Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-03-10
THAT BAD BOY.
The Worst Small Boy Yet Discovered.
From the New York Times.

Ihe worst small boy Vet Discovered.
From the New York Times
For long time it has been the boast
of the Fist Congregational Society at
Birchville, O., that they possessed min
lister, who, in point of lungs and legs,
was fully equal, and in some respects
superior, to Mr.. Talmadge. There is no
doubt that this boast is to certain extent
ustifable. While the Rev. Mr.. Sun
bright is admittedly inferior to Mr.. Tai
madge in the management Of his left
eg, and never attempts the eloquent
feat of throwing both legs simultaneously
over the front Of the pulpit, he can pound
tn e desk or stamp his right foot with a
violence which the Brooklyn athlete has
never yet approached. His voice is
simply unequaled in power, and on calm
Sundays, has more than once reached the
next village distant nearly three miles
from the meeting house, and created a
Temporary alarm of fire.
Of course, these great qualities have
made him exceedingly popular with the
thoughtful members of his congregation,
but they have not secured for him the re-
spect and admiration Of the small boys.
His invariable habit of rumpling a small
boys hair the wrong way while pointing
out to him the general sinfulness of his
ways, is unquestionably adapted to awak-
en- the baser passions of fallen juvenile
human nature. To this Objectionable
habit he also adds the practice OF insist
ing upon an unusual amount of cate
chism, and a total prohibition of circus,
and the result is that he is hated by the
small boys of the congregation with great
unanimity and bitterness.
Among the small boys in question is
one Of exceptionally studious habits and
mechanical ingenuity. When, one day
early in the winter, this small boy ap-
preached the pastor and asked for the
loan of book that would fully explain
to him the elementary principles of nat
ural philosophy, including the mechani-
cal powers and the strength of the mate
rails. Mr.. Sunbright rumpled his hair with
real enthusiasm, and remarking that he
loved to see boy with mind above
marbles and circusses, promptly lent
him the desired book. For some weeks
that ingenious small boy devoted his whole
time to study and experiments with car
penter's tools and heavy weights in the
woodshed, and his father and Mr.. Sun
bright congratulated one another upon
the extraordinary goodness and intelli-
gence Of the studious youth.
1t was On the Saturday afternoon pre-
ceding the fifth Sunday in January that
the ingenious small boy, together with
several of his Juvenile companions, gained
secret access to the Congregation meet
ing house. The pulpit was an old fash
Toned affair placed upon high platform.
Underneath this platform was dark
space to which access was gained by a
movable panel and in which the sexton was
accustomed to store dilapidated benches
and other ecclesiastical rubbish. The boys
first carefully cut an opening in the floor
of the pulpit about four feet square, and
then, entering into the lumber room be-
low worked for hours in comparative
silence and with the aid Of lantern.
The ingenious stundent of the mechanical
powers arranged weight and lever in
such away as to support the improvised
trap door in the pulpit floor until pres
sure of $50 pouds should be brought to
bear upon it.
Without the application of this pressure
the trap door would retain its position,
and would be invisible to any but the