The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-07-15


up and down in front of the professor,
epdeavoring duly to set forth the nature
of the accident that had happened to the
runner. Two dogs wagged their tails
hopefully in the background, and, to
complete the PROFESSIONS "a disabled crow,
the pet of the villagers, brought up the
rear. 1t hopped gravely along, now on
one foot now on the other, setting its
head on one side in oracular fashion and
looking ten times blacker and wickeder
than ever against the whiteness of the
snow.
After considering the situation few
minutes the professor started off again,
dragging the sled by the rope, and his
procession, crow and all, trotted along
behind him.
"Now," said Tom, "he will go straight
to the carpenters shop to get that thing
mended; and the carpenter, after i'm
pressing upon him the arduous nature
of the job, will charge just ten times
what it is worth, and he will pay it
without word"
mo doubt he will"
And those little beggars will run off
without even thanking him.
But they are fond of him, Tom"
II don't care. May you can make that
man believe anything"
q know it,"
Just fancy his going out with
telescope and watching the moon all
night because we boys told him there
were changes on its surface indicating
some great interior convulsion And
when he couldn't find them, and came
to me to point them out, we pretended
to see them plainly enough, told him his
eyes were getting weak, and he believed
every word of it, and has taken to wear
ing spectacles from that day."
Well, they are becoming, at any
rate, and he is short-sighted, said his
sister, laughing.
But, May, the best joke of all you
ever heard of. Promise me you won't
tell anybody about it,"
"Of course not, except Jem."
ooh, Jem knows all about it already;
he was in it. Seems to me you're very
dutiful, though, all at once. Getting en-
gagged has improved you."
"Well, pray that it may last" said
his sister, demurely.
Which ?--the improvement or the
engagements How many people have
you been engaged to before this, May 2"
"About half dozen, think"
/ think SO too. Don't treat Jem in
that way. He's friend of mine; and
after all it's rather mortifying, you
know, to fellow"
" 1t can't very well be mortifying in
this case, because nobody is to know of
the engagement"
81 should like to know if they don't.
Why, May, it is known all over town.
Jem told of it himself. You see, you
are rather pretty for a girl; and then
there's that bit of money grandmother
left you. On the whole, Jem's rather
proud of it, and no wonder"
"Let's have the joke now, Tom
never mind the compliments"
Never complimented anybody in my
life. What are you talking about But
about that little affair; you remember
when we were experimenting with that
nitrogen iodide in the labratory, May ?"
eyes"
You remember how explosive it was
safe as long as you kept it wet, but 60
ing off like nitro-glycerine and dyna-
mite put together when it got dry ?"
"It didn't go off without some one
touched it, Tom"
81 rather guess it did. If fellow merely
breathed yard away from it off it went.
But that's of no consequence, for in this
case somebody was expected to touch
it.''
"And that somebody was the profess
sor, of course ?"
"Of course. We had lot of it, and
put some on the handle of his door, some
in his slippers, and some among his
books; the rest we scattered around pro-
miscuously. And, as good luck would
have it, there came up heavy thunder
shower that very afternoon. The pro-
fessor came hurrying in; accidentally
Jem and met him ON the stairs. We
asked him to explain difficult Latin
passage.
"' Oh, come right income right in,
boys, he says, in that benevolent way of
his, and laid his hands on the door-knob.