The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-10-25
THE BAD BOY AND HIS PA,
THE coy TRIES TO PLAY pRODIG.L
son.
I"stcnd of II Fnttcd Cnii He Gets kicked
with Loaded CnlC-~Itin.
lFrom the milwaukee, SUM-

| S'h" tilo BroccTymnn 10 the bad boy, aS
ne came i'll the store looking tired, with
his cl thcs soiled, and general appear.
ance OF having been sleeping in freight
cars with cattle. "1our pa told me he ex-
ncctcd you had run away for good and
that you might not come back. Where
you been ?"
! "Chicago," said the boy, as he took
| out toad stabbcr knife and proceeded
to take the ulster of smoked herring,
Been playing Prodigal Son in two acts,
But times have changed since that Young
fellow in tho Bible went off on a tear
and came back aud the old folks killed n
young COW for him to eet, and fell on
his shirt collar and cried down the back
OF his neck. They don't receive prodI.
gal sons that way i'll our ward. They
ill aprodlgal sons coat tails full of boots
and he can find cold veal enough in tho
house to mako a sandwich"
81 thought your folks were pious and
would be inclined to overlook anything"
SAID the groccryman, as he charged the
| herring and crackers to the bad boys
| father. "You don't mean to tell me they
went back on the teachings of the good
book, and warmed your jackctp"
"You have guessed it the first time p"
said the boy. "This prodigal son bust
! ness is all right in theory, but in prac
ticc it's dead failure. You sec, at Sun
day school the lesson was about tho
prodlgal son, and the minister told us all
about how tho boy took all the money
no could scrapo up and went away to n
distant country and painted tho towns
rcd, and spent his money like n country
man Mt n circus, and how he took in all
the sights, and got broke. and got hum
CRY and took job at the stock yards
feeding pigs, and he was so hungry he
used to help the pig cat their rations,
and finally he thought of his home,
where they hnd pic and he went homo
expecting to be fired ont, but his ia was
ticklcd TO SEQ him, and set up a free
lunch of calf on the half she'll and
huggcd the boy and mado him feel
bully. When we got home pa and ma
talked about the lesson, and pa said it
was ono of the most touching things he
ever heard, and tCld me to think of it
and it would do me good Well, tho
moro [ thought of it the moro felt like
trying the prodigal business on, and T
told my chum about it, and he said he
hadn't had any vacation and he would
go oil prodlGaling with me if l would 90,
and we could see the country, and nave
O.
ccivcd with open arms. Well, wo got
all our money together and brakeman
on freight train that goes to our church.
cause his wife sings in the choir. he hid
us III the cahOOsr, and we went to Chi
cago. On, my but We had q good
time. / never saw money withcr the.
way it did with rs. We cat about twenty
times day, the first two days, and then
II appGtitcs left us, because we didn't
I'VE any more money. The first two
EhtS we slept i'll two shilling lodging
'lsr, the third night we walked around
Il the fourth night We slept in the po-
o station. When our money was
he half the fun was gone. If fellow
walk around with money in his
'ckct, he feels good, even if he don't
mt to buy anything, but when the
oney is gone, he feels bad, and wants
buy lots of things. We waited two
:yS for our brakeman, and when wo
s't on his tram he put us in n cattle car,
#'d 1t was vile. | traded my collar
#1tton for a postal card, and wrote topa
81 ut tho prodigal would put in an ap-
Emrhnce at p. m., and for him to pre-
Elrc to fall on my neck, and to send
own to the meat market fer hind
#Mrtcr Of fnttcd calf, and have plenty
f gravy. You wouldn't believe it, but
ere WAS no carriage at the depot, and
= had to walk home. [ could have
crlO0kcd that, if there had been any
ing to eat when / got to the house,
there wasn't enough for n canary
ii. PA was there, however, and was
tgoimg to hold ont my neck for pa to
on TO weep, when lie grabbed it
n his hand and came near twisting it
and then he turned me around and
gan to play the bass drum on my
thcs with his feet. I never was so
noycd in all my life, honestly. 1t was
~ the treatment / had n right to ex-
! pcct, after they had told me about the
prodigal son of ancient times AS quick
as I could catch my breath I asked pa
what he thought the prodigal son of the
Bible times would havc thought if his
pa had maulcd him when he came home.
and what kind of story it would have
made, if it had told about the old man
taking him by the neck and kicking him
all over the room instead of falling on
his neck and weeping, and giving him a
veal PCT pie. Pa said he wasn't running
any old back number prodiGal sons, and
he Thought his way was the best, and
he sent me- to bed without any supper.
That settles the prodigal business with
llcnncry. No more fatted calf for Hank,
if you please" and the boy got up and
SHOOK the herring peclings off his lap.
Well, how did your chum come
out" asked the grocery man, with much
interest.
",Oh, he hasn't come ont yet He is
In the lookup" said the boy. ellis ma
put the police onto him, and when he
showed up they run him into the police
station for tramp. / think we have
both demonstrated thGt this climate
does not agree with the prodigal bust.
ness, and however much they may try
to teach us the beauties of such stories.
they do not expect us to try and initiate
them. When [ go to Chicago after this
shall go i'll a parlor car, with lunch
enough to last me, and return ticket.
| don't understand it at all. Now I did
not do half the mean things in Chicago
that the Prodigal son of old did in tho
far OIL country, and yet he got taffy
when he got home, and [ got my spine
broke. It may be all right, but they do
tbinDa HIffprnnI