The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-07-16
GOAT's FOURrH OFJULY.
Relating How Billy Rctaiiated upon His In
corriaible Tormentors.


That Monroe street goat proved himself
on the Fourth TO DO as patriotic Bs ANYBODY In
81. Louis, at least he made as fine display Of
WINS novelty about his bunting, of course. The
bunting on the stores down town showed stripes
frequently perpendicular. with a batch OF stars
strictly In horizontal tine. and the only stars
connected Herewith were those observed sud-
denly by tho various huntees.
The goat probably wouldn't have been so
patriotic but for the boys He was nbbling the
scant heritage beside the street on the morning
Of the Fourth, when he attracted tho attention
OF a group Of the worst youngsters in tho ward,
and they resolved upon the brilliant oxpedient
see what he would do. They surrounded the
goat, and, after Infinite strategy and I'm / dos
perate battle. captured him. Then came the
task OF attaching the bunch OF or ickors to the
animals tail and difficult task It proved.
Goats In general have no tail TO speak Of, and
deficient HIS tail is only an incn long, per
icctly smooth. and with AN unwayrrins tenden-
cy to point upward toward the zrnlth. Ihe
BOYS tried for half an hour TO fastcn on the
crackers, without success, until finally ono boy
who mad learned to lie some Kind II sailors
knot. accomplished tho feat thoroughly and
satisfactorily. Then the or ckers we're ignited,
and the boys formed II hollow square about the
goat awaiting developments.
Az the first nzl OF the burning crackers tho
animal e-ped perpendicularly Eve feet upward,
and came down stiff legged, casting at the Same
time a dreadiully Interesting look over its
shoulder AZ ITS rear As the n11 changed into n
II ming sputter It leaped higher still, aud came
began shying about sideways.
The boys, previous to am king the crackers, had
taken the goat into a yard with high board
fence about n so that II couldn't get away, but
they still observed ;her hollow square To OBJ
serve the phenomena OF tho occasion more
closely.
soon the frat cracker exploded, and then fol-
lowed "a ighttul scene. Tho goat took in the
situation fully, ana became bansful Nemesis |
WIN rcvengeful "bli-a-ab," anu "A rush, he
knocked a corner Boz out of that hollow suuare
and rod aNay, and then wheeled like light
ming and charged again The boys started for
that fence In a wild stampede, but not one Of
them reached II. Tho goat shot about like a
ginnt boomerang, and oVerY time he struck a
boy thht hoy went TO grass total wreck. The
crackers roared and famed, and the goat re-
semuled comet with n fiery tail, careerlng
through tho air ~ he bounded from side TO
side and sniOte the hapiess boys,
HrioiC tho bunch of crackers was half cone
every boy was down and all afraid to get up ue
roe tho raging beast save one boy who WIS lying
close 10y tho fence, and thought lie might Get
over before tue whiTlwind would reach hIm. lie
made tho attempt out wasn't uuick enough,
ana dropped Just IN time to let tho goat pass
over hlm with terrible folro and pass. through
lhe lence IKE cannon hali, carving of u TOO ri
hs he went. lhe Toys rushed To tho gap thus
made, and saw q bal Of lire far down tho street,
going ut the rate of LOO miles an hour, and they
saw no moro goat on the Fourth Of JulN. On the
next morning, however, the animal was feeding
about in hi, accustomed hauuts, and but Tor the
biaCk0ned stump Of u tan ana "a siuister gloam
In his eye, no one would have supposed that II
had aided in celebrating the Centennial Fourth