The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-02-06
COASTING.
sanscript Recalls Recollections.
from the Cincinnati Enquirer

IAC OOyo WCAC COdSUAuS5 uOWu DyCH-
more street hill, last evening, when
John Sanscript and his wife came along.
They had been up on Baltimore street.
visiting, and were on their way home.
Just see them boys, now" said John,
as he braced up at the intersection of
Mulberry street. sItreally reminds me
of the days when I was lad Do you
know, Jane, that / used to coast down
hill on sled that wsy?"
did you, John?'
"Why, yes; but that's fifty year ago!'
Sanscript scratches his head con
templatively and then mutters, soto
UOce:
"Durn my granddaddy's buttons, if
don't try it."
CRY what, dear?" anxiously asked
Mrs. S.
"I'm going to coast just once, to re-
vive recollections Of fifty year ago."
Now, John, if I were you
*But you are not me, SO don't inter
fere. Here, sonny" Ito a lad who had
just pulled up the hill with his sled)
there, sonny, I'll give you a quarter to
let me slide down on your sled once"
The bargain was eagerly nailed and
clinched.
"Be keerful, old man." urged the boy,
as Sanscript squatted rather awkwardly
on the sled; BE keerful, I say, and
don't let her funk one way or 'tother
till she brings up Or you'll git mashed
Never mind, younker," assured John,
"I've been here afore-some years afore,
but"
But what will never be known, for Just
then the sled, Of it's own accord, started
down the hill, and even John himself
has not been able to recall what he was
about to observe. The surprise at the
sled's unexpected movement was gen
eral.
"Look out!" yelled the boy.
ooh, John!" screamed Mrs. San
script.
whoa, there!" yelled John.
But the sled wouldn't whoa. Itseemed
to have set off down that hill to beat its
best time. John had chance onN to
clutch hold of both sides and hold his
breath for fear the wind would blow of
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 coasted, if his recol
lection served him right
Two thirds way down the hill the sled
struck an ice hummock, and immediate
ly his course was changed to paraboli(
curve.
Whack! bang crash! cink!
The bringing up was awfully sudden
and uncertain. Sanscript and the sled
disappeared as abruptly as o shooting
star. The latter lay shivered to atoms
against lamp-post, and Sanscript lay
shivering in the grocery cellar Just op.
posite. when the Off runner of the sled
collided with the lamp-post and stopped
the vehicle, Sanscript rose like circus
leaper and went right on turning twenty
somersaults to the second. He went
through the grocery window as the cir
crls-leaper goes through paper hoop
The grocer appeared soon after and
compromised upon John paying the
following bill:
Window sash OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. $40 0C
Crushed cheese. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 80. 1906
Hogshead molasses Observation-Disclosures. 1926
christmas goods. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. lie
Total. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. $71 &c
Then the boy came in with bill OF
S. for his sled, to say nothing of the
loss of a suit of clothes, surgeons bill
for plastering sundry skinned surfaces,
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 $109.79 to recall recollec-
tions of fifty years ago, and required
but one minute and five seconds of old
Father Time in which TO do the recol-
Letting.