The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-04-07

And now the noises are all suDGueO.
On tip-tOe lightly his yassals creep,
For His Royal Highness is fast asleep.
Joseph ne Pollard in Nursery.
THE REIGN OF THE GEORGES.
THIS story has no moral. Only fables
need morals, and this is not a fable.
There were two of the Georges, COM
monty called George l. and George IL;
not that they belonged to the House OF
Hapsburgh, or any other royal house.
but to very ordinary-looking yellow
brick, with two front doors and two
door bells. George /. went in at the
right hand door. and George IL. at the
left that is, when they went in at all,
for they were usually plotting together
in some convenient corner, or carrying
their plans into execution in all sorts of
inconvenient ones. This time it was II
tramp.
Everything had been arranged be-
forehand to the minutest details, except
that they were not going>anywhere in
particular, and that is just where they
had the advantage of ordinary travel
ers. They could 90 east, west, north
or south without the trouble of chang
ing their minds. Saturday morning
they seized their luncheon boxes and
rushed out at the gate with long
drawn whoop. There was Toodles
hanging BY his heels from the park
fence. Toodles saw them, but before
he could reverse himself they had dart
ed through the alley and around a
corner.
"A close dodge said George l.
He'd have been an awful nuisance.
IS soon have a girl along" said
George II. By this time they were in
front OF an auction store, and they
stopped to look at the crowd and at the
man on the barrel. George III. often
entertained serious thoughts of being
an auctiOneer instead OF a hack driver,
but was not quite decided. Such a
motley crowd: Two Indian squaws
bidding for gay cotton handkerchiefs;
a farmer buying an immense pair OF
cowhide boots; colored woman carry
ing away ali astonishing chrome; pack
ages of spoons, warranted pure silver,
going out over the heads of the crowd
IN every direction; and, of all strange
things, some old show frames from q
photo grapher's, filed with miscella-
neous assortment of uncles and aunts,
grandmothers and cousins. were sold to
a man with taste for art and a scanty
supply of relations!
'.Wish they'd put uo one of those
pistols" said George l.; "a pistol is q
! handy thing to have on q tramp"
| The opportunity OF the Georges ca ne
| presently when the man held up whal
| he called :. an assorted lot, and called
| for bids.
lone cintn' shouted a jolly Irish.
man; which bid was followed by two
three! four! until some one Offered
five, when George II. said:
Lets we bid, it's a whole boz
full" And i'll less than two minute.
the Georges had invested five cent:
each, and found themselves the happy
| possessors of two old candle-boxes con
tanning three rusty forks, a nutmeg
| crater, bottle OF indelible ink, al
iron spoon a bunch of lamp-wicks, {
patent knife-sharpener, and a miscel
laneous mixture of knitting-needles
hair pins, wooden pinholders, ten
penny nails and odd buttons.
That's what l call bargain, ,
chuckled George l.; and tucking thei
boxes under their arms they marched
toward the bridge, moved by the in
stinct that always draws boys to place
| where there is a chance of breaking
their necks. They stopped on th'
highest arch to look down at the rive
rushing along hundred feet below
1t was enough to make ones brain reel
but they minded it no more than if the,
had been flies, born to hang upon tn,
ceiling by their toe-nails. Down OF
the Island was the pretty Club House
and two of the Boat-Club were jus
starting out to practice. They wor
red skull-ca and had no clothes t,
speak of, but it was wonderful to se
how they fitted themselves into tn
frail little shells, balanced the Ion.
oars and shot away up the stream.
g m going to make me one of thOs
boats this WINTER said George Ii
George III. always was going to max
anything he fancied, from rat-tra
to a high-pressure engine. He ha'
been known to undertake steam saw
mill with no better material than a.
old wood-saw, two boards from th
back fence, and joint of rusty stove
pipe.
{" Tell you what!'' suddenly exclaim
ed George L., "let's have stand an
sell our things"
Let's 60 peddling," suggeste
George IL. ''tnerG more i've dollars
worth in these boxes"
, After d brief discussion they turne
back to Fourth street and waited for
car. George |. was intimately acquaint
ed with one driver, and George III. wa
, on confidential terms with another; bu
as neither of them CHANGED along the
were forced to pay two cents for a rid
Oh the platform, the driver winking a
the shortage. As they came to tn
foot of a steep hill, sleepy old hors
munching hay out OF q barrel by tn
1 roadside, with one eye cooked CRITICAL
s towards them, suddenly grabbed
parting bite and trotted into line. Th
driver, without slackening speed
reached down his stick to fasten tn
5 dangling hook into place. The new
! conner helped to pull the car up tn
hill, when he was unhitched in tn
! same fashion, and was left to wal
3 lesurely back to his hay barrel. Thi
} was an operation of whose fascinatio
the boys were never weary, and the
discussed it until they reached the en-
t of the car-route. where they propose
t to open business. The houses prom
t ised small success to peddlers; bu
d George | took one side of the street
e and George III. the other.
: Front doors were slammed in thei
faces, side doors refused to open, an
a back doors only showed suspicion
a crack, from which issued various di:
# courdging remarks. But at last
Y woman who was busy at her SEWN
t machine bought five cents wort