The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1870-07-22

i'6ut Win tnlS GOOD little BOY: moth
ing ever turned out with him the way
it turned out with tho good little
boys in the books. They always had
q good time, and tho bad. boys had
the broken legs; but in this case
there was screw loose somewhere,
and it oil happened just tho other
way. When he found Jim Blake
stealing apples, and when under the
tree to read to him about the bad lit.
tie boy who fell out of : neighbor's
tree, and broke bis arm, Jim fell out
Of tho tree too, but be fell on him,
and broke his arr, and Jim wasn't
hurt at all. Jacob couldn't UNDER
stand that. There wasn't anything
in tho books like it.
And once, when some bad boys
pushed blind man over in tho mud.
and Jacob ran to help him up and re-
ceiye bis blessing, the blind man did
not give him any blessing at all, but
whacked him over the head with his
stick and said he would like to catch
him showing hin, again and then pre-
tending to help him up. This was
not in accordance with any Of the
books. Jacob looked them all over
to see.
One thing that Jacob wanted to do
was to find lame dog that hadn't
any place to stay, and was hungry
and prosecuted, and bring him homo
and pet him and have that dogs i'm r.
perisha bic gratitude. And at last he
found one, and was happy, aud he
brought him home and fed him, but
when he was going to pet him the
dog few at him and tore all the clothes
off him except those that were in front
and made a spectacle of him that was
astonishing. He examined the su-
thorities, but he could not understand
the matter. It was Of the same
breed Of dogs that wos in the books,
but it acted very differently. What.
ever this boy did he got into trouble.
The very things tho boys in the books
got rewarded for turned out to be
about tho most Improbable thing ho
could invest in. .
Once when he was on his wav to
Sunday school he saw some bad boys
starting off pleasuring in sail-boat.
He was filed with CONSERVATION, be-
cause ho knew from his reading that
boys who went sailing on Sunday in
variab bly, got drowned. So he ran out
on a raft to warn them, but . log
turned with him and slid him into
the river. A man got him out pref
ty soon, and tho doctor pumped the
water out of bin, and gays him .
fresh start with his bellows, but he
caught cold and lay sick abed nine
weeks. But the most unacc cunt u bic
thing about it was that the bad boys
in the boat bad good time oil day,
and then reached home alive and we'll,
in the most surprising manner. Ja-
cob Blivens said there was nothing
like these things in the books. He
was perfectly dumbfounded.
When he got we'll he was o little
discouraged, but lie resolved to keep
on trying, anyhow. Ho knew that
so far his experience wouldn't do to
go in book, but he hadn't yet reach
ed the allotted term of life for good
little boys, and he hoped to be able
to mako record yet, if he could hold
on till his time was fully up. II
everything else failed, ho had bis ay-
ing speech to fall on.
He examined his authorities, and
found that it was now time for him
to 60 to sea as a cabin boy. He
called on ship captain and made his
application, and when the captain
asked for his recommendations he
proudly drew out q tract and pointed
to the words: ITO Jacob Blivens,
from his affectionate teacher" But
the captain was q coarse, vulgar
man, and he said, 20, that be blow
cd! that wasn't any proof that he
knew how to wash dishes or haDdls
slush bucket, and he guessed he didn't
want him." This was altogether the
most extraordinary thing that ever
had happened to Jacob in all his life.
A compliment from . teacher, on q
tract, had never failed to move the
tendercst emotions Of ship captains
and open the way to all offices Of hon.
or and profit in their gift-,t never
bad in any book that ever he had
read. He could hardly believe his
senses.
This boy always had q hard time Of
it. Nothing ever came out accord
ing to the authorities with him. At
least, one day when ho was around
hunting up bac little boys to admon-
ish. he found . lot Of than in the old
iron foundry, fixing up little joke
on fourteen or fifteen dogs, which
they had tied together in o long pro-
ccssion and were going to ornament
with empty nitro-glycerine cans made
fast to their tails. Jacobs heart
was touched. He sat down on one
Of those cans-for he never minded
grease when duty was before him
and he took hold Of the foremost dog
by the collar, and turned his reprov-
ing eye upon wicked Sam JONES'
But just at that moment Alderman
McWclter, full Of wrath, stepped in.
All tho bad boys ran away; but Ja-
cob Blivcns rose in conscious inno-
ecnce and began one Of those stately
little Sunday school book speeches
which always comm encc with "Oh,