The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1874-03-27

appointed by the little community W
present their demands for his consid-
Grafton.
"The boys say they want You to buy
EN- some whisky and raisins for Christ
mas"
Obadiah was thunderstruck.
"Wall, now, if this amt purity con-
siderable imperdent, to ask Obadiah
Starkweather, a t~eetotal deacon's son,
to buy whisky! Take that, and that,
and that y he continued, rs he sent one
of the luckless urchins reeling this way
and another that, by the not very gentle
conclusion of his broad palm upon their
a~urieular dependencies, while the third
met the floor on the opposite side OF the
sehoolroom, impelled by an equally Sc
we're application Of his enormous COW
hide.
All further attempts at present upon
the virtue of the deacon's sou, were, of
course. useless; but 10 sooner had
Obadiah left the schoolroom at noon,
TO cLat an hour at the village tavern, as
was his invariable custom, than the dis
comfited urchins, Joined by a brace OF
whiskered idlers, with whom every Il
try village is more or less haunted,
called a council of war, to devise ways
and means FOR the further prosecution
OF their scheme. The two whiskered
gentlemen, who had come in for the pur-
pose of seeing the sport, and to lend a
hand, If need be, were decidedly in ia
ror of the cold bath, but the remainder
of the council, some of whom, at least,
had experienced quite too touching n
demonstration of the great strength of
their absent lord, would not consent to
any such uncertain mode of procedure /;
consequently, it was determined to bar
ricade the door, and hold possession of
the schoolroom until their stubborn
teacher might be brought to their terms.
For this purpose, the benches, which
were movable and constructed of hewn
~puncheon, were brought and piled up
against the door, until. a Notification
was erected hat might have proved
quite a barrier to a little army.
Scarcely were their preparations COM
pieted, ere the sentinel who had been
stationed at a small crevice zeal the
door, announced that the master was
coming. In All instant all were quiet.
Presently Obadiah was heard trying the
latch.
"Hallo, there, open this ere door,
No answer-ard AGAIN he tuggtd
away upon the door with Herculeam
strength, but all to no purpose; he
might as well have attempted to force
his way into the tower of London.
At this moment, Bill Drake, who was
IL leader among the boys ON this, as
well as on other occasions, appeared at
the window, and reiterated the demands
OF the morning.
"Darned if I dew :" shonted Obadiah.
now thoroughly exasperated d" and look
a here, my fine lad, when / dew git in
there, youu catch thunder , 1 guess You
WILL" and again he Numbered away
upon the door, until he was obliged Ia
pause from sheer exhaustion.
Obadiah was in Il quandary. To rout
his bell;gerent pupils from their strong
hold, he was determined, but how it
was to be done was a puzzler. Sudden
ly a new IDEA seemed to flash upon his
brain.
I'm dew it, by thunder, / will A., and
i'll don't give them ere varmints in
there a taste Of the internal regions be-
fore I'm an hour older, my name amt
Obadiah Starkweather, that's all !" and
proceeding along the street to the little
store, he purchased half a pound of sui
pliur, and returned to the scene of ac-
ton.
The schoolhouse vas a new one, but
just completed, and the staginGs were
not yet removed, so that he found no
difficulty in ascending to the roof, and
pouring the sulphur down the chimney
into the blazing fire below; he closed
the lue with a board.
Great was the CONSERVATION of the lit
tie garrison within, when the dense vol
umes of sulphurous vapor began to roll
out into the room, and with a suffocat-
ing sensation at their threats, all rushed
for the door. But here was a new dilem-
ma In their 1aal IN sacura tbamcalyao