Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-01-15
COAsTING.
Sanscript Recalls RecolIections That
Are Likely to Stick in His Memory for
Some Time to Come.
Cincinnati Commercial.

more street hill last week, when John
Sanscrpt and his wife came along They
had been up on Baltimore street visit
ing, and were returning home.
Gust see them boys, now," said John
as he braced up at the intersection of
Mulberry street. at really reminds
me of the days when [ was lad. Do
you know, Jane, that [ used to coast
down hill on q sled that way?'
did you John?'
| a1"Why, yes; but. that's fifty years
| ago!"
| Sanscript scratched his head conten-
| platively, and then muttered, soto voce:
"Durn my, grand -daddy's buttons, if I
! don't trysitp'. * ...5 49,. s
"Trv what my dear?" anxiously asked
Mrs. S.
| !" Pm going to coast Just once, to re-
viye recollections of fifty years ago."
| ,"Now, John, if [ were YOU"
| But you are not me, so don't inter-
fere,, Here y?to a lad just pulled
up the hill with his sled); here sonny,
I'll give you quarter to let me slide
down on your sled once"
q The bargain was eagerly nailed and
clinched. 81. ~.
Ial" BE keerfl1l, old man, urged the boy,
as Sandscri pit squatted rather awkardly
on the sled; 'be keerful, [ say, and
don't let her funk one way Or t'other
! till she brings up, or you'll git smash
ed. p. t.as .-.... D.. -..-..,...
"Never mind, yunker," assured John;
give been here afore-some years afore
| but
"But what will never be known, for
just then the sled, of its own accord,
started down hill, and even John him
self has not since been able to recall
what he was about to observe. The
surprise at the sled's unexpected move
ment was general. = a. ..5... ...
ay"Look out" yelled the boy ...,.r-
ooh, John,' screamed Mrs. Sand
script .1a .s.n.s .gfar.... .........i F..
whoa, there?p yelled John.
I But the sled wouldn't whoa. 1t seems
| to have set off down that hill to beat its
| best time. John had chance only to
clutch hold ofboth sides and hold his
breath for fear the wind would blow off
the top Of his head. The only thought
he had time to foster was that the boy
must have creased the sled's runners as
a practical joke And, if this was coast
ing, he had never Fcoasted if his recol-
lections served him right, z'
T. Two-thirds the way down hill the sled
struck an ice hummock, and immedi-
ately his course was changed to para
4 bOlic curve. a~H
"Whack! bang! crash! clinkL
The bringing up was awful sudden
and uncertain. Sandscript and the
sled disappeared as abruptly as a shoot
ing star. The latter lay shivered to
atoms against a lamp-post, and Sand
script lay shivering in the grocery cellar
just opposite. When the off run
lamp-post and stopped the vehicle, San
script rose like circus leaper and went
right on, turning twenty somersaults to
the second. He went through the gro
Gerry window as the circus-leaper goes
through paper hoop. All the ginger
bread horses and candy apples and 9th
er Christmas luxuries were disarranged,
Of course The rubbery part OF. San
tscIp body struck a western reserve
/ cheese on the counter, scattering the
i shippers in CONSERVATION. The old
coaster bounded five eet at an obtuse
angle, touching again for a second at
the top of the cellar stairs In the rear OF
the store, and then, continuing like a
diver into the Plutonic depth below; he
went feet foremost through the head of
a hogshead filled with something soft.
At first he was uncertain whether the
+. contents were Orleans n1olasses or melt
ed glucose. Before he had time to In
vestigate the grocer and two policemen
came down. The unhappy old boy
was lifted out Of his pickle and was
hauled off to the station-house on a
charge of malicious destruction OF pro-
perry The grocer appeared soon after
and compromised, upon John paying
the following:
Crushed cheese II o.
Total. :: ..... ST. SO
Then the boy came in with a bill of
S. for his sled, to say nothing of the
loss of a suit of clothes, a surgeons
bill for plastering certain skinned sur
faces, and the bill OF hackman who
conveyed the fainting wife home. In
the cooler moments of afterthought
Sanscript reckoned it up and discovered
that it had cost. him $lO9.7S to recall
recollections Of fifty years ago, and re-
quired but one minute and five seconds
of old Father Time in which to do the
recollecting. "
A BIG story comes from Shenandoah
valley. 1t is all about a peddler who
for three successive nights dreamed OF
finding a great quantity of money up
particular tree. Assisted by farmer.
be felled the tree, the agreement being
that the spoils were to be divided. Down
came the tree; cavity was discovered, )
and within it S., 900 in silver. The ped
dler expressed his unwillingness to car
ry about SO, much silver; SO the farmer
took the whole amount, paying the ped
dler $1,000 in good greenbacks. The
peddler vanished into infinite space, but
when the farmer tried to pass the dol
/ lo no found hat Ar,