Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-07-27
HOW THE LITTLE BINKLEYS DIDN'T
GET BURNED.

GET BURNED.
"No," said Mrs. Binkley, decided
ly, ''you must not set off fire.
crackers in the house nor in the yard. !
resolved when Mr.. Walkers house was
burned last Fourth of July never to allow
any more of this heathenish, dangerous
playing with fire on my premises, and
your father feels Just as l do. The
house has just been pain ted and paper
ed, and I can't afford to have it burned
down.
Mrs. Binkley's word was law in the
Binkley family; and upon hearing her
manifesto, Cy, Bert and lizzie, the three
well Binkley children, put on counte-
nances expressive of the deepest woe.
I'm big enough, / guess pro-
tested Cy, who was fourteen, and large
for his age.
i never set anything on fire yet. -
boosted Bert, a younger brother with the
air of one advancing an unanswerable
argument.
'tOh, mother!'' walled little lizzie,
"it's too bad. Uncle Harry would say
so, too"
Eddie, the lame boy, who was nearly
twelve years old, though he hardly
looked nine, sat perfectly silent, with
the tears coming down his thin. patient
cheeks. Eddie had been slotting'' on
firing off the crackers, more, perhaps,
than any of the rest of them. He had
fallen downstairs when he was learn
ing to walk, and the fall had changed
him from healthy. well-formed child to
a poor misshapen, lame little invalid; but
he had a beautiful, angelic sort of face,
and in spite of the fact that he was so
helpless, and that they all had to wait
on him a great deal, the other little
Binkleys loved Eddie more than any,
body else in the world.
So did Mrs. Binkley; and when she
glanced up after delivering her stern
veto she saw Eddie's sorrowful face and
overfiowing eyes, and her heart melted.
She thought moment, and then she be-
gan, doubtfully:
"There's the mouth of the brook,
children. If you would look carefully
after Eddie and lizzie, Cyrus, suppose
that you might let off your crackers
there. Only you must be very careful
not to set yourselves on fire. There
were several burned to death last
Fourth of July from sitting down on
half-burned crackers, and I shall worry
over you till you come back. Be sure,
all of you, not to throw any fire crackers
in Eddie's direction; for Eddie, you
know, can't run away"
Little Eddie's pale face had grown
very bright while his mother was speak
ing, and as she finished, he hobbled over
to her side on his crutches, and kissed
her, gratefully.
'sYou see,' continued Mrs. Binkley.
catching her poor sick boy in her arms
and caressing him tenderly, mamma
is cruel to be kind Burns cause such
terrible suffering that she had asked
papa not to get the children any fire.
crackers nor fireworks this year. But
since Uncle Harry has sent you that
great package feel as though | ought,
perhaps, to let you have them. And
now hope you'll enjoy them and not
get hurt. You can ask Horace and SUI
sic Bell to 90 with you, and stay down
by the brook till every single fire crack
er is used up
The children made innumerable prom
ises, and ran to make arrangements
for the grand tournament" of the next
day.
1.-The brook was one of those shall
low, rapid little streams that abound in
New England, and the river into which
it emptied, just at the foot of the Blink
leys' beautiful meadow, though consid-
erably wider, was scarcely deeper; so
that Mrs. Binkley felt pretty sure that
the children wouldn't get drowned while
playing down there, especially when
Cyrus and Horace were with them, for
they were large enough to be trusted
good deal. She did not like so well to
have them play in the mill-pond. only a
little way above the mouth of the brook.
This was very deep, and was kept so by
a high dam, which served the purposes
of the busy saw-mill just on the other
side of the stream, and concealed from
the view of any one at the mouth of the
brook by trifing bend in the current:
but the Binkleys loved to sit when in
meditative mood ON the stony beach
there, and watch the spray and foam
from the dam, which, as it fell over a
mass of rocks below, they could just see
around the bend.
The day before the Fourth was very
rainy, and all night long. whenever the
children woke up, they heard the pat
ter, patter of the drops falling on the
roof. Their hearts sank. They feared
that even their last resource was going
to fail them, when, presto!-as they rose
on the morning of the Fourth their daz-
zled eyes were greeted with a blaze of
sunlight and they ate their breakfast in
the most remarkable spirits.
Horace and Susie were on hand i'm
upon the conclusion of that
all-too-long repast, and as they ran
across the meadow. in the cool of the
early morning, to the long, stony beach
which stretched on both sides of the
brook as it laat its existence in the river,
they were probably the gayest little
party in the world.
Mr.. Binkley went down with them, as
Mrs. Bink1ey couldn't possibly leave
Just then, to see that Eddie should be
E. I. 7 l..