Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-04-01

hearts! like fun yet as well ss any
body"
Then ne laughed ready to split, bent
himself double, and we all began to feel
easy, and laugh too. Tom Jones said
he wished his father was like mine, and
Pop began to encourage MS to do moro.
We were SO spurred on by him that we
hardly left gate in the place where II
belonged, Pop going along with us, act
ing as kind of scout, he said, and Sec
ing that nobody was near to disturb rs.
Once or twice he gave signal Of alarm,
and we all crouched down rs still ~
mice, Pop stiller than any Of us. Inever
was so dumbfounded in my life, for I'D
never seen Pop very jolly that way be-
fore. The boys were delighted with
him; they all agreed to make him Pres
ident of our club, and Pop said he'd
take the position when he got back from
the Legislature.
Well, we'd come to the conclusion the
place was completely done, and Jim
Clancy proposed we should 60 homo.
Jim had torn his hands rather badly
with Uncle Jake's gate, and didn't feel
very good, when suddenly Pop said:
Yes, boys, of course Wen 60 homo
pretty soon, when we're through, you
know; but we must put all the gates back
IN their places again first"
We all looked at each other aghast
for a minute. "Back again." cried the
fellows. "Well, guess mott" "Not
much!" Hardlyi" and all sorts Of
derisive refusals went round.
Pop stood among us, whirling his
cane, smiling all the time, and said:
"Oh, yes you will, boys, when you
think of it minute. You've had your
fun, you know; but it won't do to 60
too far. I'm a Justice of the Peace,
you see, and this innocent little racket
comes under the head of malicious
mischief You could all be sent to Jail;
and no matter how badly I'd feel, I'D
have to act under the law. There's
where it is, you see; people are so hard
on boys they won't let them enjoy
themselves. It's too bad; but never
mind, we've had our fun any way. Now
cts get to work in earnest. Here,
we'll begin with this gate. Lift it up
there, Jim; hold on the other side,
Bobby, my boy. Now we have it-all
together. :" And as true as you live, we
actually found ourselves walking along
with the gate between us. From that
gate we went to another, and another.
/ don't know how it was, but we just
plodded along, and did what Pop said.
He was laughing, and joking, and -four
ishing his cane; but, oh, how tired we
were! How our hands and our feet and
our hearts ached, and how sickening Il
all was! The most sickening of any
thing was to hear Pop laugh and carry
on all the time, as IL this was the cream
of the joke. Itell you, we were all mad
enough; and when we got to old Jake
Van Courter's, we just rebelled. We
all hated Jake, any how; and Tom
Jones he stood right out in the road,
and said Jake was q mean old curmud-
geon; and then Pop got hold of Tom
before we knew it, and down came his
cane with q whack.
Snow, boys" says Pop, "fun's fun,
and I'm as fond of it as any body, but
don't see any use of spelling a good
time in this kind of way. Jake
couldn't put that gate back to save his
life, and it goes to my heart to hear
hard words against the poor old man.
He's bent double with rheumatism, he's
old and he's poor, and he's no subject
for your fun. Take fellow like me Il
you want fun. I don't mind it. Do
what you like to me, but spare poor old
Jake"
Well, we just looked at each other In
mute disgust, but we didn't care to dis
pute any further with Pop. We plunked
along that nasty old freezing road, and
we yanked Uncle Jake's gate out of the
mud, and carried it half mile, our
nails hanging off and tears of mortifi-
cation rolling down our checks, with
Pop laughing like good one all the
while, declaring that he didn't see
how any body could be so hard on
boys; they would have their fun,
and for his part he thought it did them
good, and it took him back to his youth
again; he hadn't had such a spree for
many year.
We groaned and looked at each other,
and each Of us dropped off silently and
glcomily ut our separate doors. A
whole month has gone by without
proposition for fun of any kind, and III
leave it to any body IL 1t amt enough to
disgust q fellow to have Pop winking as
me behind his hand, and telling me TO
count him in for the next racket.-Mry.
+. Mccarthy, in Harper's Young People.
This is the true domestic pleasure.
Health, contentment, love, abundance
and bright prospects are all here. But
it has become a prevalent sentiment that