The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1882-04-22
Twenty Sons.

One day there came into old Mr.. Gal
lagher's hat store man who asked t.
look at O cap. He was shown numbe
of caps, and selecting one that suited, b,
stated that he would take four of them
The halter was somewhat astonished II
hear the man ask for four caps at once
especially as he said he wanted them al
the same size.
asked Mr.. Gallagher.
"Yes, sir, have. and I've got sixteen
others besides" answered the man.
"Where are they?" inquired the halter
who stood all torn mp by curiosity al
the strange statement.
They're down here at the market,
They're dowE here at the market,
was the reply.
Bring them here" said the halter
"and I'll make them all present of 0
cap each.
The man went ont, and shortly re-
turned, chasing into the store drove oil
| boys that looked something like the
famous staircase band you might see in
the theater if you ever visited such q
place.
tHyar they be, mister. These be my
boys, they be-"
"Well, well, we'll, I neverl Doesn't
that beat allr calculated the old halter,
as he gazed in wonder at the group OF
all sorts of awkward attitudes, some star
ing about in an absent sort of way Others
| giggling like schoolgirls, and the rest
| getting all tangled up with each other III
endeavoring to keep from trampling on
| tho 1ovac or oil cloth or r,aaktirn ry, ho
| floor.
"Come in, boys, come in and make
yourselves at home, shouted Mr.. Gala
CHER as the string blocked up the door
! way. And he was soon busy "ftting''
their pates with caps.
''This 'ere's Thomas Dittimus," said
the happy father, dragging forth the
eldest of the gang. Hes the first born,
and mighty good boy he is, too. He's
about thirty-five years Old
He was speedily suited with cap and
told to stand aside
s'This hyar one, said the old stock
raiser, sis the next Oldest. His name is
| Christopher Holmes" And his father
| grabbed another of the drove rs though
he were big sheep. .Ef you'll notice,
stranger, you'll see that the first boy has
] got black eyes like mine, and this has
blue eyes like mis- mother" 1t was but
the work of second to slap cap on the
blonde head, and he was pushed over by
the side of his older brother, with the in
! junction not to get mixed in with the
others till every fellow had got his new
cap.
Step out here, Peter Dialander, !"
commanded the owner of the bunch of
boys. At this, third young man am
bled out in front of the delighted halter,
who enjoyed the experience beyond de-
scription. "Hayr's a other black-eyed
boy" remarked the boy-builder. "You
see every other one is blue-eyed, and
| the rest is black-eyed so far, and this
helps to keep the run of them if you un-
derstand the system, but when you come
to go through the whole string you'd
| get mixed after the first ten, as I'll .ex-
plain to you further along. Now this
one is Calendar JONES'" and making a
| dash In among the mob the daddy
brought out a fourth son and almost
held him up by the back of the neck. A
cap was passed down over his head, and
he was assigned position among the
| seniors.
| Number five was fished out OF the
| aAo lAblO0UCcQ d5 ICCI Icy
He got his cap and went to join the
others that were already fitted out
Then came Osy Neeshy, followed next
by George Wampum then Shaw no Cato
| 81 kind o. sort O. try to keep 'em
divided into lots of five, you see, by
giving them names of different ma
ture, yet something alike: for in
stance, Injun names all come together.
| But right about hyar / always get
mixed when / try to pick the lads out
according to their ages, 'canse, you
see, the eyes begin to change along
about the tenth baby that comes.
Commencing with the first, who, as you
saw had black eyes, the change of color
keeps on black, then blue till it gets
down to the tenth or eleventh, when
there is change right around the other
way. For instance the tenth being blue
the eleventh ought to be be black, bat
one of his eyes is blue and one is black
then the others start out just opposite to
the way they first began That is, yon
will notice, now strange that-let me
see," mused the father, trying to single
out the proper one. "Yes, the twelfth,
who should have had blue eyes if the
change had not taken place, is black.
Then the next is blue, the next black
and SO on to the end. On account of
this change the first and last
are black, whereas, if the alteration had
been kept up as it started they would
have been opposite 10 color. In the
same way the next to the first and next
to the last are both blue, and SO on.
The introductions kept on, and the
boys we're all fitted with cap each, free
of cost, by the good -natured halter. The
father stated that there we're no twins in
the party, and that they were all the off
spring of one wife. There was about 0
years difference in their respective ages
the youngest being about twelve. Rela
tive to keeping the run of the family the
old man stated that his wife. the mother
of the boys, knew them better than he
did great deal-that is, she could cal
off their names and ages without having
to stop to think, like he did, at times.
"What do you propose to do will
your boys ?" inquired that halter.
Make farmers of 'em, We're jes
travelling through hyar now on our way
to settle somewbar, but We don't exactly
know whar."
ibid you ever have any girls p
mary gal, stranger. All boys, and
we've never had any death in oui
family. Cincinnati Enquirer.
W. Arr., yuo,r,r n.~n