The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1883-03-15
HIS PA GETS MAD.

of court plaster, enough to make shirt,
/ should think. What's she doing with
so much court plaster" asked the gro
Gerry man of the bad boy, as he came in
and pulled off his boots by the stove and
out a lot of snow, that had col
lected as he walked through a drift, on
the hearth, which melted and made
bad smell.
80, 1 guess she is going to patch pa
up so he will hold water Pas temper
got him into the worst muss you ever
see, last night. If that museum was
here now they would hire pa and ex-
hibit him rs the tattooed man. ! tell you,
/ have got too old to be mauled as
though I was kid, and any man who
attacks me from this out, wants to have
his peace made with the insurance COM
panies, and know that his calling and
election is sure, because / am a bad
man, and don't you forget it. And the
boy pulled on his boots and looked so
cross and desperate that the grocery
man asked him if he wouldn't t try lit
tie new cider.
'sGood heavens" said the grocery
man, as the boy swallowed the cider,
and his face resumed its natural look,
and the piratical frown disappeared
with the cider ''You have not stabbed
your father, have you? 1 have feared
that one thing would bring on another,
with you, and that you would yet be
hung"
..Naw, I haven't stabbed him. It was
another cat that stabbed him. You see
pa wants me to do all the work around
the house. The other day he bought
load of kindling wood, and told me to
carry it into the basement. | have not
been educated up to kindling wood, and
I didn't do it. When supper time
came, and pa found that | had not car
ried in the kindling wood, he had hot
box, and he told me if that wood was
not in when he came back from the
lodge, that he would warm my jacket.
Well, | tried to hire some one to carry
it in, and got a man to promise to come
in the morning and carry it in and take
his pay in groceries, and / was going to
buy the groceries here and have them
charged to pa. But that wouldn't help
me cut that night. knew when pa came
home he would search for me. So |
slept in the back hall on q cot. But l
didn't want pa to have all his trouble
for nothing, so | borrowed an old tom
cat that my chum's old mas aunt owns,
and put the cat in my bed. ] thought
if pa came in my room after me, and
found that by his unkindness that had
changed to tom cat, he would be sorry.
That is the biggest cat you ever see, and
the worst fighter in our ward. 1t isn't
afraid of anything, and can whip a New
Foundland dog quicker than you could
put sand in a barrel of sugar. Well,
about eleven o'clock | heard pa tumble
over the kindling wood, and | knew by
the remark he made, as the wood slid
around under him, that there was going
to be cat fight real quick. He come
up to mas room, and sounded ma as to
whether Hennery had retired to his
virtuous couch. Pa is awful sarcastic
when he tries to be. / could hear him
take off his clothes, and hear him say,
as he picked up q trunk strap, i guess
l will 90 up to his room and watch the
smile on his face, as he dreams Of
angels. | yearn to press him to my
aching BOSOM thought to myself,
mebbe you won't yearn so much direct
ly. He come up stairs, and could hear
him breathing hard. I looked out
around the corner and could see he Just
had on his shirt and pants, and his sus-
penders were hanging down, and his
bald head shone ike calcium light
just before it explodes. Pa went in my
room, and up to the bed, and l could
hear him say, Come out here and
bring in that kindling wood, or | will
start fire on your base burner with
this strap And then there was a
yowling such as l never heard before,
and pa said, Helen BlaZes, and the fur
niture in my room began to fall around
and break. o, nsy! [ think pa took
the tom cat right by the neck, the way
he does me, and that left all the cat s
feet free to get in their work. BY the
way the cat squalled as though it was
being choked. | know pa had him bv the
neck. | suppose the cat thought pa was
q whole flock of New Foundland dogs,
and the cat had record on dogs, and it
kicked awful. PAS shirt was no pro-
lection at all in cat fight, and the cat
just walked all around pas stomach,
and pa yelled police, and fire. and
turn On the hose, and he called ma,
and the cat yowled. If pa had had pres
ence of mind enough to have dropped
UlIC Selt- VI III btiC ttSso,
it would have been all right, but man
always gets ratified in time of danger.
and he held onto the cat and started
down stairs yelling murder, and he met
ma coming up. l guess mas night-cap,
or something, frightened the cat some
more, cause he stabbed ma on the night
shirt with one hind foot, and ma said
mercy on US, and she went back, and
pa stumbled on hand-sled that was on
the stairs, and they all fell down, and
the cat got away and went down in the
coal bin and yowled all night. Pa and
ma went into their room, and / guess
they annointed themselves with vase
line, and Ponds extract, and went and
got into my bed, cause it was cold out
in the hall, and the cat hvd warmed my
bed as well asit had warmed pa. It was
all | could do to go to sleep, with pa and
ma talking all night, and this morning
/ came down the back stairs, and hav-
emit been to breakfast, cause l don't
want to see pa when he is vexed. You
let the man that carries in the kindling
wood have six shillinGs worth of gro
ceries, and charge them TO pa. l have
passed the kindling wood period in a
DOy y me, anu HiiNS dIIIfGu DIT Tue cOal
period. will carry in coal, but l draw
the line at kindling wood"
''Well, you ara cruel, bad boy"
said the grocery man, as he went to the
book and charged the six shillings.
80, don't know. / think pa is cruel.
A man who will take poor kitty by the
neck, that hasn't done any ham, and
tries to chastise the poor thing with a
trunk strap, ought to be looked after by
the humane society. And if it is cruel
to take q cat by the neck, how much
more cruel is it to take a boy by the
neck, that had diptheria only a few
years ago. and whose throat is tender.
Say, 1 guess will accept your invita-
ton to take breakfast with YOU" and
the boy cut off piece of bologna and
helped himself to the crackers, and
while the grocery man was out shovel
ing off the snow from the sidewalk, the
boy filled his pockets with raisins and
loaf sugar, and then went out to watch
the man carry in his kindling wood
Peck'S San.
Printers Errors
In this little world of ours there are a
rrraot ,,ooo1- ssc,,,ort k1cclSff who thin L