Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-10-22
POPS IDEA OF Fun.
a story which Some OF the Boys VIII
Appreciate.

Only this morning Pop punched me in the
ribs and winked, and whispered behind his
hand, ANY more sprees on hand, Bob =
was disguised, and didn't say anything. II
he'd been 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 dis
gusted in my life. Any more sprees
should think not. I'll leave it to any one if
this kind of spree pays. Count me in for
the next racket Bob" he said at the break
fast-table, and then he winked again. de-
clare l was that sick let my buckwheat cake
get cold.
Here's the way it was We live in a mob
by kind Of place, you see. Almost every
body owns his own house and grounds, and
spends all his spare time in fixing them up.
Most Of the gentlemen go over to New York
to business every day, but before they go
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
seventieth part of an inch. The ladies raise
flowers, fix baskets and roses, and all that
kind of gimcracks, and the men go pot
tering about, making more fuss over their
plots of ground than big farmer out West
does over his thousands of acres Well, we
boys get together sometimes and arrange ev-
erythinR to suit ursslves. In a single night
it'll be like a transformation scene at a pan
tomime-may be not so pretty, but every bit
as funny. Fun. We've laughed ready to
split our sides to see the poor old barber
come lmping up for his pole in front of the
DOCTORS and the doctor go clustering down
there for his hitching-post a lot of paving
stones against the door of the real estate Of
flee, 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 tribulA-
ton. 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 go around about
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- uah- -yuah, yoo-o, with pro-
longed howl at the end. We always drop it
when anything secret is on hand. 1t was
agreed upon that Tom Jones should go to
each house, if all was right, and have a
coughing and sneezing spell that wouldn't
arouse suspicion then we were to creep out
when the folks were gone to bed, and go to
work. And it happened to be work this
time, you'd better believed
We were all sitting around the table when
the clock struck .. Pop had his spectacles
on and was reading an editorial to ma, the
girls were busy with their lessons and had
finished my last example, when all at once
We heard terrible coughing and sneezing in
the street That was the worst of Tom Jones
he always overdid his part. If he'd had
pneumonia, whoopng- cough, asthma, bron-
chtis, and had been hired to go around with
with a cough medicine to cure 'em, he could
MT 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 fearful cold I"
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 I was afraid then he'd
tumbled to something, and couldn't help get
ting 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 Vir-
ginian creeper to the front garden. went
around 10 our place OF meetlhB, anu there
| they all were. The wind had sprung up
pretty brisk, and there was 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 a nice time get
ting his gate back. The miserable old cabOo-
die was rusty, and nearly tore our nails OFF
but we got it loose at last and hauled it of TO
a marshy lot, whore We sunk it in the mud
Then 10 avert suspicion we took our own
| gates of with the rest. We were getting
pretty well tired out and ready for home, and
had laid my gate up against neghboring
| fence, when who should be standing right
there in the shadow of the wall but Pop We
were all so thunderstruck that we didn't
move, and to my surprise Pop began to laugh
! and beckon TO the boys TO come closer. They