Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-04-01
FOB THE YOUNG FOLKS.
POPS IDEA OF FUN.

FOB THE YOUNG FOLKS.
pops IDEA OF FUN.
Only this morning Pop punched me in
the ribs, and winked, and whispered be-
hind his hand, "Any more sprees on
hand, Bobp" was disguised, and
didn't say any thing. II he'd been a
boy of my size just then, things would
have been different; but Pop is kind
of man it isn't pleasant to offend l
smiled in a sickly way, but was never
more disguised in my life. Any more
spreesp l should think not. I'll leave
it to any one If his kind of sprees pay.
"Count me in for the next racket,
Bob," he said at the breakfast table, and
then he winked again. declare / was
that sick I let my buckwheat cake get
cold.
Here's the way it was. We live in q
nobby kind of place, you see. Almost
every body owns his own house and
grounds, and spends all his spare time
in fixing up. Most of the gentlemen go
over to New York to business every
day, but before they 60, and after they
come back, they're always fussing
around, making little alterations, and
what they call improvements. 1t makes
'em awful mad If the place is out of
order the SEVENTEEN part of an inch.
The ladies raise flowers, fix baskets and
roses, and all that kind of gimcracks,
and the men 60 pottering about, making
more fuss over their plots of ground
than a big farmer out West does over
his thousands of acres. Well, we boys
get together sometimes and arrange
every thing to suit ourselves. In a sim
gle night it'll be like transformation
scene in pantomime-maybe not so
pretty, but every bit as funny. Fun!
We've laughed ready to split our sides
to see the poor old barber come limp
ing up for his pole in front of the doc
tors, and the doctor go clustering down
there for his hitching post; lot of paw
ing-stones against the door of the real
estate Office, and the COWS and chickens
running loose about town.
But this particular lark was what we
called specially. Only gates were to
be touched, and these were to undergo
a regular tribulation. The weather was
about right-muggy-and the mud in
some places knee-deep. We arranged
all the preliminaries at recess, and Tom
Jones was to 60 around about nine
o'clock and let us know if the coast was
clear; but he wasn't to give our regular
call-all the place knows that. 1t goes
something in this way, "Ki-yuah-yuah,
yoo-o," with a prolonged howl at the
end. We always drop it when any
thing secrets on hand. 1t was agreed
upon that Tom Jones should 60 to each
house, if all was right, and have a
coughing and sneezing spell that would
mt arouse suspicion; then we were to
creep out, when the folks were gone to
bed, and 60 to work. And it happened
to be work that time, you'd better be-
lieve!
We were all sitting around the table
when the clock struck nine. Pop had
his spectacles on, and was reading an
editorial to ma, the girls were busy
with their lessons, and I had finished
my last example, when all at once we
heard terrible coughing and sneezing
out in the street. That was the worst
of Tom Jones-he always overdid his
part. If he'd had pneumonia, whoop-
ing-cough, asthma and bronchitis, and
been hired to 60 round with cough
medicine to cure 'em, he couldn't have
turned himself further inside out. Of
course Pop began to notice it, and ma
looked up in alarm. "Why," said ma,
"that boys got terrible cold!"
"Fearful!" said Pop, with queer
twist of his under lip; and when Tom
Jones, like a big donkey, went across
the street to Jim Clancy's house, and
began the whole thing over again, Pop
wanted to know why that boys cold
was like the paper he held in his hand.
We all gave it up, and Pop said because
it was periodical. Ma and the girls
looked mystifed, but was afraid then
he'd tumble to something, and couldn't
help getting red, to save my life.
That's the worst of my plagued skin
it's SO thin the blood shows right
through it.
There were no more of the boys
houses in our avenue, and pretty soon
we all went to bed. slept in the little
room on the second floor off the hall !;
it was an easy thing to climb out the
window, and down by the Virginia
creeper to the front garden. I went
around to our place of meeting, and
there they all were. The wind had
sprung up pretty brisk, and there was q
thin coating of ice over the mud; but
that was all the better for the gates we
wanted to bury. We owed q
grudge to old Jake Van Coulter, and
we made up our minds he'd have q
nice time getting his gate back. The