, 1883-11-17
PECK'S BAD Roy.

teny this morning." said the gro
ceryman to the bad boy, as he stoo,
up behind the stove to get warm
and he looked as If life was not on
continued picnic as heretofore
"What's the matter with you? You
father has not been tafhperihg will
you with boot, has he ?''
"No, sir" said the boy, as h,
frightened up. "Pa and me ar,
good friends now. He says he ha
discovered that my heart is in tht
right place, aud that am to amour
to something, and he has forgiven
every foolish thing lever did to him
and says for ME to come to him any
time whenI want adyicc ormoney t.
do good with. Why, when pa found
that l had pawned my watch to gel
money to buy medicine for the ole
woman, he went and redeemed it
and offered to whip the pawnbrokel
for charging me too much for the
money. o, pa is a darling now. He
went to the funeral with US"
"What funeral ?" said the grocery
man, with look of surprise. "You
are crazy. haven't heard of any fu-
neral at your house. Don't you
come no joke on me-"
80, there is no joke about it,
said the boy. "You see, the little
apple girls grandma lost her grip Oh
this earth soon after she got the doc
tor and the medicine, and died. l
was down there, and it was the SOL
emnest scene l ever witnessed. |
looked around, and see that some
body had got to act, and braced up
and told the girl l was all wool, a
yard wide, and for her to just let
me run things. She was going to
the pOOrmaster and have the city
bury the lady, but l couldn't bear to
see that little girl play solitaire as
mourner and ride in an express
wagon with the remains, and not
have any minister, and go to the
pauper burying-ground where they
don't say grace over the coffin, but
two shovelers smoke black pipes and
shovel the earth in too quick, and
talk Bohemian all the time. 1t did
MT seem right for poor little girl
that never committed a crime, ex-
cept to be poor and sell wOrmy APP
pies, TO have no style about her
grandma's funeral, so l told her to
brace up and wipe her eyes on my
handkerchief, and wait for Hennery.
Well, sir, l didn't know as l had so
much gall. You have got to be put
in tight place before you know the
kind of baled hay there is in you.
rushed out and found a mOtherly
old lady that used to do our washing
and give me bread and butter and
brown sugar on it when l went after
theclOthes. l knew Il woman that
would give bad boy bread and but
ter with brown sugar on it, and cut
the slices thick, had warm heart,
and got her to go down the alley
and stay with the little girl, and be
a sort Of mother to her for couple
of days. Then got my bicycle and
took it down to the pawn-shOp and
got $40 on it, and with that money
in my pocket l felt as though l
owned a brewery, and l went to
fellow that runs an excursion hearse,
and told him | wanted a hearse and
one good carriage at , o'clock sharp,
and the mourners would be ready.
He thought l was fooling, hut l
showed my roll Of bills and that set !
tied him. He would have turned
out six horses for me when he see
/ had the wealth to put up. l
went down and told the little girl
how l had arranged things, and she
said she wasn't fixed for no such
turnout as that. She hadn't any
clothes, and the toes of one foot were !
all out Of the shoe, and the heel was
off the other one, so she walked sort |
Of itllic like. l told her not to bOr-
row any trouble, that | would rig |
her out so she would do credit to
regular avenue funeral, with plumes
on the hearSe, and went home and |
hunted through the closets and / got |
o lot Of clothes ma wore years ago, |
when my little brother died, and a
pair Of her shoes, and a long veil and |
everything complete. Twas goingtO to .
jump over the back fence with the
bundle when pa got sight Of me and |
called me back. | felt guilty, and |
didn't want to explain, and pa OPP
ened the bundle and when he saw
the mourning clothes that he had
not seen since we buried our little
baby, great tears came TO pas eyes
and he broke down and wept like a
child, and it made me weaken some,
too. Then pa wanted to know what
all this meant, why was stealing
them clothes out the back way, and
l told him all, how l had pawned
things to see that little girl through
her trouble, and had taken the black
clothes cause l thought pa would go
back on it and tell me to let people
Bun their own funerals. 1 expected
pa would thump me, but he said he
would go his bottom dollar on me,
and, do you know, the old daisy
went with me to the house, and pat
ted the little girl on the head, and
said for her to keep stiff upper lip,
and when the funeral came off pa
and three other old buffers that are
pas chums, they acted as bearers.
l had tried a couple of ministers to
get them to go along and say grace,