The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-04-20
THAT BAD BOY.
His Pa and Dynamite.
PecL.'s Sun.

Pecks Sun.
81 guess your pas losses in that silver
mine have made him crazy, haven't they?"
said the grocery man to the bad boy, as he
came In the store with his eye winkers
singed of, and powder-marks on his face,
and began to play ON the harmonica, as he
sat down on the end of stick of stove wood
and balanced himself.
"Oh, / guess not. He has hedged. He
got In with deacon OF another church, and
sold some of his stock TO him, and pa says
If will keep my condemn mouth shut he
will unload the whole of it, If the churches
hold out. he goes to a new church every
time there Is prayer-meeting, or anything,
and makes ma 20 with him, to give him tone;
and after meeting she talks with the sisters
about how to piece silk bed-quilt, while pa
gets In his work selling silver stock. don't
know but what he will order some more
stock from the factory, II he sells all he has
got" and the boy went on playing "There's
q Land that is Fairer than Day."
"But what was he skipping up street for
the other night with his hat of, grabbing at
his coat-tails as though they were on fire ?
And what was the celebration down on your
street about that time? thought the world
was coming to an end" and the grocery man
kept away from the boy, for fear he would
explode.
"oh, that was only a Fenlan scare.
Nothin' serious. You see pa Is sort Of half
Englshman. He claims TO be an American
citizen when he wants office, but when they
talk about draft he claims to be subject
Of Great Britain, and he says they can't
touch him. Pa is darn smart man, and
don't you forget 1t. Pa said q good deal
about the wicked Fenians, and that they
ought to be pulled, and all that, and when
read the story in the papers about the ex
plosioi In the British Parliament pa was hor.
He said the Irish was running the whole
world. He didn't dare say IL at the tabr,
for our hired girl would have knocked him
silly with u spoonful OF mashed potatoes,
cause she Is nirish girl, and she can lick
any Englishmau In this town. Pa said there
ought to have been somebody there to have
taken that bomb up aud throwed It In the
sewer before IL exploded. He SAID IL he ev-r
should see bomb he would grab 1t right up
and throw 1t away where 1t wonldn't hut
any body. Pa has me read the papers TO him
nights, cause his eyes have got splinters IN
'em; and after had read all there was in the
II ,aAa lar, aud aal -.
read IL, about how it was rumored that the
Fenians here In Milwaukee were going TO
place dynamite bombs at every house where
an Englishman lived, and at a given signal
blow them all up. Pa looked pale around
the gills, but he said he wasn't scared. Pa
and ma were going to call on she-deacon
that night that has lots Of money In the
bank, to see II she didn't want to invest
In . deadsure paying silver mine, and me
and my chum concluded TO give them send
of. We got my big black injy-rubber foot
ball, and painted 'Dinymight,' In big white
letters, on II, and tied piece of tarred rope
to 1t for fuse, and got BIG fire cracker.
one Of these old Fourth-or July herse-scar-
ers, and basketful of broken glass. We
put the football In front on the step, and liz
the tarred rope, and got under the step with
the fire-crackers and basket, where they 20
down into the basement. Pa and ma came
out the front door, and down the steps, and
pa saw the football and the burning fuse, he
said: Great Gosh, Hannah. we are bowed
up and he started TO run, and ma she stop
ped to look at It. Just as pa started to run
l touched of the fire-cracker, and my chum
arranged II TO peur out the broken glass on
the brick pavement just as the fire-cracker
went of. Well, everything went just as we
expected, except ma. She had examine the
football, and concluded IL was not dangerous
and was Just giving 1t q kick as the ire-crack-
or went Of, and the glass fell, and the crack
or was so near her that 1t scared her; and
when pa looked around ma was flying across
tho sidewalk; pa thought the house was
blown to atoms. o, you'd died to see him
60 around the corner. You could play GRO
kay on his coat-tail, and his face was Is pale
~ mas when sbe goes to party. But ma
didn't scare much. As quick as she stopped
against the hitching- post she knew IL was us
boys, and she came down there, and maybe
she didt maui mel cried and tried to gain
her sympathy by telling her The fire. cracker
went. on before IL was due, and burned my
eyebrows of, but she didn't let up until I
promised to 90 and End pa. tell you, ma
ought TO be engaged by the British govern
ment to hunt out the dynamite tends. She
would corral them In less than two minutes.
II pa had % much sand ~ ma has got, Il
would be warm weather for me. Well, me
and my chum went and headed paof orI
guess be would be running yet. We got him
up by The lake shore, and be wanted 10 know
II the house fell down. He said he would
leave Il to me n he ever said anything against
the Fenians, and told him he had always
claimed that the Fsnisns were the incest
men in the world, and II seemed To relieve
hsm very much. When No got homo and
found the house there, he was tickled, aud
when ma called him m old bald-headed
coward, aud said IL was only = joke Of the
boys with football, he laughed right out,
and said be knew 1t oil he time, and he ran
to see II ma would be scared. And then be
wanted to hug me, but II wasn't my night TO
hug and I went down to the theatre. Pa
dsnt amount to much when there b trouble.
The time ma had the cramps, you remember
when you got your cucumber last season,
Pc came near fAinting away, and ma said
ever sincs they had been married, when any
thing silsd her. 20 has had pains ust the
same - she has, only be sruntsd more, and
thought be was goint 70 die. Gosh, II us
: man wouldn't b sick every time ons Of
the nsiehbon had back-achs, would yos?'