Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1880-09-09

low, uutl shiu Win tUtipUhurb'
"Wha'd the boss
81 am the boss" said the editor follow
ing this curious bit of architecture won
deringly along up to lis clcck face with his
eye.
Don't want anybody fur to learn the
business, faint likely ?"
"Well, don't know. Would you like
to learn it y"
''Pap's 30 po he can't run ME no mo-,
so | want to get show somsrs, il can,
faint 10 difference what-Im strong and
hearty, and don't turn my back on no
kind of work, hard nur soft"
do you think you would like to learn
the printing business p
"Well, don't rely h., er durn what
| do learn, sos git chanc. fur TO make
my way. d jst ~ soon learn urint'n's
anything
Gan you read;' .....
"Yes-middln'."
"Write?"
well, I've s'sd people could lay over
me thar"
"Uipher ?"
Not good enough to keep store, don't
reckon, but as fur HI twelve times twelve
| gli't no siOlch. rOther side of that Is
what gifts me
Where is your homeIi
Il III from old Shelby"
What's your fathers religious denolli-
nation -
"HImI On, he's q blacksmith"
No, no-I dou't mean his trade What's
his religious denomination Z"
OIL didn't understand you befo'.
He's a Freemason.
Mono, you don't get my meaning
yet. What ! mean is, does ho belong to
any church ~
Now you're talkin. Couldn't make
out what you was trying to git through yo
head no way. B'long to a church Why
boss, he's been the pzinest kind of a
Freewill Baptis' for 40 years Tney ami
no pizeher ones'n he is. Mighty good
man, pap is. Everybody says that, II
they said any ditferunt they wouldn't HAY
It whore wus--not much they wouldn't ;
What II your own religion 2"
"Well boss, you've kind o. got me thu
and yit yon hain't got me so mighty
much uulher. | think t il Teller he D,
another when he's in trouble, and don
cuss, and don't do any mean things, MOI
nuth'n he amt no business to do, ant
don't spell the Savior's name with a lttl,
s, he Gih't runnln no resks-he's about a
saift rs il he b'longtd to church"
Blu; suppose lie did spell it with it'll,
g what then ~
well, If he done il a purpose, recl o
he wouldn't stand no GlancO-he uughtn'
to have 10 chance, anyway, I'm mos
rotten certain bout that
what il your name r. .. -
Incidents Dodge"
II think maybe youll do, Nicodemus
Wen give you II trial. anyway." ...
IAN right
when wonli you Ike TO begin ?"
'Now."
So, within ten minutes after we ha
first glimpsed this nondescrpt, he wa
one of us, and with his coat of and har
at it,
Beyond that end Of our eBtablishmen
which was furthtst from the street was
deserted garden, pathless and thickl
grown with the gloomy aud villiapon
''Jimpson' weed and its common frien
the stately sunilower. In the midst a
this nonrnful spot was decayed an
aged httle frame house with but on
room, one window and no ceiline-it ha
been smGke-house a generation before
Nicodt mus was given this lonely an
ghostiy IN ss bed-chamber.
Inc village snarties recognized tres
sure IN Nicofemus, right away--a butt /
play jokes OF. II was easy to see that h
was inconce!vGbly green and confdirl
5 George Jones had the glory of perpetra
ting the first joke on HIM. He gave hill
cigar with fire cracker in it, an
winked to the crowd to come the thin
exploded presently aud swept away tn
: bulk of Nlcodenus' eyebrows and ey,
lashes. He simply said
II consider them kind of soeg' va,
= danRersOme, and seemed to su,pet
nothing. The next evening Nicodemu
waylad George and poured bucket u
ice water over him.
Ore day while Nieo lemus was in SWIM
ming, Tom McEroy tiled" his c!othe,
: Nicode mus made H bonfire of Toms b
/ way of retaliation.
l A third joke was played upon Nicodt
' mus day or two lnter-he walked up til
2 middle isle of the village church, Suude
9 night, with staring handful pinned upo
r his shoulders The Joker ppeut the REL
/ of the night, after church in the cellar {
: a deserted house, and Nicodemus sat o
D tue cellar door till toward breakfast tin,
:. to make sure that tue prisoner remen
E bered that if any noise was made SON
: rough treatment would be the cons
{ quence. The cellar had two feet of staf
g nant water in it, aud was botomed wit
4 six inches of soft mud.
r But | wander from the point. II Wi
4 the subject of skeletons that brought til
b boy back TO my recollection Before
s long time bad elapsed the village smarti
d began TO feel an uncomfortable coasciou
y ness OF not having made very shinir
+ success out of their attemuts on Il
. siinpetop of "O,d Shelby" Experiment
. grew scarce and chnry. Now the your
!. doctor came TO the rescue. There WI
r delight and applause when he proposed
d them the plan Of frightening Nieodeml
g to death, and Explained how he was eoir
Is to do it. He had noble new skeleton.
!. the skeleton Cf the late and only loo
d celebrity. Jimmy Finn, the villal
y druukard-a grisly piece of property
10 had bought of Jimmy Finn himself,
auction, for fifty dollars, under great cor
petit N, when Jimmy lay very sick in Il
lanyard fortnight before his deaf
;, The fifty dollars had gone promptly 4
W whisky, and had considerably hurried |
4, the change of ownership in the skeleto
10 The doctor would put Jimmy Finr
e. skeleton in Nicodemus' bed
y This was done-about 10 30 in the eve
s, ing About Nicodemus' usual bedtime
Q. midnight-the village jokers came cree
d ing stealthily drought the jimson wee
L. and salflowers toward the lonely fran
u. den. They reached the window al
of peeped in. There sat the long-legg
=; pauper on his bed in very short shi
Oh and aothing more. He was dangling /
q legs contentedly back and forth, al
+; Wheeling the music of "Camptoy
!, Races" out of a paper overlaid cor
OF which he was pressing against his mout
l.; by him lay a new jews harp, a new to
ty a solid india rubber ball, handful
e painted marbles, five pounds Of "stor
20 candy and well-gnawed slab of cling,
IN bread as big and thick as volume
te sheet music. He had sold the skeleton
ae a travelling quack for So and was enjoyi
IN the result