The weekly Shasta courier., 1873-09-20
CrpIos,rv py,,,


our readers acquainted on Mason street
will remember that the roofto Mr.. For
ceps' saloon adjoins his house, and is
approached by two windows. One of
these windows is in Mr.. Forceps' bed
room On this roof Mrs. Forceps has
spread hesitating tomatoes with a view
to hasten their ripeness. Last Wednes-
day she put five more with their fellows,
making thirty in all. The Forceps
have aniece visiting 18th them-a young
lady named Hall, of Thomaston. She
has made the acquaintance of many of
our young people, and on Wednesday
night several of them rot together to
give her a serenade. Pro iding them
selves with requisite instruments the
young men took up position near this
addition we speak of, and struck up on
the instruments. Mrs. Forceps was
first awakened by the music, and nudged
her husband. He also awoke. The
music was grand-not loud or coarse,
but soft, low and harmonious. Mr..
Forceps was very much pleased, and
got up to the window to hear it. Then
Mrs. Forceps got up also, and relying
her night-cap, stood beside Forceps -
''Theyre serenading Ellen" said she.
81 know it, said Forceps. "Who can
they be-" sic asked. Il don't know
Tn SURE" said he; "but l suppose l
could find out if l could creep out on
the roof and look over" ''Why don't
you:" said she, her curiosity increasing
"Im afraid they might see me- he
said. Il don't think they would" she
said; "they wouldn't be looking up
on the roof, would they :" Mr.. Forceps
thought a moment and then concluded
no one could see him, as the moon had
gone into bank of clouds, and objects
were quite dim. And then he softly
opened the blind and cautiously crawl
ed out on the shingles, encased in red
flannel under clothes and night-cap
of the same rich material. The music
still continued, coming up through the
night air In waves of ecstatic harmony
MIR. Forceps sat down on the roof and
laboriously worked his way to the caves.
Then he lifted himself up to turn over
and look down, and just then he stepped
on something soft and yielding, felt his
feet give, made desperate clutch at
the shingles, was too late, gave pierc-
ing shrek, and shot off the roof and
went revolving and howling in among
the band, followed by the tomatoes, and
madly cleaviEg the air with his red fan
neled limbs. He struck on his back on
the bass-viol, and with one leg tore the
entrails from an accordeon, and with
the other knocked all the keys from a
silver mounted flute. The man who
played the bass-viol was driven sense
less into pile of pea-brush, and the
flute player, with his mouth full of blood
and splintcrs, jumped over the fence
and fed. What became of the others,
Mr.. Forceps does not know, he being
too busily engaged in getting on his
feet and into the house, to make criti-
cal examination of the field. 1t is pre-
sumed the bass-viol man died on the
spot and was surreptitiously removed
and buried by his companions, as there
was no sign of him about the premises
in the morning.-Danbry Ne,os.
GREAT MEN.-We always think of
great men as in the act of performing
the deeds which give them renown, or
else in stately attitudes ofrepose, grand,
gloomy and majestic. And yet this is
hardly fair, because even the most gor-
geous and magnificent of human beings
have to bother themselves with the
little things of life, which engages the
attention of us smaller people, No
doubt Moses snuffled and got angry
when he had a severe cold in his head;
and if fly bit his leg while he was
sitting in the desert, why should we
suppose he did not jump and use vio-
lent language and rub the sore place?
And Caesar, isn't it tolerably certain
that he used to become furious when
he went upstairs to get his slippers
in the dark, and found that Calphurnia
had showed them back under the bed so
that he had to sweep around wildly for
them with the broom handler And
when Solomon cracked his crazy bone,
is it unreasonable to suppose that he
hoped around the room and look ed
mad and felt as if he wanted to cry :
Imagine George Washington sitting on
the edge of the bed putting on a clean
shirt, and growing at Martha because
the buttons were off or st. Augustine
with an apron around his neck having
his hair cut; or Joan of Arc holding
her front hair in her teeth, as women do,
while she fixed up her back hair; or
Napoleon jumping out of bed in a frenzy
to chase a mosquito around the room
with a pillow; or Martin Luther in his
night-shirt trying to put the baby to
sleep at two o'clock in the morning
or Alexander the Great, with the hic-
cups; or Thomas Jefferson getting sud-
denly over a fence to avoid a dog; or
the Duke of Wellington lying in bed
with the mumps; or Daniel Webster
abusing his wife because she hadn't
tucked the covers at the foot of the bed ;
or Benjamin Franklin pairing his corn
with a razor; or Jonathan Edwards at
the dinner-table wanting to sneeze just
as he gets his mouth full of hot beef;
or Noah standing at his window at
night throwing bricks at cat.-Man
Adeter.
However strong a mans resolution !