A ROOM OF OUR OWN
Follette, Isabel B. La
Room Of Our Own By By Isabel B. la follette. WITH more than the customary apologies to our readers, I must confess that my whole attention is not on the typewriter this morning. With one eye I...
...However this may be, there is no doubt but that this absorbing interest is a godsend at this time when the boys' futures are so uncertain that they can make no plans ahead but simply await their disposition by the draft board...
...But these days we live in an environment of falconry which, for me, is like a trip to foreign shores...
...Clyde advises that he should be left out in the open for a while, so I've put his perch near the garage...
...Perhaps now I can leave my post long enough to get lunch...
...and so on...
...If only I had some people's unswerving faith in the experts—but I have just opened the window verbally to brow-beat Sambo (the big Retriever) who has wandered in Buccaneer's vicinity on a return trip...
...The other evening Bob heaved a great sigh and remarked, "The world looks okay again...
...Because it seems rather interesting that he and apparently other lads are interested in this subject right now...
...Whereas Bubo, Bob's erstwhile owl, sat stoldidly enduring their impertinences, Buccaneer refuses to "take it lying down" and from time to time attempts to get at them...
...A Dignified Retreat Do you wonder that my responsibility rests heavy on my shoulders...
...Not so the robins and the jays, however...
...As I sit here at the typewriter looking at the hawk, Sambo has wandered into the yard for his morning investigation's of our chow Ming's dish which he sometimes finishes up for her...
...Last evening we celebrated Bob's 18th birthday by inviting his two hawk-training cronies and a soldier from Truax Field, who is a falconry enthusiast, for dinner...
...Contrary to their behavior with the owl whom the jays plagued by flying close to his head and even appearing to peck at him, with Buccaneer they are perched at a safe distance on the telephone wires and roof, chattering their heads off in anger...
...Well, tomorrow in the interests of mother as well as falconry we'll see if Bob can't work out another training ground...
...But Sambo, at least while I gaze, ignores Buccaneer, the hawk...
...Teachers and parents know what a demoralizing period this waiting is, especially when, as cooperate in the falconry business, although as everyone of specialized activity are closed...
...In the interludes between mouthfuls, the younger boys sought the advice of Clyde, the soldier with considerable experience in hawk lore...
...Bob has quite a library of reference books and magazines on which he ponders such questions as diet, to "hood" or not to "hood," fashions in jesses (the leather fastenings on the hawk's legs, to you...
...Ming just came through the hedge unexpectedly near Buccaneer, who slowly and threateningly spread her wings and peered savagely at the intruder...
...I just can't believe that a tethered bird, no matter how powerful, can cope with a free dog...
...My own guess is that it is a healthy reaction to the mechanical fury that now sweeps the world, a release, and a healthy one, from the tension of war...
...Ming picked a dignified if gingerly retreat, to my great interest and relief...
...The Hawk Reigns Supreme So I am more than delighted (in theory at least) to cooperate in the falconry business, although as everyone who has "kept an eye out" for anything, be it a baby, a pet, or a kettle on the stove knows, one's attention is not free for one's best work...
...two quarts of ice cream, and a generous part of a chocolate cake...
...I started working upstairs this morning, but then feared that a neighboring big black Labrador Retriever might get the hawk...
...Phil inquired in a letter, "Just how did Bob happen to get interested in the subject...
...With one eye I am attempting to execute Bob's commission given as he left at 6 :30 a. m. for his work on the railroad section gang, "Mother, will you please keep an eye out for my hawk...
...The four boys made away with two chickens, innumerable string beans, nearly eight pounds of potatoes (honestly...
...Or perhaps mother will have to get a little more "hard-boiled" when faced with the "call of the wild...
...The hawk is eating right...
...Bob had assured me that hawks are so savage that cats and even dogs will avoid them...
...If he gets at the end of his tether and not standing upright, just pull him back so he has freedom...
...This training is a very complicated process, requiring endless patience and time...
...When Bob gets home this noon he will eat a hurried lunch and then dash into swimming trunks preparatory to "walking" Buccaneer...
...If only I could take this responsibility lightly...
...It is quite a sight when this football-section-gang-muscled youth, brown as an Indian, walks the streets clad in swiming trunks and a gauntlet on which perches Buccaneer, theoretically, at least, being "trained...
Vol. 8 • July 1944 • No. 31
