Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-11-17
A Pointed Reminder.

among the number, were out for glorious
holiday. Each had his canvas bag across
his shoulder, and we stole along the stone
wall yonder, and entered the woods be-
meath that group of chestnuts- Two of us
acted as outposts on picket guard, and
another, young Teddy ShoOpegg by name,
the best climber in the village, did the
shaking. There were five busy pairs Of
hands beneath these trees, | can tell you,
for each one of us fully realized the necessi-
ty of making the most of his time, not
knowing how soon the warning cry from
our outposts might put us all to headlong
flight, for the alarm, Turner's comingl"
was enough to lift the hair of any boy in
town.
But luck seemed to favor us on that day.
We CLEANED out" six big chestnut-trees,
and then turned our attention to the h.ck-
ories. There was a splendid tall shell bark
close by, with branches fairly loaded with
the white nuts in their open shucks. They
were all ready to drop, and when the shak-
ing once commenced, the nuts came down
like a shower of hail, bounding from the
rocks, rafting among the dry leaves, and
keeping up a clatter all around. We scram-
bled on all fours, and gathered them by
quarts and quarts. There was no need of
poking over the leaves for them, the ground
was covered with their bleached shells, all
in plain sight. While busily engaged, We
noticed an ominous lull among the branches
overhead.
"Sst! sst !" whispered Shoopegg up
above; 90. see old Turner on his white
horse daown the road yonder."
Coming this way Z" also in a whisper,
from below.
81 dunno VT, but Jest guess you'd bet
ter be glttin' reddy to leg it, fer he's hitchin
his old nag t the side o. the road. Hs,
sir, bleeve he's a-cummin.' Shoopegg,
you'd better be gittin' aout o this" and he
commenced to drop hap hazard from his
lofty perch. In a moment, however, he
seemed to change his mind, and paused,
once more upon the watch. Say, fellers, y
he again broke In as We were preparing for
a retreat, shes gone off to 'rd the cedars
he amt cummin' this way at aU." So he
again assembled into the tree-top, and fin
ished his shaking in peace, and We our
picking also. Therewas still another tree,
with elegant large nuts. that We had all
concluded to ''finish up on" 1t would not
do to leave il. They were the largest and
thinnest- shelled nuts in town, and there
were over bushei in sight on the branch
tips. Shoopegg was up among them in
two minutes, and they were showered down
in torrents as before And what splendid
perfect nuts they were. We bagged them
with eager hands, picked the ground all
clean, and with jolly chuckles at our luck
were just about thinking of starting for
home with our well-rounded sacks, when a
change came DER the spirit of our dreams.
There was suspicious noise in the shrub
berry near by, and in moment more we
heard our doom.
'.Jest yeu look ceah. yeu boys, ''exclaim-
ed high pitched voice from the neigbbor-
ing shrubbery, accompanied by the form
of Deacon Turner, approaching at brisk
pace, hardly thirty feet away. ''Dont
yeu think you've got jest about enIt o.
them nuts 3"
OF course a wild panic ensued, in which
we made for the bags and dear life, but
Turner was prepared and ready for the
emergency, and raising huge old shotgun,
he levelled it, and yelled, ''Don't any ON
We stir ner move, or by Christopher Ill
blow the heads clean oti'n the hull pile on
ye. I'd shoot ye quicker'n lightnin- "
And we believed him, for his aim was
true, and his whole expression was not that
of man who was trifiing. l never shall
forget the uncomfortable sensation that
experienced as | looked into the muzzle of
that doubled barrelled shotgun, and saw both
hammers fully raised too. And l can see
now the squint and the glaring eye that
glanced along those barrels. There was a
wonderful persuasive power lurking in
those horizontal tubes; so hastened to in
form the deacon that we were mot going
70 rum
"Wa'al," he drawled, 'sit looked leetle
that Cay, thort, a spell ago. and he
still kept us in the field Of his weapon, til
at length exclaimed, in desperation
'.Point that gun in some other way. viii
you2"
ssWa'al, no I'm not fer pintin' 1t emmy
whar else jest yit-not until you've sol
them ar bags dsown agin, jist whar ye go
'em, every one on ye." The bags wert
speedily replaced, and he slowly lowered
his gun.
IVA al, naow, "he continued, as he camt
up in our MIDST, ''this is putty bizniss, ain
iti Bin havin' putty lively sort o tint
teu, sh'd jedge from the looks o thes.
ere bags One-two--siI on 'em; an
vaow they must be nigh on teu two an
half bushel in every one on EN- Wa'al
naow"-with his peculiar drawl-''lool
eeah: you're a putty industrious lot o
there's, I'm 6lest if We amt" But th'
deacon did all the talking, for his man
(euvres were such sto render us speechless
Equity likely place teu cum "a-nuttln'