Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1883-07-21
Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa-His Pa
Fights Hornets.

f1kHCS hOruetS'
"Go away from here now" said tn
grocery man to the bad boy, as he ram'
into the store and was going 10 draw
some cider out OF a barrel into Il pi:.
measure that had flies in it. Get righ
out Of this place, and don't let me see
you around here until the health Office
says your pa has got over the small pox
| saw him this morning and his face i:
all covered with postulcs, and they vii
have him in the pest house before night
You git" and he picked up butter
tryer and went for the boy. who took re
fuge behind barrel Of onions, and hello
up his hands as though Jessie James
! had drawn a beat on him.
90, Won go and chase yourself That
is not small pox pa has got. He had a
fight with a nest Of hornets" said the
boy.
Hornets, Well, I'll be cussed," re-
marked the grocery man, as ne put up
the butter tryer and handed the boy a
SiINN VI IOtlNIi hlllNloil. liON III
the world did he get into Il nest of hor.
nets? l hope you did not have any
thing TO do with it,"
The boy buried his face in the melon,
until he looked as though yellow cash
had been cut from his mouth to his ears
and after swallowing the melon he said :
well, pa says aim responsible, and he
says that settles it. and | can 60 my way
and he will 90 his. He said he WAS
willing 10 overlook everything had
done to make his life unbearabc, but
steering him onto Il nest Of hornets, and
then getting drunk, was too much, and
can 60"
"What, you havn't been drunk" says
the grocery man. Great heavens, that
will kill your poor old father"
80, | guess it wont Kill him very
much. He has been getting drunk for
the last twenty years, and says he is
healthier today than he ever was, since
his liver has got to working again You
see Monday was a regular Indian sum
incr ,lay, and pa said be would take me
and my chum out in the woods to gather
hickory nuts. If We would be good, ]
said | would, and my chum said he
would and We got a couple of bags and
went away out TO Wauwatosa, in the
woods. We dubbed the trees and got
more nuts than anybody, and had a
lunch, and pa was enjoying his relidein
nap under a tree, my chum and me
looked around and found Il hornets nest
on the lower limb of the tree We were
sitting under, and my chum said il
would be a good joke 10 get pole and
run it into the hornets nest and then
run. Honest, didn't think about pl
being under the tree, and | went into "a
field and got a hop pole, and pat the
small end up into the nest, and Cougcd
the nsA couple Of times. and when the
boss hornet came out Of the hole and
looked sassy, and then looked bach in
the hole and whistlcd TO the other hor-
nets TO come out and have circus, and
they began to come out, my chum and
me run and climbed over "a fence, and
got behind pile of bop poles that was
stacked up. guess the hornets saw my
pa just as quick as they got out Of the
nest, cause pretty soon we heard him
call to Helen Damnation,' or some other
woman we didn't know, and then took
his coat, that he had been using for q
pillow, and whipped around, and he
slapped hisself on the shoulders, and
then took the lunch basket and pound
ed around like he was crazy, and bime-
by he started on run towards town,
holding his pants up, cause his suspend
ers was hanging down on his hips, and
| never see fat man run so, and fan
himself with a basket. We could hear
him yell, come on boys. Hell is out
for noon,' and he went over a hill, and
we didn't see him any more. We wait
ed till near dark because we were afraid
TO 60 after the bags of nuts till the hor-
nets had gone to bed and then we came
home. The bags were awful heavy, and
i think it was real mean in pa to go off
and leave us, and not help carry the
bags"
Il swan" said the grocery man, you
are too mean to live. But what about
your getting drunk !"
80, was going to tell you. Pa had a
bottle of liver medicine in his coat
pocket, and when he was whipping his
hornets the bottle dropped out, and l
picked it up to carry it home to him.
My chum wanted to smell Of the liver
medicine, SO he took out the cork and it
smelled just like in front Of liquor
store on East Water street, and my
chum said his liver was bad, too, and he
took swaller, and he said he should
think it was enough to cut feller's liver
up in slices, but it was good and then /
had a peculiar feeling in my liver, and
my chum said his liver felt better after
he had took swaller, and it was the
offulest liver remedy | ever tasted. 1t
scorched my throat just like the diph-
liberia, but it beats diphtheria or sore
throat all to pieces, and my chum and