The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-07-23
How Tommy Dobb. Went to Chu,ch,

How Tommy Dobbs Went to Chusch.
1t was Sunday morning, but there was
an unheard-of commotion in the usually
well-ordered household of the Dobbses,
for a dreadful thing had happened.
Cinthy Ann had lost her hair that lovely
hair for which, but the day before, she
had given her whole quarterly allowance
of $50. And now it was gone! She
wrung her hands in despair; of course
she could not go to church-nobody ever
went to church without hair
There was council held in the hall,
and it was decided that burglars had been
in the house, and it would be wise to
consult the police. They would there
fore send Thomas (who was dressed for
church in his new trowsers) in search of
an officer; but the little boy was not
"around, which was strange, as it was
his practice to be around when anything
of an exciting nature was Transporting;
So naturally, they began to fear that he,
| too, had been victim. Jane had dressed
him up beautifully and seated him in the
great new armchair, as straight G.,d I'M
comfortable Us brand new pin in n
brand new pin-cushion; but he was GER
tainly not there now, and it remained an
| open question whether he had walked
off of his own accord or had been picked
off for his peculiar straightness and
| cleanness and newness. Just at this ex-
citing crisis there was heard III the re-
gions of the nurserya decided "squeak
squeak squeak !"
Then up rose the Dobbs family, in
Guiding DIR. Johnson, the dog, Mrs.
Brown, the cat, and the three small BIS,
mounted upon his careering steed sat
the young Sir Thomas, while floating
out upon the breeze was Cinthy AIMS
magnificent tress, ingloriously tied to
the wooden stump which once had held
tail
There was general uproar and con-
fusion, and III the midst of it all the as
piring youth was carried away captive,
and soon, to his deep modification, he
! found himself shorn of his manly habili-
ments and robed in the despised dresses
of his infancy for you must know that
when the first beloved pants came
dresses were the rule, and the lovely
trowsers the rare exception, worn only
on state occasions.
Then by-and-by he was hired to be a
good little girl for whole day that he
might be q boy in the evening. Then,
finally the trousers grew to be the rule,
and the dresses the exception, which
dresses were kept till such times as he
should be bad.
Poor Tommy! they were the dread
skeletons in his closet.
Well, he was left all alone in his dis
grace with Jane, while all the rest went
off to church but Jane was not enter
tanning. She read story book and left
him to his own devices, so he slipped out
into the garden, but he did not care q fig
for the pinks and peoples that day.
Presently he discovered that by some
unaccountable mistake the door of the
tool room had been left open. He went
in. There hung his fathers garden
clothes, and a rough and ready hat, two
feet broad. He put the hat on his head,
then stepped into the boots, put himself
into the vest, and buttoned it all the way
up, which eff.ctually covered the obnox-
ious dress-all but the sleeves. He then
sat down to mediate, with the large
boots lying ont straight before him. He
thought of the church and the great or
gan, and was suddenly filed with an I'M
speakable longing to go and hear the big
music.
Had You been in the streets of GER
tain town on that Sunday morning you
might have seen the phenomenon of q
hat and boots slowly vending their way
up to the church door F; and had you
looked closely you might have seen two
small hands clinging to n strap of either
boot, and alternately lifting, to aid the
feet that might be supposed to occupy
the inside.
Church was nearly ont, and the
Dobbses were calmly sitting in their
pew, all unconscious of what awaited
them. Presently there was q strange
"clump! clump! clump! - in the aisle.
4 low litter swept through the congra-
ton. EVERYBODY looked around except
the Dobbses, who We're well-bred people,
and knew better, The gray-haired min
lister looked up and forgot to preach, for
there, standing at the entrance of the
Dobbses pew, was an animated pair of
boots with hat on top. Mrs. Dobbs
took her eyes from the face of the minis
ter and rested them for moment on
this strange object, and then grew pale.
Mr.. Dobbs looked sharply through his
eye glasses and said "Jupiter9" loud
enough for the minister to hear. Then
out from under the hat there came n
voice:
81 coined for to hear de big moosic,
pa, and 1 won't uebber, nebber take
Cinthy AIMS hair for my hoss's tail
again, nebber !"
Cinthy Ann grew purple in the face.
The pale mustache OF Dobbs, Jr., looked
paler than ever against the scarlet back
ground of his face. Mrs. ID. grasped the
offending object, which wholly disap-
peared under her camel's-hair shawl.
The gray-haired minister recollected
himself, and very soon church was over.
How the young Thomas reached home
/ do not really know; but / have heard
that when the Dobbs family was return
ing from church there were seen to pro-