The Labor enquirer., 1883-02-24
The Bad Boy.

s
grocery man of the bad boy as he came
in and pulled off his boots by the stove
and emptied out lot of snow that had
collected as he walked through drift,
which melted on the hearth and made a
bad smell. 8
aOh, / guess she's 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 exhibit him
as a tattooed man. / tell you I've got too
old to be mauled as though / was kid,
and any man who attacks me from this
out wants to have his peace made with
the insurance companies, and know that
his calling and election is sure, because
Pm 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
try little new cider.
Good 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? have feared that one thing
would bring on another with you, and
that you would yet be hung"
NAV, 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 a
load of kindling wood, and told me to
carry it into the basement. l have not
been educated up to kindling wood, and
Ididn't do it,
when supper time came, and pa found
that had not carried in the kindllng /
wood, he had hot box, and he told me
that if the wood was. not in when he
came back from the lodge he would
warm my Jacket,
well, tried to hire some one to.
carry it,in, and got man to promise to
come in the morning and carry it in and
take his pay in groceries here and have,
them charged to pa. But that wouldn't
help me out that night. [ knew when
pa came home he would search for me.
So | slept in the back hall on a cot.
"But didn't want pa to have all his
trouble for nothing, so | borrowed an
old tom cat that my chum's old maid
aunt owns and put the cat in my bed [
thought if pa came in my room after me
and found that by his unkindness I had
changed into tom cat, he would be
sorry. That is the biggest cat you ever
see, and the worst fighter in our ward.
1t amt afraid of anything and could
whip Newfoundland dog quicker than
you could put sand in barrel of sugar
"Well, about II o'clock I heard pa
tumble over the kindling wood. AS the
wood slid around under him l knew
there was going to be cat fight real
quick.
'He came u p to mas room and sound
ed ma as to whether Hennery had re-
tired to his virtuous couch.
. "Pa is awful sarcastic when he tries to |
be. I could hear him take off his clothes
and hear him say. as he picked up a
trunk strap, 4 guess I'll 60 up to his
room and watch the smile on his face as
he dreams of angels I yearn to press
him to my aching BOSOM.
II thought to myself, mebbe you won't
yearn so much directly. He come up
stairs, and could hear him breathing
hard. I looked out around the corner
and could see that he just had on his
shirt and pants, and his suspenders were
hanging down, and his bald head shone
like calcium light just before it ex-
plodes.
"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 1 will start fire on your base
burner with this strap And then there
was yowling such as I never heard be-
fore, and pa said, Helen Blazes,' and the
furniture in my room began to fall around
and break. O, myt think pa took the
tom cat right by the neck, the way he
does me, and that left all the cats feet
free to get in their work. By the way
the cat squawled as though it was being
ehoked, I knew pa had him by the neck.
p IL L -