The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-03-10
From Our Young Folks for March.
F-LIBERTIGIBBET.
BY ELIZABETH KILHAM.
HJerusalem, forever free,
Beautiful land Of rest
ng the Sunday school. And

6dLk llO OAOAlAdl oO44OOAs III
Jerusalem, forever gay,
Kick up yer heels an dance away"
sang Flibertigibbet from the fence out
side.
There never was anything o like
a monkey and less like a boy than
Fiibertigibbet. That was not his real
name. A stranger, much amused at
his curious appearance and his queer
capers, said in his hearing, "That boy
is q perfect F1ibertigibbet; he, APP
parently liking the sound, caught it up,
and ever afterwards, when asked his
name, responded, "Flibtigb;" and
nobody seemed to remember that he
had ever had any other.
He would have been a perfect treas
ure to an Ethiopian minstrel troupe.
In his methods of locomotion he APP
preached the marvellous ,-very rarely
walking upright on his feet, but some
times going sideways, like a crab, on
hands and feet; sometimes revolving
like a wheel, first one hand, then one
foot on the ground; and again walking
on his hands, both heels in the air. All
day long he haunted the school-house,
pushing the door aiar and peering
through the crack, hattening his nose
against the windows and making faces
at the children, climbing to the roof of
the one story building, and shouting
down the chimney, or beating a tattoo
on tie shingles. These exercises he
occasionally varied by going through a
course of gymnastics on the porch,
singing for accompaniment the chorus
of "Rally round the lag;" his version
of the second line being, "Down wiz a
twatah, ye-up wiz a stab, THAT "ye-
up given with a shrek that more than
once, before we became accustomed to
it, made us hastily drop book or pencil
and run to the door, thinking that
some one was hurt.
Considering that he was in a state of
perpetual motion, and such extraordi-
nary motion too, it was fortunate that
he wore but one garment. What that
garment was, whether a high pair of
pantaloons with a string round the
neck, or a long jacket with a rufie
at the knee, no mortal could tell. We
looked at it and puzzled over it; but
how It was made, or put On, OF kept
on, we never discovered. Nobody ever
attempted to guess what the article he
wore on his head had originally been.
If a hat, every yestige of brim was
gone; it was so thickly encrusted with
dirt, both outside and in, that it stood
on his head erect and solid as a wooden
bowl and he had a way of pulling it
down over his left eye and winking
from under If, that was perfectly ire
sistible.
We made several attempts to get him
into school; but "nobody didn't kotch
him in dar, whar he got ter sit still all
day. After much persuasion he was
prevailed upon to come to Sunday
School; but his promise was given
with the proviso that "ef he didn't
like il, he warn't a gwine ter stay So
one Sunday he walked in, as independ-
ent as ever, and perfectly Indifferent to
the contrast between himself and the
other children, all dressed IN their Sun
day best. He was placed in class, and
sat down, keeping his hat on, and wink
ing harder than ever.
During the lesson the question was
"Of what are we NADER One
of the children, pointing to the new
conner, who excited considerable curl
osity among them, said, "Does you
know dat ar, boyGn
"Spec 1 does,'' said FIbertigibbet.
"Wen, what am it den-what am you
made obgn
He rolled his great wide open eyes
round for a minute, then drawled out,
"Sa-a and"
"HiIn exclaimed his questioner;
you dunno nofin, boy you amt made
o. nc sand; you's made o. Dirt
This seemed to strike Fhbertigibbet
as rather personal, and he doubled his
fists and turned fiercely uponthe speak
er: "Say dat ar agin, boy, an I'll
mash yer mouf. l amt no mo- dirt dan
you is"
We'll, who say you isl Yves all
made o. dirt. de hull on us, de teacher
an, all"
To this astounding statement Fiber
tigibbet madeno reply, but INDUCED in
a prolonged whistle.
On the whole, however, he conducted
himself more peaceably than we feared
would be possible and We began to
have some hopes Of tanning him. The
next Sunday he came again, and was
asked a question respecting what he.
had been taught the Sunday previous.
He looked refiectively at The ceiling,
iEquiringly out of the window, and
sympathizingly at his bare feet, Elich
he twisted over u another necessarily;
but made NO answer. His teacher said, /
&c Don't you remember what l told you
about hat Sunday?n
"Yaas'm, 1 knows dat Ser telled me
suffin, but de win blowed SO hard /
mus ha' forgot it," And again he
broke out into q whistle, apparently
considering this an exercise eminently
to the time and place.
This being stopped, he spent the re-
mainder of the time trying how far he
could slide down the bench without
off; and that was his last ap-l
p~earance at Sunday School. But every
Sunday afterwards he sat the whole at
'ernoon on the fence in front of the
school-house, seeming to enjoy himself
exceedingly, and occasionally giving
vent to his feelings in responses to the
of the school; all of them pref
y much after the style of Jerusalem,
gay."
On this particular Sunday afternoon
vas not alone. He sat on the fence
holding the end of a string and on
he ground, at the other end of the
was a dog. And such a looking
logl There was something about him
hat reminded one of a King Charles
But that has long. silky hair,
White and glossy brown; while this
title animal was covered with what
ooked like tufts of black wool. and his
ace was black. The only white about
him wa on his feet, andthey looked all
he whittier by contrast with the black.
he had the soft brown eyes peculiar to
he King Charles spaniel and he
urnedthem appealing upon the passers-
~, as If he would say to them that he
lad seen better days, thathe was a dog
n reduced circumstances, and to beg
hem to come to his aid. When Fiber
first appeared with this dog
he opinion was freely expressed that
le had come into possession of him BY
means not in accordance with the strict
observance of the Eighth Command