The Benton weekly record. [volume] (Benton, Mont.) 1880-1885, 1881-06-30

+iSAb QttEsItotts 10 i1itt.iS ~ VIA iE'C'=
"Well, you neber seed sicl whoppen
felIars. Dar.s twenty ripe ones Ills berry
minute, If dere's one. y e @s~
Hannah cleared herssthroat.
sWe'se gwine to hold meetin' at Brud-
der Ford's tonight, righ 'longside de doe
tors field. Brudder Ford's water is mon
strous bad. 1t makes me rite sick Talk
in OBJ water-melons makes me hone fur
fen. Tink You kin find one or two ia
Brudder Fortl.s patch, and fetch 'em to me
after mcetin'ss''
II reckon,'' was Joe's answer, given
with alacrity. Nothing more passed be-
tween mother and son .--
Well, before dark. llalf-a-dozen Of the
young scamps in the neighborhood knew
that Fury had harked his last, and COM
.bined with Joe to rob the patch that night.
They were to take several bags Of fruit to
the people at Ford's, and then help them
selves. They knew no questions would be
asked by their friends, who would be con
velliently blind. What boys chose to do
was a matter Of little consequence to them,
and, if they kept their own hands from the
very act Of theft, they could not be made
to understand that they shared the guilt by
sharing the spoils.
This may even seem singular morality
to my young readers, but where the col
ored populationis ignorant, it is the COM
monest thing in the world for them to de-
fend themselves warmly against an ac-
cusation of theft, and really believe them
selves guiltless, when they had instigated
their own children to commit it.
Joe did not forget his friend Frank in
the proposed raid upon the watermelons,
About dusk, he hunted him up.
t'You see, Mars Frank" he said, "me
and dem niggers will tote de watermelons
for our friends fusf, and den I'llsaye de
biggest fellars fur. lis. We kin eat den in
peace. It'll We dark till bout 8, and den
We'll hab q moon. We. kin eat all we
want ter fore dat. ;,
Like a General, Joe narshaled his forces
and soon after dark dusky figures might
have been seen stealing noiselesslyin and
out of the patch Frank Hayard was there
His father was lawyer Of high reputa-
ton, who lived in constant dread that bis
Young seapegrace would some day get in.
to a scrape from which no law quibblt
could free him.. The boy WAS a thorn il
his respectable papa's side.
lie lounged against the fence, jestine
with the boys, who were securing the
melons, and taking them TO Ford 's--fol
they carried ii part Of them there--but no
taking any active part in the raid.
Snow. fellars, here's yer bag OBJ mel
ons,'' said Joe, t:and jest scoot away wit
'em. Ef was you, I'd cat 'em by dt
brick pond, SO you'll pitch de rinds int
de water. Ne and Mars Frank, we's
gwinc to hunt safe place, too"
s'Where have you put our melons? ?
Frank asked, when the boys and thei
plumber had disappeared.
Joe led him to place where he hat
concealed some splendid ones. by the din
starlight, Frank saw they were really thu
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