Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1883-01-11

EoI nc@Neu SAKE ury up tnat
whistling." said the grocery man to
the bad boy. as he sat on bag of pea
nuts whistling and filling his pockets.
Say. what was your pa running af-
ter the doctor in his shirt sleeves for
last Sunday morning? He looked
scared. Was your ma sick again p
20. no. Eaa is healthy enough, now
she has got q new fur-lined cloak.
She played consumption on pa, and
coughed so she like to raise her lights
and liver, and made pa believe she
couldn't live. and got the doctor to
prescribe fnr-lined circular, and pa
went and got one. and ma has improv-
ed awfully. was the one that was
sick. You see, / wanted to get pa
into the church again, and get him to
stop drinking. SO got boy to write
letter to him, in female hand, and
sign the name of choir singer pa was
smit on, and tell him that the church
seemed blank without his smiling
face and benevolent heart, and to
please come back for her sake. Pa
got the letter Saturday night. and b Q
seemed tickled. but guess he dreamed
about it all night, and Sunday morn
ing he was mad, and he took me by
the ear aud said | conldn't come no
Daisy business on him.. He said be
knew wrote the letter, and for me
to go up In the store-room and pre-
pare for the almightiest licking a boy
ever had; and he went down stairs
and broke up an apple barrel, and
got stave to whip me with. Well,
| had to think mighty quick. but
was enough for him. l got dried
bladder in my room-one that me and
my chum got to the slotter-house-
and blowed it partly up, so it would
be sort Of fiat like. and | put it down
inside the back part of my pants. right
about where pa hits me when he pun
ishes me. Well, pa he came up and
found me crying. | can cry Just as
easy as you can turn on the water at
a faucet; and pa took off his coat and
looked sorry. | was afraid he would
give up whipping me when he see me
cry, and ! wanted to go on with the
bladder experiment, so | looked kind
OF hard, as if | was defying him to do
his worst, and then he took me by the
neck and laid me across trunk. |
didn't dare to struggle much for fear
the bladder would lose itself. and pa
said, Now. Hennery, | am going to
break yon of this damfoolishness or I
will break your back, and he spit on
his hands and brought the barrel stave
down on nv best pants. Well, you'd
dide if you had heard the explosion.
1t almost knocked me off the trunk.
1t sounded like firing a fire-cracker
away down cellar In a barrel, and pa
looked scared. / rolled off the trunk
on the floor, and put some -four on
my face to make me look pale. and
then | kind of kicked my legs like
fellow who is dying on the stage af-
ter being stabbed with a piece oflath,
and groaned, and said, Pa, you have
killed me, but for qve you, and then
| rolled around u frothed at the
mouth, cause l had piece Of soap in
my mouth to make foam. Well, pa
was all broke up. He said, Great
God, what have l done? have
broke his spinal column. o, my poor
boy, do not die. kept chewing the
soap and foaming at the mouth, and
/ drew my legs IN and kicked ont,
and clutched my hair, aud rolled my
eyes, then kicked pa in the stummic
as he bent over me and knocked his
breath out Of him, and then my limbs
began to get rigid, and / said, Too
late, pa, die at the hands of an as
sa sin. Go for a doctor. Pa throwed
his coat over me and started down
stairs on a run, saying, I have mur-
dered my brave boy, and he told ma
to 60 up stairs and stay with me,
cause / had fallen of trunk and rup-
tured blood vessel, and he went af-
ter the doctor. When he went out
the front door / sat up and lit Gig
arctic, and ma came mp, and / told
her all about how fooled pa. and if
she would take on and cry when pa
got back, | would get him to 90 to
church again and swear off drinking,
and she LATED and said she would. |
So when pa and the doctor came back, |
ma was sitting on a velocipede | used |
to ride, which was in the store-room.
and she had her apron over her face, and /
just more than beloved. Pa he was |
pale, and told the doc that he was
just a playing with me with little |
piece Of boaId, and he heard some
thing crack. and be guessed my spine |
got broke falling of the trunk. The
doctor wanted to feel where my spine
was broke, but l opened my eyes and
had a vacant sort Of stare, like a wo-
man who leads a dog by string, and
looked as though my mind was wan
dering, and | told the doctor there
was no nse setting my spine, as it was
broke in several places, aud would
not let him. ! told pa that was 90
ing to die, and / wanted him to pro-
mise me two things on my dying bed.