The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-12-13
lMlTlATLD III MASONRY.
The Bad BOY Gives His Faith
or the Royal Bun1ser
Degree.

"Say, are you a Mason, or nodiel-
low, or anything?" asked the bad boy
Of the grocery-man, us he went 10 the
cinnamon nay on the shelf and took OUT
IL long stick Of cinnamon bark to chew
Why, yes, Of course | am, but
what set you to thinking Of thatY ask
cd the gr0cery-man, as he went 10 the
desk and charged the boys father WIFI
halfa pound d cinnamon.
We'll, do the goats hunt when you
nishiate fresh candidate%
mo, Of course not. The goats are
cheap ones, that have no life, and weI
muzzlc them, and put pillows over
ihen heads, so they can't hurt any
body" says the grocerynan, as he Wink
ed AT II brother Odd Fellow who was
seated on sugar barrel, looking mystic
rious. "But why do you askT
80, nuthin, only wish me and my
chuin had mulzled our goat with pd-
low. IA would have enjoyed his be-
coming member Of our lodge better
You see, pa had been telling us how
much good the Masons aud Odd FelIers
did, and .aid we ought to try and grow
up good so we could jine the lodges
when we got big, aud | asked pa if it
would d. any hurt for us to have aplay
lodge in my room, and purtend to nish-
late, and pa said it wouldn't do any
hurt. lie said it would improve our
minds and learn US TO be men. 80 my
chum and me borried a goat that lives
in livery stable and carried him up to
my room when pa and ma was out ri
ding, but the goat bIeated So that we
had TO tic Il handkerchief around his
nose, and his feet made such noise on
the floor that we put some baby's socks
on hi. feet Well, sir, my chum and
me practiced with that goat until he
could bunt II picture Of goat every
time. We borried buck beer sign
from IL saloon man and hung it ON the
back Of Il chair, and the goat would hit
ii every time. That night pa wanted
to know what we were doing up in my
room, and | told him we were playing
lodge, and improving our minds, and
pa said that was right, there was moth
Ing that boys did OF our age half so
much good as to initiate men, and store
by useful nollidge. Then my chum
asked pa if he didn't want to come up
aud take the royal bumper degree, and
pa lafed and said he didn't care if he
did, just to encourage us boys i'll inno-
cent pas,ime, that was SO improving to
our intellect We had shut the goa, up
in a closet in my room, and he had got
over his bleating, so we took of the
handkerchief, and he was eating some
of my paper collars and skate straps
We vent up stairs and told pa to
come up pretty soon and give three dis
tinct aps, aud when we asked him who
comes there he must say 'apilgarim who
wants to join your ancient order and
ride the goat. Ma wanted to come up
too, but We told her if She come in it
would break up the lodge, cause wo-
man couldn't keep secret, and We
didn't have any side-saddle for the goat.
Say, eff YOU never tried it, the next time
You nishiale man in your Mason's
lodge, you sprinkle Il little kyan pepper
on the goats beard before you turn him
loose. You can get three times as much
power to the square inch Of goat. Well,
we got all fixed and pa raped, and We
let him in aud told him he must be
blindfodcd, and he got on his knees Il
lafiHg, and / tied u towel around his
eyes, and then | turned him around
and made him get down on his hands
also, and then bis back was right to.
ward the closet door, and | put the
back beer sign right against pas clothes
He was Il lNiiing all the time, and SAID
we boys were full Of fun as they made
en-, and we told him it was q solemn DC.
casion, but we wouldn't permit no levi
iy, and if he didn't stop latfing VIC
couldn't give him the royal bumper de-
gree Then everything was ready, aud
my chum had his hand on the closet
door, and some kyan pepper in his 9th
err hand, and ! asked pa in low bass
tones if he felt as though he wanted to
turn back. or if he had nerve enough to
go ahead and take the degree. |
warned him that it was full Of dangers
as the goat was loaded for beer, and
told him he yet had time to retrace his
steps if he wanted to. He said he want
ed the whole business, and we could go
ahead with the mcnagerle. Then | said
to pa that if he had decided to 60 ahead
and not blame us for the consequences,
to repeat after me the following: Bring
forth the royal bumper, and let him
bumpP Pa repeated the words and
my chum sprinkled the kyan pepper on
the goats mustache, and he sneezed
once aud looked sassy, and then he saw
the lager beer goat raring up, and he
started for it just like u cow-catcher and
blatcd. Pa is real fat, but he knew he
had got hit, and he grunied and said 4:
-! what you boys doin 7 and then
the goat gave him another degree, and
pa pulled off the towel and got up and
started for the stairs, and so did the
goat, and ma was ut the bottom of the
stairs listening, and when looked over
the banisters pa and ma and the goat
were all in II heap, and pa was yelling
murder, and ma was screaming fire
aud the hired girl came into the hal
and the goat took after her, and she
crossed herself just as the goat struck
her aud said 'Howly mother, protect
mel and went down stairs the way We
boys slide down hill, with both hands
on herself. and the goat reared up and
| IL n.,l Ii. al n.,l