Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1883-04-17
lPeck's sun.l
HIS PA AND DYNAMITE.

guess your pa 3 losses III the sH'e'
mine has made him crszy, haven't they,
said the grocery man to the bad boy, as
he came in the store with his eye wink
ers singed off, and powder marks on his
face, and began to play on the harmon
lea, as he sa. down on the end of stick
of stove wood. and balanced himself.
80, | 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 con-
denim mouth shut he will unload the
whole of it. il the churches hold out. He
goes TO a new church every night. there
is a prayer meeting or anything, and
makes ma go 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 he will
order some more stock, from the factory,
if he sells all he has got" and the boy
wen, on playing There's land that is
fairer than Day"
but what was he skipping up street
for the other night with his hat off, grab
bing at his coat tails as though they
were on fire d; | thought never saw q
pussy man run any faster. And what,
was the celebration down on your street
abou, that time | thought the world
was coming TO an end and the grocery
man kept away from the boy, for fear he
would explode.
80, that vas only a Fenian scare.
NJ hin' serious You see pa is sort of
half Englishman. He claims to be an
American citizen, when he wants office.
but when they talk about draft he
claims TO be a subject of Great Britain,
and he says they can't touch him. Pa
is a darn smart man and don't you for
get it. There don't any of them get
ahead of pa, much. Well, pa has said
good deal about the wicked Fenians,
and that they ought to be pulled, and
all that. and when read the story in
the papers abou: the explosion in the
British Parliament pa was hot. He said
the damnirish was running the whole
world. He didn't dare say it at the Ia
ole OF our hired girl would have knocked
him silly with spoonful Of mashed Po-
tatoes, cause she is a nirish girl, and
she can lick any Englishman in this
town. Pa said there ought 10 have
been somebody there to have taken that
bomb up and ,hrowed it in the sewer be-
fore it exploded. He said if he ever
should see a bomb he would grab it right
up and throw it away where i; wouldn't
hur, any body. Pa has me read tie pa
pers to him nights, cause his eyes have
got splin,e,s in EN-, aad after had
read all there was in the paper | made
ap lot more and pretended to read it,
about how it was rumored that the Fe-
mans here in Milwaukee were going to
place dynamite bombs at every house
where an Englshman lived, and at a
given signal blow them all up. Pa
looked pale around the gills, but he said
be wasn't scared. Pa and ma were go
ing to call on d she deacon that night,
that has lots of money in the bank, to
see if she didn't wan; TO invest in dead
sure paying silver mine, and me and my
chum concluded to give them a send oft.
We got my big black injy rubber foot
ball, and painted "Dnymight in big
white letters on it, and tied a piece Of
tarod rope to it for fuse, and got big
fire cracker, one Of these old fourth OF
July horse scarers, and basket full Of
broken glass. We put the football in
front of the step, and lit the tarred rope,
and got under the step with the fire
crackers and basket, where they go down
into the basement. Pa and ma came
out the door, and down the steps, and
pa saw the foot ball, and the burning
fuse, and he said Great God, Hammer,
we are bowed up" and he started to
run, and ma she stopped TO look at it.
Just as pa started to run | touched of
the fire cracker, and my chum arranged
it to pour out the broken glass on the
brick pavement just as the fire cracker
went off. Well, everything went just
as we expected, except ma. She had eX-
amined the foot ball, and concluded it
was not dangerous, and was ust giving
il kick as the iirecracker went off. and
the glass fell, and the frecracker was so
near her that it scared her, and when pa
looked around ma was flying across the
sidewalk, and pa heard the noise and he
thought the house was blown to atoms.
0. you'd died TO see him 90 round the
corner. You could play crokay on his
coat.tail, and his face was as pale as
ma when she goes to party. But ma
didn't scare much. As quick as she
stopped against the hi,ching post she
knew it was US boys, and she came down
there, and may be she didn't maui me.
| cried and tried to gain her sympathy
by telling her the ire-cracker went off
before it was due, and burned my eye
brows off, but she didn't let up until |
promised to 60 and find pa. l tell you
my ma ought to be engaged by the Brit
ish government to hunt down the dyna-
mite fiends. She would corral them in
two minutes. If pa had as much sand
as ma has got, it would be warm wealth
er for me. Well, me and my chum went
and headed pa off or | guess he would
be running yet. We got him up by the
lake shore, and he wanted to know if the
house fell down. He said he wonld leave
it to me if he ever said anything against
IL E..:s.s aai told him ha had IL