Mexico weekly ledger., 1883-03-08
Building a Fountain.

that makes considerable of q fountain.
l wish I had thought of it before"
upon my word!" giggled Mrs.
Spoopendyke. "'Why, you are really
an inventor. That's the best foun-
tain 1 ever saw ; but how are you ever
going to take it DOWN. and Mrs.
~Spoopen6yke contemplated the foun-
tain with considerable misgiving.
Don't want to take it DOWN."
grunted Mr.. Spoopendyke. sit comes
down itself by the natural law Of gray-
itation. Did you suppose that water
intended to squirt up in the air and
wait for me to bring it down on a
step-ladder? Got some kind of a no
ton that l was going to tie a rope
around that water and haul it down,
hadn't We? Well, Pm not, and l amt
going to offer it any chromos to come
down either!" And Mr.. Spoopendyke
seated himself on the lower step and
eyed his fountain with q great deal of
satisfaction.
.'How long are you going to let it
squirt" asked Mrs. Spoopendyke,
anxious to have the trouble begin that
it might be ove the sooner.
"Oh, 1 guess about twenty feet"
replied Mr.. Spoopendyke, measuring
the height of the stream with his eye
and chuckling to himself. "That's
about as long as the pressure would
permit, and 1 thought I'd let it go
that far before l hitched it up" and
Mr.. Spoopendyke fairly shook all
V e as the full strength of the joke
impressed itself upon him.
Mrs. S~poopendyke watched the play
Of the water in silence.
"P'raps you think 1 can't get that
fountain apart without getting wet"
said Mr.. Spoopendyke at length.
"Maybe you have imbibed the idea
that when l turn the water off I'm
going to be soaked. Well, I'm not.
The head that invented this fountain
knows how to keep itself dry" and
Mr.. S~poopendyke got up and walked
around his prize, his face beaming
with smiles. The water was falling
in a perfect shower upon the key box,
and in the afternoon sun the fountain
looked remarkably pretty.
Mrs. ~Spsopendyke made no re-
Spouse, but patiently awaited devel-
opmeuts.
Snow bring me the umbrella" said
Mi. S~poopendyke, preparing himself
for the closing triumph. "BriDg me
forth the fiery, untamed umbrella"
and as Mrs. ~Spoopendyke handed it
to him, he raised it, picked up his
key and approached the stream. The
umbrella protected him from the down
pour, but as he bent over to turn the
water off, the kissing shaft struck
under the Bingham and raising the
umbrella with a vicious jerk, tipped
Mr.. S~poopendyke over on his beam
ends.
"Dod CAST the measly squirt" he
yelled as soon as he recovered breath.
What did ye want to distract my
attention for?'' and he shook the UNI.
brella at his wife as he rose dripping
to his feet. siAnother time when
I'm fixing this fountain you gel
under the bed, We hear?'' and Mr..
S~poopendyke glared around him and
approached the enemy once more.
This time he held the umbrella
straight out before him, cropping along
behind it with the key. He had al
most reached the rod when the stream
struck the outside of the umbrella.
and as it whirled, Mr.. Spoopendyke
spun around, landing in a sitting po'
sition on the fountain, which lifted
him about a foot and rolled him ir
s. the gutter.
"That's what We were waiting te
see, was it?" he shouted as he climb
ed to his feet and shook his fist at his
trembling wife. "Been roosting VI
there to watch this display of genius
against brute force! Got an'idea hid
away somewhere that this fountain
and me amt IN friendly terms!" and
he whanged the umbrella across the
steadily pouring stream, got caught
once more and landed in the gutter
again, this time on the back of his
neck. ''How dye like the show!''
he squealed, bounding to his feet
"There's going to be a concert after
the circus!" and he charged once
again with his umbrella, which this
time was jerked out of his hands anG
rolled over into the street. procure
your tickets of the gentlemanly
ushers!" and he grabbed his weapon
and made another onslaught. "No1
that the circus performance is con-
cluded!" he continued as he fell ovel
the stream and rolled into the UNI.
brelIa. "The best is yet to comet
and in trying the umbrella which had
turned inside out he caught the foun'
tain again and slid down ON it to the
curbstone with a sound like a bune
starter on a barrel. "My dear, why
don't you-?" began Mrs. Spoop'
endyke.
"Ain't 1 % roared her husband
"P'raps you know more about tn,
personal habits of this dod gastet
squirt than l dol" and he staggered
at it with the umbrella and kicked at i
until his legs were loose. "May b,
you've got some political influenc,