St. Landry democrat., 1882-08-05

the coal-scuttle 90 Off in the night, Sue
and mother and | were to open the win.
dows and scream, while he got up and
shot the robber
The first night, after father had fixed
everything nicely for the robbers, he
went to bed, and then mother told him
that she had forgotten to lock the back
door. So father he said. "Why can't
thing" and he got up and started to go
downstairs in the dark. He forgot ali
about the string, and fell over it with an
awful crash, and then began to fall
down stairs. When he got halfway
down he met the coal-scuttle, and that
went down the rest of the way with him,
and you never in your life heard any
thing like the noise the two of them
made. We opened our windows and
cried murder and fire and thieves, and
some men that We're going by rushed in
and picked father up, and would have
taken him off to jail, he was that dread
fully black, if hadn't told them who he
was.
But this was not the awful time that
I mentioned when | began to write, and
if don't begin to tell you about it, |
sha'n't have any room left on my pa
per. Mother gave dinner party last
Thursday. There were ten ladies and
twelve gentlemen, and one of them was
that dreadful Mr.. Martin with the cork
leg, and other improvements, as Mr..
Travers calls them. Mother told me
not to let her see me in the dining
room, or she'd let me know; and |
meant to mind, only forgot and went
into the dining room, just to look at
the table, few minutes before dinner.
l was looking at the raw oysters,
when Jane-that's the girl that waits
on the table-said: "Run, Master jim
my: here's your mother coming Now
| hadn't time to run, so just dived I'M
der the table, and thoughtful stay there
for minute or two, until mother went
out of the room again.
It wasn't only mother that came, but
the whole company, and they sat down
to dinner without giving me any chance
to get out. tell you it was dreadful
situation. | had only room enough to
sit still, and nearly every time | moved
| hit somebody's foot. Once | tried to
turn around, and while was doing it
hit my head against the table so hard
that l thought had upset something,
and was sure that people would know |
was there. But fortunately everybody
thought that somebody else had Jog
gled, SO escaped for that time.
1t was awfully tiresome waiting for
those people to get through dinner. 1t
seemed as if they could never eat
enough, and when they were not eat
ing they were all talking at once. 1t
taught me a lesson against gluttony,
and nobody will ever find me sitting
for hours at the dinner table,. Finally
made up my mind that must have some
amusement, and as Mr.. Martins cork
leg was close by me, thought | would
have some fun with that.
There was big darn1ng needle in my
pocket, that | kept there in case [
should want to use it for anything. I
happened to think that Mr.. Martin
couldn't feel anyth NO that was done to
his cork leg, and that it would be great
fun to drive the darning-needle into it
and leave the end sticking out, so that
people who didn't know that his leg was
cork would see it, and think that he
was suffering dreadfully, only he didn't
know it. So got out the needle, and
jammed it into his leg with both hands,
SO that it would 60 in good and deep.
Mr.. Martin gave yell that made my
hair run cold, and sprang up, and near
ly upset the table, and fell over his chair
backward, and wasn't there circus in
that dining-room! | had made amistake
about the leg, and run the needle into
his real one.
I was dragged out from under the ia
BILE, and - But l needn't say what
happened to me after that 1t was 1.-The
old. old story" as Sue says when she
sings foolish song about getting up at
five O o'clock in the morning-as if she'd
ever been awake at that time in her
whole life!-Harper's Young People.