interest in the glorious old Allen. At the next meeting all were on hand.
One day in July, in company with a friend, I crossed a lake near my home in search of interesting specimens. By chance we came upon the nesting-place of a colony of water turkeys. These birds are abundant here, but this is the first time I ever found their nests. The latter appeared to be several years old and were large structures, nearly flat on top. It was late for eggs, and young birds were everywhere. They were covered with white down, and presented a great contrast to the dark colors of the old birds.
When the boat approached a tree containing young birds they would tumble into the water, a distance of ten or more feet, where they would dive long distances to escape us. The nests were in cypress-trees growing in two or three feet of water. Sometimes as many as a dozen nests were in one small tree. Under these trees we shot two small alligators. Perhaps the alligators knew the birds' habit of falling into the water. We also found nests of the purple and Florida gallinule. I would like to belong to a press association or corresponding Chapter.