Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1880-11-11

there?"
Fifteen dollars and ninety eight
cents! seemed quite fortune to Carl,
and the chance of, perhaps, doubling it
by investing it in ''candy an apples
an pies an things" No wonder Carps
swapping black eyes shone big and
bright with joyous anticipation.
"And you'll have Aunt Pattie Fields
to make 'em for mo,-cakes, you
know, an pies" he said, throwing his
arms around his mothers neck, nearly
choking her in his earnestness.
Aunt Patty Fields, so-called by all
the village people, though she had
neither kith nor kin among them, had
in her younger days been a pastry
cook in a famous big hotel in the ia
nous big city of New York; SO, since
she had at one time kept house three
weeks for Carl's mother, and Carl, had,
with her permission, stuffed himself
sick with delicious tarts and cake and
| pie, he had come to be her fast friend
and to believe devoutly in her ability
to concoct anything in the cooking
line.
"Mayn't she muther pIease?"
And his mother smiled and said
Eyes" too. People say they spoiled
the boy, butt don't believe that!
So the next morning Aunt Patty
came; and of all the sitting Of flour and
of stoning of raisins and picking over
Of currants and measuring Of sugar and
spices and beating eggs! Carl had a
| fnger-and sometimes two or three Of
them-in each and every pie.
At night there were rows on rows Of
cakes and tarts and pies on the pantry
shelves. Perhaps that fact may &C
count for Carls sudden and irresistible
| thirstiness, and his consequent frequent
visits to the kitchen for water
The morning Of the Fourth came at
last, as all mornings, however anxious
| ly looked for, do come. Carl was up
earlier than he had ever been before
in all his ten-year life, carrying his
wares from the pantry shelves to his
little "bOOth'-he wanted a store by
himself, you know-which had been
erected for him. He looked rather dis
painfully, am afraid, on other ten
year-old boys, whose chief enjoyment
seemed to be III swapping tOrpedoes
and crackers.
Everything was SO fresh and neat in
Carls store that / wish you could have
seen it; the narrow counter, made of
rough boards, had, nevertheless, a piney
smell that quite made up for its lack
of elegance,-so Carl thought, and 50
think.
Well, he arranged his cakes and CON
fections along the shelves, opened his
ledger, took his pen and wrote on the
clean white pages, in his scrawling,
school-boy hand:
Account with Mister"
Presently people began to flock into
the village, and Carl was in fever Of
excitement lest one should not notice
the sign in black letters -"Nuts, Oaks,
Candys, Apples, and Everything Mise
For Sale Hear" The last two OF three
words dwindled down ANONYMOUSLY.
There was not room on the board.
But people did notice him, and his
little store was filled with customers.
One thing troubled Carl; they all paid
down, and he could see no use for his
ledger
At last, however, there came gold
en- opportunity, and he snatched it. A
red-headed, freckled-faced, bare-footed
stub of a boy, after buying Give cents
worth of checkerberry pie, if you
please" suddenly discovered that he
| had no money.
"I'H trust you" cried Carl, eagerly
going to his ledger, "rathern not ="
Then, thinking Of something he had
forgotten, he said: ''What's your name,
did you say, sir ?"
"No, Ididnt say, sir" returned red
head, who, it seemed, was "up," in
slang parlance, to a great many things,
snuff included. He looked at our lit
tie merchant steadily for a moment,
taking his measure" he would have
said. A quiet smoker pulled itself out
through thin lips, and then: robin
| Hood, sir, is my name"
Straightway was entered III that
ledger
''NIister Robin Hood in account with
Mister Carl Bonney. DR.. to five sticks
of checerbery pipe"
Alas! and alas! for the sacredness of
historical personages! Red-head, alias
Robin Hood, went out and told the story
to his mates. Carl soon had need ofhis
ledger There was not much more
ready pay.
Those "Accounts with NIisters!" [
keep that ledger now, and whenever [
have an attack of the indigoes [ get it
out and laugh over it. A tall boy with
flashing eyes, bore himself proudly as
Alexander Selkirk; a meek-looking,
white-eyed boy rejoiced in the name of
Jefferson Davis; then there was George
Washington, not at all, as [ should
think, resembling the father of this
country" and counterfeit Robinson
Crusoe That name struck Carl as be-
ing a little familiar, but in the rush of
customers he soon forgot it. Walter
Raleigh, William Shakespeare, Oliver
Cromwell, (another familiar NAME
Ben Franklin, Isaac Newton, Thomas
Jefferson, Patrick Henry-Ah, if Carl
had only paid more attention to his
history and less to crooking pins-and.a
host of others. A big, black-haired
boy, and a little red-haired boy took
the same name, William Tweed Carl
was puzzled at the coincidence, and
asked the black-haired William what it
meant. He looked blank, but w. I.
number two came to the rescue with a
lying audacity which would have de-
lighted his namesake.
ME and him is cousins, was named
after the same chap, nice man he was;
come to think, shouldn't wonder bit
if twas your father" evidently wishing
to conciliate the little trader
Carl looked the red-haired William