Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-10-06
HOW HE ESCAPED .sCATCHING IT.,

CllluSo IuaC way, you KNOW, tne DeSC
way to do is not to do them.
Perhaps that was about the way Jas
per himself thought, now that it was
too late, as, tired and anxious, ragged
and grimy, he skulked along in the
shadow toward home.
He was not very big nor very old,
this boy Jasper, and it was getting pref
ty dark, and Jasper himself was get
ting uncommonly hungry. But, some
way or other, he did not hurry home as
fast as you might think he would, I'M
der these circumstances.
But then he had a good reason for
not hurrying.
Ordinarily, he would have rushed
home and into the house pell-mcll, and
%vociferously announced to his mother
That ne was hungry as a bear, and
wanted something to eat.' But you
to get the ball.
And when Jasper got home tonight,
he was pretty sure of getting something
else besides something to eat. The
truth is, he expected to s'catch it, when
he got home.
Perhaps you don't know what sscatch-
ing, it is. Jasper did, perfectly well.
He had had considerable experience in
"catching t,"but had never enioyedit.
This was the reason why he felt so
solemn this evening. and why he walked
SO slow, and why his feet felt so heavy
as he walked.
But L must hurry and tell you what it
was that Jasper had done, and now
wished that he had not.
He had been to the fire, fatty dis
obeyed his mother, and scampered off
right before her very eyes.
1t was dreadful in JASPER: for. besides
the disobedience of the thing, his mother
was a nervous woman, and he should
not have helped to make her more so.
She had just been telling Mrs. Cole
man that itwould drive her to the verge
of distraction to have her son running
around between iire-engines, and under
horses hoofs, and beneath blazing en-
bers the way those Warren boys did.
And Jasper had heard her tell Mrs.
Coleman this, .too-or, at least, he could
have heard if he had listened.
[ am not sure, though, that he did
listen, for, at the time, Mrs. Coleman
and Jasper's mother and Jasper himself
where ali standing on the sidewalk. try
ing to make out where the fire was.
The fire-bells were ringing and the
fre-engines were rushing by, and q
crowd OF men and boys were tearing
along the road after the engine. So you
can see there was considerable to take
Jasper's attention away from what his
mother was saying to Mrs. Coleman.
Another thing that may have attracted
Jasper was his overwhelming desire to
become a part of that moving mass of
men and boys. .
Cant | 90, mother ?" he demand
ed, vehemently, clutching at his moth
er's dress. ''l1l be sure and not get
killed"
"No!" sad his mother, with empha-
Sis. "Let me catch you going, sir!h
But the excitement of the scene be-
fore him was too much for Jasper. 1t
was perfectly maddening to have to
stand there stock still, as though he
hadn't any legs to u with, when eve
rybody else-all the other boys, anyway
were running as fast as their legs
would carry them.
just here, a squad of little boys, about
Jasper's own age, came s%creeching and
yelling down the road in the rear of a
tardy engine, and then-I really do not
think Jasper could have been personal
ly responsible for what he did-he took
to his heels, joined the crowd of bows,
and was lost to sight, all in Just about
one second.
And his mother was screaming after
him:
kTo~n Ia,l~ 12-. Hls y,
IT,"
If it hadn't been that she had the babv
in her arms, / believe she would have
run along with the crowd herself in
pursuit OF this rebellious son of hers.
Blu all this had happened several hours
ago.
Jasper was not excited now, and his
personal responsibility had all come
back to him. 1t weighed him down
there was SO much of it.
And the fire was all out, too. It had
not beer such a very great fire, ANYWAY
There was so much smoke and SO LITTLE
blaze, and the tiremen had been in such
a hurry to put it out.
And then a little short fellow like
Jasper did not have half a chance tn
see anything. with SO many grown men
in front of him.
1t had not been at all a satisfactory
hre, and then just think of having to
come home in the end and :.catchino
it!' Poor Jasper!
When he got into the yard he THOUGHT
re would just see how the land Law be-
tore ne vent1red into the house. So he
Pee,ped into the dining-room window.
anu II there were not the folks just sit
NJ oown to q piping hot" supper!