The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-06-11

even of this solace. He picked up ode
miserbul little screech-owl," as he
called it in his wrath. He trOtted it.
He sang to it the soothing ditty Of
"'Tain't never gwine to rain no mo;
Sun shines down on rich and pO'.
But all was vain. Finally, in despair,
he undressed Tiddlekins. He had
heard his mother say, "Of en- and Of en-
when a chile is a-screamin' its brett
away, faint nothin' ais it 'eep'n
pi,as.''
But there were no pins. Plenty of
strings and hard knots; but not pin to
account for the antics of the unhappy
Tiddlekins.
How it did scream! It lay on the
stiffiy-braced knees of Hieronylnus, and
puckered up its face so tightly that it
looked as if it had come fresh from
wrinkle mold. There were no tears,
but sharp regular yells, and rollings OF
its head, and distracting monotony in
its performances.
s:Dis here chile looks 8 if it's got de
measles" muttered Hi, gazing on the
squirming atom with calm eyes of de-
spair. Then, running his fingers over
the neck and breast Of the small It'd
dlekins, he cried, with the air of one
who makes a discovery, "1t's got de
heat! bats what ais Tiddlekinsr'
There was really little breaking out
on the child's body that might account
for his restlessness and squalls. And
it was such hot day! Perspiration
streamed down His back, while his
head was dry. There was not culver
in the tree leaves, and the silver-poplars
showed only their leaden side. The
sundowers were dropping their big
heads; the flies seemed to stick to the
window-panes, and were too languid to
crawl.
Hieronymus had in him the materi-
ais of which philosophers are made. He
said to himself, "'Tain't nothin' but
heat dat's de matter wild dis baby; so uf
cose he ought ter be cooled Off"
But how to cool him off-that was the
great question. Hi knitted his dark
brows and thought intently.
1t happened that the chiefest treasure
of the Pop estate was deep old we'll
that in the hottest days yielded water
as refreshing as iced champagne. The
neighbors all made a convenience of
the Pop well. And half way down its
long cool hollow hung, pretty much all
the time, milk cans, butter pats, fresh
meats--all things that needed to be
kept cool insummer days.
He looked at the hot, squirming,
wretched, black baby on his lap; then
he looked at the well; and, simple,
straightforward lad that he was, he put
this and that together.
"If was ter hang Tiddlekins down
de weh," he reflected, "'twouldn't be
mo- dan three jumps of a flea befo' he's
as cool as Christmas"
With this quick-witted youth to think
was to act. Before many minutes he
had stuffed poor little Tiddlekins into
the well bucket, though it must be men,
toned to his credit that he tied the
baby securely in with his own suspend
ers.
Warmed up with his exertions, con-
tent in this good radiance of such bad
rubbish as Tiddlekins. Hieronymus re-
posed himself on the feather bed, and
dropped of into sweet slumber. From
this he was aroused by the voice OF a
small boy.
"Hello, Hi! I say, Hi Pop! whar is
yer?'
"Here isr' cried Hi, starting up.
"What you want?"
Little Jim Rogers stood in the door
way.
flowers dog" he said, in great
excitement, "and daddy's bull pup is
gwine ter have fight dis evenin'.
Come on quick, if yer wants ter see de
fun"
Up jumped Hi, and the two boys
were off like flash. Not one thought
to Ta,dleki,,s in the ,OeU bucket.
In due time the Pop family got home,
and Mother Pop, tanning herself, was
indulging in the moral reflections suit
able to the occasion, when she checked
herself suddenly, exclaiming, "But,
land O Jerusalem! whar's 'Onymus an
de baby?'
81 witnessed Hieronymus," said the
elegant Savannah, las I wandered
from school. He was with multitude
of boys, who cheered, without sign of
disapperation, two canine beasts that
tore each other in deadly feud."
Eyer don't mean ter say, Sissy, dat
'Onymus Pop is gone ter dog-fght?"
"Such are my meaning" said Sissy,
with dignity.
"Den ,okar's de baby?''
For answer, long low wall smote
| upon their ears, as Savannah would
have said.
"Fan mer' cried Mother Pop. '.Dat's
| Tiddlekins' voice."
"Never min about fannin' nanny"
cried Weekly, Savannah's twin. a youth
of fifteen, who could read, and was
much addicted to CORY tales of thunder
and blood; "let's fin de baby. Praps
he's been murdered by dat rufian Hi,
an dat's his ghos' dat we hears