Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-07-31
Counting the Shingles on a Roof.

CVuHdHS TIC onluSlcS OH hOC1s
There are men who dispute what they
do not understand. Mr.. Coville is such
a man. When he heard carpenter say
that there were so many shingles on the
roof of his house because the roof con-
tanned so many square feet, Coville
doubted the figures, and when the car
penter went away he determined to test
the matter by going up on the roof and
counting them. And he went up there
He squeezed through the scuttle-Co-
vile weighs 230-and then sat down on
the roof and worked his way carefully
and deliberately toward the gutter.
When he got part way down, he heard
a sound between him and the shingles.
and became aware that there was an in
reference, some way, in his further
locomotion. He tried to turn over and
crawl back, but the obstruction held
him. Then he tried to move along
little, in hopes that the trouble would
prove but temporary, but an increased
sound convinced him that either a nail
or q silver had hold of his cloth, and
that if he would save any of it he must
use caution. His folks were in the
house, but he could not make them
hear, and, besides, he didn't want to
attract the attention of the neighbors.
So he sat there until after dark and
thought. It would have been an excel
lent opportunity to have counted the
shingles, but he neglected to use it.
His mind appeared to run into other
channels. He sat there an hour after
dark, seeing no one he could notify of
his position. Then he saw two boys
approach the gate from the house, and
reaching there, stop. It was light
enough for him to see that one of the
two was his son, and although he OBJ
iected to having the other boy know of
his misfortune, yet he had grown tired
of holding on to the roof, and concluded
he could bride the strange boy into
silence. With this arrangement mapped
out, he took out his knife, and threw it
SO that it would strike near to the BOYS
and attract their attention. It struck
nearer than he anticipated. In fact it
struck SO close as to hit the strange boy
on the head, and nearly brain him. AS
soon as he recovered his equilibrium,
he turned on Coville's boy, who, he was
confident, had attempted to kill him,
and introduced some establishment and
bruises in his face Then he threw him
down, and kicked him in the side and
banged him ON the head, and drew him
over into the gutter, and pounded his
legs, and then hauled him back to the
walk again and knocked his head against
the gate. And all the while the elder
Coville sat on the roof, and screamed
for the police, but couldn't get away.
And then Mrs. Coville dashed out with
broom, and contributed a few novel
features to the affair at the gate, and
and one of the boarders dashed out with
double barrel gun, and hearing the
cries from the roof, looked up there and
espying a ggure which was undoubtedly
a burglar, drove handful of shot into
its legs. With a howl of agony Coville
made plunge to dodge the missiles,
freed himself from the nail, lost his hold
to the roof, and went sailing down the
shingles with awful velocity, both legs
spread out, his hair on end, and his
hands making desperate but fruitless
efforts to save himself. He tried to
swear, but was SO frightened that he
lost his power of speech, and when he
passed over the edge of the roof, with
twenty feet of tin gutter hitched to him,
the boarder gave him the contents of
the other barrel, and then drove into
the house to load up again. The unfor-
tunate Coville struck into cherry tree,
and thence bounded to the ground, where
he was recognized, picked up by the
assembled neighbors, and carried into
the house. A new doctor is making
good day wages picking the shot out Of
his legs. The boarder has gone into
the country to spend the summer, and
the Junior Coville, having sequestered
piece of brick in his handkerchief, is
lying low for that other boy. He says
that before the calm of another Sabbath
rests on New England there will be an
other boy in Danbury who can't wear a
ap.-Dafbeny Meas.