Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-23

Solled envelope, which was to quiet Aunt
/ Millicents fears, but not interfere with
Bob's plans.
/ dear aunt millic
| An going TO Jeafsun TO see Thee 4 of JUL.
oon you wurrey. didunt ask cuz knew You
| WuouuhI let me. pursute will be useless. viii
/ bee independent TODAY Boz.
Then tancying he heard a movement
IN Aunt Rachers room he thrust the
| crumpied scrap in Aunt Miles bag and
ran as last as his naughty feet would
take him over the hills and far away!
Aunt Mlllle came down from her room
as fresh and bright as a May rose. She
! opened little basket that hung at her
slde' took out key and unlocked the
| corner cupboard, smiling all the time as
if she were thinking of something very
| pleasant.
How surprised the boy will be,
| Rachel" she called. 4 am glad he has
been so good about jefferson"
am afraid of the murderous things.
He shouldn't have them if his father
hadn't sent them"
Oh, I'll help him take care of them;
III play. I'm young again Come,
Bobby" she called at the foot of the
stars; come see what there is down
here for you"
Oh, Bobby, Bobby! If you had only
been here now to see the contents of that
corner cupboard, instead of being crowd
ed IN hot car on the road to forbidden
| pleasures. Such packs upon packs of
tire-CrackerS, boxes of tOrpedOeS. a GREAT
case of fireworks, and best of ali a real
little cannon and paper of powder.
OF course Bobby made no reply. and
his aunt ran up to his little room only to
come down with frightened look, ex-
claiming:
Rachel, Bobby is not there"
Ring the bell out of the kitchen door;
he'll come fast enough if he thinks it's
| breakfast time"
So the bell rang out of the kitchen
! door, once, twice, again and again, but
! still no Bobby. The three aunties began
| to be very much frightened. Abner Green
came up from the barn with pals of
fOaming milk.
"Abner! Abner" called three different
voices, 'baUe you seen our bOy?"
''Waal," drawled Abner, 4 reckon |
seen little chap, dressed up in store
clothes, scOOting cross the fields with
that air boy of Jenkins; looked as eff
he mout be making tracks for the de-
pot"
when, Abner, when?"
Jest about Sun-up."
They stood looking at each other for a
few minutes in silent despair, then Aunt
| Rebecca said:
" Come, girls, let Us eat our breakfast
/ and compose our minds. We can decide
what to do afterWard."
! So they went in as usual; but, though
1 the coffee was fragrant as coffee could
/ be, and the mullins yellow as gold, [
i
were eating, for they were grieved to
the heart by the naughty boys decep
ton.
After the morning duties were ended
Aunt Mile sat down to her crOtcheting
and found BOb's note.
"What shall we do, Rachel?" asked she.
q" Send Abner for him?n
think not, Millicent. We can send
Abner to keep an eye on him and see that
he isn't hurt; but it is better to let him
! stay and learn by experience that true
| independence is not merely having ones
own way in opposition to those who have
the right to govern him. If know
! Bobby rightly, he will be far from happy.
l think it will be good lesson"
So Abner put on his best clothes and
went over to Jefferson with charges to
! see but not be seen, and the aunties stayed
at home sorrowful and anxious Mean
while Bobby had reached Jim Jenkins,
and after being patted on the back and
called a 4" good Teller" by Jim, turned
around, examined and cross-queStioned
| by INA" and Jane, and finally RECALLED
with very salt mackerel and very greasy
! fried potatoes, found himself packed four
in seat in hot, dusty car on the road
/ to Jefferson. He began to taste directly
/ of hI1t
he tried to console himself thinking there
was something better coming.
"Never mind" he said to his misgiv-
ings; I'm man to-day, so [ mustn't
fret. 1t will be nice and cool when we
get there"
The car was crowded with country
! girls and their beaus, whole families,
from grandparents down to six-weeks'
old babies, and labOrers in holiday clothes;
so when they reached their destination
there was such a rush from the cars that
Bob was thrown to the ground with
such violence that his nose commenced
bleeding and an ugly rent was made in
! his pretty pantaloons. Jim hurried him
off to neighboring pump with such con-
sOling remarks as:
Don't yer cry, now, like a sick baby;
hurry up and stop that bleeding, or you
won't see the procession"
Bobby mOpped off the blood and tears
! as well as he could pinned up the rent
with a crooked pin, and ran after jim as
fast as his short legs would take him.
! But he found it rather questionable fun
| to follow a procession through dusty
streets, alternately jostled into the ditch
and pushed against the fence by rude
people. The pavements blistered his
| feet, the sun scorched his face, he was
| tired, cross, hungry, and there was such
big lump in his throat that | really
! think that if he hadn't been man and it
hadn't been Independence day he would
have actually cried in the streets. He
was glad enough when jim stopped in
| front of widowed tent and announced,
tiptOp place for a dinner, only fifty
cents apiece, ice-water thrown i'm
although he supplemented it with, / left
my purse home on the pianner; so you
lend me fifty cents, Bob, and I'll pay you
! tomorrow" And though he very well
knew that there was no "pianner'' in
Jim's home, and that he would never see
his fifty cents again, he put his hand in
his pocket to draw Out-N0thlnq! 1t was
gone, gone forever, his dear little Russia
leather shell, with three dollar and fifty
three cents and a postage stamp in it.
! There was no dinner for Bobby and Jim
now, not even the glass of ice-water, and
Jim made up for his sore disappointment
by snubs and sly pushes, by taking hold
of Bobby's hand and racing along the hot
streets, or suddenly disappearing behind
a crowd and jumping out at Bobby Just