Middletown transcript., 1873-12-06

fetch him, aud sven then he night splis
your bullet. Exsggsrssiou aside. The rail
wss Of course. little too thin 70 sspsssspt
bis body accurately. but the squash vas
all right. II there Was any intellectual
difference between tho squash and his head
il was in favor Of the squash.
Well. I ptseticsd and practicsd st the
bsrn.door. and could rot hit Il; and prsc-
tioed At the rail. and could net his that;
and l tried hard for the squash asd could
not bit the squash. would have been
entirely dishsartsned but that occasional
y crippled one Of tho boys. and that en-.
csuraged me to hope.
At last We began to hoar pistol shots
near BY. in the next ravins. We knew
what this meant! The other party were
out practising, too. Then I was in tho
least degree distressed, for Of course those
people would hear our shets, and they
would send spies over the ridge. and the
spies would find my barn door without
wound or scratch. and that would simply
be the end of me--for Of course that other
man would Immediately become ss blood
thirsty ns | was. just at this moment
little bird, no larger than a sparrow few
by. aud Ii. on sage-bush about thirty
PAGES away; and my little second. Steve
Gillis, who wss u matchless marksmsn
with pistol--much better than I was
snstehcd out his revolver and shot the
birds head off, We all ran to pick NJ
the game, and suro enough just Mt this
momcst, some Of tho other duellists came
recon connoi.srisglovsr the little ridge. They
ran to our group to see what the matter
was; and when they saw the bird Lords
second said;
That Was = splendid shot. How far
of was il? ?"'
Steve said, with some indifference !:
"Oh, no great distance. About thirty
PAGES"
" Thirty PAGES! Heaven alive. who
did it?"
My map-Twain.
The mischief he did Can he do that
of,on!"
"well-yss. lie can do il about
wcll-abou, four times ost Of fve."
knew tho little rascal was lying. but
| never said anything. l never told him
so. le was not Of disposition to invite
confidence of that kind. 80 let the matter
rest. Blu. it was = comfort to see those
people look sck. and see their uader jaw
drop, whsu Steve made these statements.
They went of and got Lord, and took him
home and when We got home. half an
hour later, there was . note saying that
Mr.. Lord peremp.orily declined to 6ght
II wss . narrow escape. We fcusd out
afterwards that Lsrd hit his mark thirteen
times in eighteen shots. II hs had put
those thirteen bullets through me Ii would
hayo narrowed my sphere Of useful
ness good deal--would have we'll nigh
closed il. in fact. True. they could have
put pegs in the holes. and used me for q
hat rack. but what is a hat-rack to man
who feels he has Intellectual poweri
would sccrn such position.
| l have written this truo incident Of my
personal history for one purpose only-to
warn the youth Of the day against the per-
nicious practice Of dusliug, and to plead
with them to war against il. II the re.
marks and suggestions am making ear
be Of any service 10 Sunday School teach.
srs, and newspapers interested in the NOR
al progress Of society, they are at liberty
to use them, and l shall even be gratefu
to have them widely disseminated. 30 sha
they may do as much good as possible.
was young and foolish when I challenges
that gentleman. asd thought IL was vsiy
fne and very grand to be . dusllist. ant
stand upon the "6sla Of honor" But
am older aaa moro experienced now, ant
am inasxihly opposed to the dreadful Gus
tom I am glad. indeed. to be enabled I,
liz up my voice against IL. l think Il i
bad immoral thing. think IL ID ever,
: mans duty to do everything hs can 10 dis
courage dusling. I always do nov; dis
courage il upon every oocasen.
lfa man were 10 challenge me now-
! nov that esu fally appreciate the ipiqsi
: " Of that practice-I would 60 70 sha
mas. and take him BY The hand. and lee,
. him to > qsist. retired room-asd bill