St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1882-09-16
Improving His Mind.

mind. 1t gets me into trouble all the
time Grown-up folks can improve their
minds without doing any harm, for no.
BODY ever tells them that their conduct
is such, and that there isn't the
least excuse in the world for them; but
lust as sure as boy tries to improve
his mind, especially with animals, he
gets into dreadful difficulties. |
There was man came to our town
to lecture while ago. He had been
great traveller, and knew all about
Rome and Niagara Falls and the North
Pole, and such places, and father said:
"Now, Jimmy, here's an opportunity
for you to learn something and improve
your mind; 90 and take your mother and
do take an interest in something besides
games.'
Well, went to the lecture. The man
told all about the Australian savages
and their boomerang. He showed Us
boomerang, which is stick with two
legs, and an Australian will throw it at
a man, and it will 60 and hit him. and
come back of its own accord. Then he
told us about the way the Zulus throw
their assegais-that's the right way to
spell it-and spear an Englishman that's
morn ten rods away from them. Then
he showed a long string with heavy
lead ball on each end, and said the
South Americans would throw it at a
wild horse, and it would wind around
the horses legs, and tie itself into
bow-knot. and then the South A1neri-
can would catch the horse. But the
best of all was the account OF bull
fight which he saw in Spain, with the
Queen sitting on a throne, and giving
crown of evergreens to the chief bull.
fighter. He said that bull-fighting was
awfullv cruel, and that he tod us about
it SO that we might be thankful that we
are SO much better than those dreadful
Spanish people, who will watch bull
fight all day, and think it real fun.
The next day | told Mr.. Travers
about the boomerang, and he said it
was all true. Once there was an Aus
tralian savage in circus, and he got
angry, and he threw his boomerang at
a man who was in the third story OF
hotel. The boomerang went down one
street and up another, and into the no.
tie. door, and up stairs, and knocked the
man on the head, and came back the
same way right into the Australian saw
ages hand.
I was SO anxious to show father that l
had listened to the lecture that l made
boomerang just like the one the lee
turer had When it was done, went
out into the back yard, and slung it at
cat on the roof of our house. 1T never
touched the cat, but it went right
~ Ia
gave Mr.. Travers an awful blow in the
eye, besides hitting Sue on the nose. 1t
stopped right there in the dining-room,
and never came back to me at all, and
/ don't believe word the lecturer said
about it. / don't feel courage to tell
what father said about it.
Then tried to catch Mr.. Thompson's
dog, that lives next door to u.s. with two
lead balls tied on the ends OF long
string. Ididn't hit the dog any more
than [ did the cat, but [ didn't do any
harm except to Mr.. Thompson's cook,
and she ought to be thankful that it was
only her arm, for the doctor said that if
the balls had hit her On the head they
would have broken it, and the conse-
quences might have been serious.
LII was d HOOu Willie SOuAo
find anything to make an assegai out OF;
but after hunting all over the house, L
came across a lovely piece of bamboo
about ten feet long, and just as light as
feather. Then I got big knife blade
that hadn't any handle to. it, and that
had been lying in fathers tool chest for
sser so long. and fastened it on the end
III the bamboo You wouldn't believe
how splendidly | could throw that as
segai. only the wind would take it, and
you couldn't tell when you threw it
where it would bring up. l don't see
how the Zulus ever manage to hit an
Englshman; but Mr.. Travers says that
the Englishmen are all SO made that you
can't very well miss them. And then
perhaps the Zulus. when they want to
hit them, aim at some hing else. One
day | was practicing with the assegai at
our barn door. making believe that it
was an Englishman, when Mr.. Car
ruthers. the butcher, drove by, and the
assegai came down and went through
his foot, and pinned it to the wagon.
But he didn't see me, and | guess he
got it out after while. though never
saw it again.
But what the lecturer taught rs about
bull-fghts was worse than anything else.
Tom McGinnis' father has terrible
bull in the pasture, and Tom and ]
agreed that we'd have bull-tight only,
OF COURSE we wouldn't hurt the bull.
All we wanted to do was to show our
parents how much we had learned about
the geography and habits OF the
Spaniards.
Tom McGinnis' sister Jane. who il
twelve wears old, and thinks she knows
everything, said she'd be the Queen o.
Spain. and give Tom and me evergreen
wreaths. l got an old red curtain on
of the dining -room, and divided it witt
Tom, 50 that we could wave it in tn,
bulls face. When q bull runs after :
hull fnhtnr the other. bull FIGHTER JUS