, 1876-11-12
WIDE AWAKE.
how Mr.. Bcllamy Tried to Keep Ills Eyes
Open In Church nna the, Woes It Brought
uQQn Him.

HurIaatoa H4se1<y..
The other day Mr.. Belanly, OF Pond street,
read in religious paper the following para
graph:
gs Eo1d Rfo0e aSs 9y
recommended: Lift the foot seven inches from
the floor, and hold it in suspense without sup
port for the limb, aud repeat the remedy if the
attack returns"
Now, Mr.. Bellamy is very good man, and he
case, amounts to 4 positive af1liction. So he
cut that paragraph out, in accordance with the
appended instruction. and pasted it in his hat,
and was rejoicing in his inmost soul to think
that he hau found relief from his annoyance.
He hoped that Deacon Ashbury, who had
fully for nodding, hadn't seen the paragraph,
for the Deacon sometimes slept under the
preached Word, and Nr. Bcllamy wanted to get
even with him. And Mr.. Driscoll, who used to
sit In the choir. and cover his own sleepiness,
and divert attention from his Own heavy eyes,
by laughing in a most irreverent and indecorous
manner at Mr.. Bellamy's sleepy visagc and
struggling eyes and head-how the good man
did want to get it on Driscoll! So he chucklcd
and hugged bis treasure, so to speak, in his
mind H was SO confident that nc had found
the panacca for his trouble that he went to the
minister and told him what q burden his drow
siness had been to him, but TINT he had made
up his mind nov to shake it off, and to con-
tlnue to keep II OH. anu ue Was certain tnnt ne
had sufficient strcne 9Th OF mind and force OF will
to overcome the habit. And the minister was
so pleased, and commended Mr.. Bellany SO
warmly, and said that he wished he had 100
such men in his congregation, that Mr.. Bellamy
was so happy, and elated, and confident. TINT he
could hardly wait for Sunday to come to try his
new method Of averting drowsincss.
Sunday cuule, however, and soon enough, too,
for it was Saturday afternoon plumb, chick.
chock full Of men with bills, overdue notes,
n L1tur -1fT
narrow-gaugc subscription, political assess
mcnts, and one little thing and another, almost
before Mr. Bellamy knew it, although it hadn't
been here half an hour before ne had some sus-
picion OF It, and was soon very confident OF 1t.
Sunday morning found the good man in his ae-
The church was very comfortably filled with an
attentive congregation, and MIR. Bellamy was
soon corncred up in one end OF the pew, aud
the strange young lady who sat next him was
attended by very snlau white dog, that
red eyes and black nose. The opening ex-
ercises passed off without incident, and the
minister hadn't got to secondly when Mr.. Bella
nv suddenly reused himself with start from
doze into which he was dropping: Hi His heart
had forgotten his recipe. He feared to attract
any attention to himself, lest his precious meth
cd should be discovered, and slowly lifted his
left foot from the fOotstool and held it about
seven inches in the air. As he rnised his foot
the strange young lady shrunk away from him
in evident alarm. This annoyed Dir. Bellamy,
and disconnected him SO that he was on the
point Of lowering his foot and whispering an
explanation, when the dog, which had been quiz
city sleeping BY the footstool, opened bis eyes,
in it's direction, hastily scrambled to its feet
tcrriflcally. tan The young lady, now thor
oughly alarmed, ,jerkcd her feet from
under the weight of Mr.. Bellamy's foot, and
the dog, excited by this additional catastrophe,
fairly barked himself into conyulsions. Deacon
Ashbury, awakened By the racket, came tiptoe~
ing and frowning down the aisle, bending his
shaggy browns upon Mr.. Bel1amy, who actually
break out in flames that not even the beaded
pcrspiration that was standing out onhis scarlet
face could extinguish. The young lady rose to
leave the pew, Mr.. Bellamy rose to explain, and
as he did 50, she was quite convinced Of what
crazy. She backed out Of the pew and asked
Deacon Ashbury's protection. Mr.. Bellamy IT.
tempted to whisper IN explanation to the
Deacon, but that austcre official mentioned
him back into his seat, and, as the
minister paused until the interruption should
cease, said in o severe undcrtone that was
heard all over the church:
"You'vc been dreaming again, Brother Bel
lamy."
M. Bellamy sank into his seat, quite. coy
cred with confusion as with q couple OF gar
ments and bed quilt, and his unhappiness was
greatly aggravated when he looked up into the
choir and saw Drlsco1l convu1sed with merr-
ment. stuttiug his handkerchief into his mouth
and shaking With suppressed laughter.
After service, Mr.. Bcllamy, who was, all
through the service, the centre of attraction for
the entire congregation, waited for his pastor,
and made one more effort to explain his unfor-
tunatc escapade. But the minister, whose ser
mon had been quite spoiled by the affair,
waved him in silence and said, quite coldly.
s'Never mind, Brother Belamy; don't apo1o.
gizc; you meant very well, dare say, but II
awake, / believe I would prefer to have you