The Placer herald., 1872-09-07
until they were assured there would he nc

On the following morning Jerry set the
news agong Of Sans present situation, and
in half an hour after after sunrise a hundred
people were collected around the willow tree
There stood Sam just as he had been left be-
fore, shaking and shiverng with cold. The
OK skin had been fixed so as to fit him nicely
and he did really look like an OK fas.
tened up there. lie had sewed up the hide
so that his arms and legs fitted into
the skin of the ox's legs, and his owl
head was where the original caput had been
while the horns arose ma.estically above th'
whole. Just above him appeared the broad
treboard, and it bore the following announce
nent, in characters which could be read witt
ease, even at great distance:
"Ths is Sam Peabody, the great joker
Ans this is is one of his own jokes in whicl
he got trapped himself"
Jerry took down the board and let San
read it, and then put it up again.
"Ha, ha, ha! Vot joke, cried one.
"Hc came out here in that rig to frightel
poor women" said Tyler.
"Sam, how's beef?'
81 say, Sam, can't you give us a hor7,?'
"What a long tall"
"Who ever seed hox wear boots afore 2
These and like exclamations issued from
the crowd, and all the while poor Sam was
begging for some one to come and take him
down.
Gin the name of mercy" he groaned
"won't somebody let me go. "
"Can't think of it yet" returned Jerry
Smith. "lour joke is to good to be lost
You must have taken a good deal of pains
to make that dress fit so nicely, and should
think that you would wart folks to see it. "
"By jngo,' screamed little Adam Snip,
''vou have Il worse III now than ever had
Shan't | go for the doctor p
AT this the crowd laughed uproariously
They would have had pity on anyone else ii
town, to have seen him in such situation
but for Sam they had none, for they kuew
that for years he had been annoying all whom
he could; and now, since he was caught in
trap OF his own setting, they thought it best
to punish him. AT nine o'clock nearly al
the inhabitants of the village were out there
and 10y this time Sam began to cry. Even
Jerry was t.uched now, aud going up to
the victim, be said:
"Now, Sam, I'll let you down on one con-
dition. Promise that you will never attempt
to perpetratc a practical joke again? p
81 never Wilt
-"Of any kind or description. You'll never
annoy human being again if you can helI
it?"
"Never- never. | never will, SO helI
me God"
$50 Jerry united the cords, and ina few
moments Sam was free. He was too stiff
to run, and for while he could walk bn,
with difficulty. Bat Jerry gave him bis
arm and helped hiu' to his own house, and
thete let him remain until The crowd had dis
perscd.
Towards noon Sam went home, and for
over a north be stuck close t. his shop,
never appearing in the street save when alb
solute necessity required it. lie kept his
promise faithfully, for he has never at
tempted to perpelrate another of his practical
jokes. And people love him now, for he is
one of the ,jolllest old men in the country, and
his presence is sure to dispel anything like
the suiks or blues. And among all his stories
there is not one over which he laughs more
merrily than the one wherein is contained an
account of the practical joke which was so
summarily turned back upon himself. -Flag
Of onr Union