The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-08-11
THE BAD BOY.
lpesks Sun.

tu SCpuaNuf&i NOtSc. Gu1faCu tHf . Sef~ tain time to walk the night" and. waving
 a chair round the ghos, s,rode up to the
 grocery man, and with the other ghostly
 hand reached into box of ags.
 i - No you ain't no ghost" said the grc. cery man, recognizing the bad boy
 "Ghosss do no, SC proving around gro
 cer,es stealing wonny hgs. What do you
 mean by this sinful masquerade business
 My father never had no ghost"
 I %. VIC have struck it now," said the
 bad boy. as he pulled of his mask and rolled up the shee; he had worn around
 him. We are go,ns to have amateur the Iauioals 10 raise money to have the church carpeted, and am going to. boss the job
 "Nou don, say" answered the grocery
 man, as he thought how much he could sell to the church people for strawberry
 and ice cream festival. and now little he could sell tor amateur thea,rieals. Who
 IS gong into ii and wha, you going to
 play:
 !" Ia and ma. and me ana the minister
 and three ehou singers. and my ohun
 and the minister wiie. ani two dcacons.
 and an old mad are tchears,nS. bu,. VIC
 have no; decided wha,to play sc:. They
 al, want ;e play dlseren, play and am
 hNins !; So they can all be sAushed The
 minisie, wants to play Hamlet. pa wants
 ,o play Rip au NtnkIe ma wants to play
 Mary Anderson. the ald mad wants ,o
 play a boarding school play. and the
 ehou slngers want an opera. and the
 ministers wiie wants io play Lsay Mac
 beth. and my eham aud me van, 10 play
 double song and dance. and l am go-
 lns tn give them all show. Nc had
 rehearsal las, night. and l am the only
 one able to be around to-day. ieu see
 they have all been studying different
 plays, and they d, wanted Ia talk al once.
 We let the minister sail in hrst. He had on apair of hts wtte black s,ockines. and
 mantle made of a hnen buggy lap
 blanket, and he wore a rlasons cheese
 knite such as these fellows with poks-bon-
 nets and white feathers wear when they
 get an invitation tb l funeral or an eN-
 cursion. Well. you never saw Hamlet murdered the way he did Il. His e>,er- pretation of the character was that Ham , let was a dude tha, talked through his
 nose. and while he was repeating Ham lets sollo4uy, pa. who had come m with an old hunting sult on. as Rip , Van WInkle, wen, 10 sleep. and he didn't wake up i'll Lady Macbeth came in. Tn the sleep-walkiny scene
 She couldn't ind a knae sa 1 took a slice of watermelon and shatpcnei Il tor . her. and she made a mistake in the one
 she ~as ,o stab and she stabbed Hamlet IF the neck with a sltce of watermelon.
 and the core ot the melon fell on pa : . ilcc. as he lay a>ieep as ktp. and when
 l.tAy Mae beth sad ,snsl, damned spot. i. "a woke up ,nd te., the gab oi water melon on his face and ne thought he had
 been murdered an ma came n on Il hnp. skip and ump Ss " ir,hen,a and 1, threw her arms around a deacon who i. was gong tn play the grave digger. and
 began ,o call hum pet names and pa was |. mad. and the chon snseIs the, began ,o sing, In the North sea lived a whale. and then the, qat aetng. You'd d,dc to see Hamlet. The p,ece ot watermelon . wen, down hs neck. and Lady Mac beth wen, o,i and lei, |, in the wound under h,s collar. and ma had to pull |, out. and Hamlet sad the seeds and the )aice was
 running down inside oi h,s shlrt. and inc sad he wouldn', play |, he WAS gong to
 be stabbed with a sllee of melon. so ~tale hs wife was getting the melon seeds out '
 shir, l sharpened A cucumber for Lady
 Macbeth to use for dagger bu; Hamle, 1, lacked on cueumbers loo. and l had more trouble than any stage manager ever had :, Then pa wanted to teheafse the drunken . scene Tn kip an Ninkle. where he hugs
 Grechten and drinks ooyot2 flask behind . her back. and he go, one of the chor
 singers to act as Grech;en. and 1 guess
 b- l. ,,U th.
 time. and have swallowed the flask fl ma
 had not took him by the ear, and sad A Q little of that would go good ways n an . entertainment for the church. Pa said c he didn't know as |. was any worse than
 her pranctng up to grave digger and :. hugglng him til the filling came out ot
 hIs teeth. and then the minister decided I that ~e wouldn't have any more huggins
 a, all in the play, and the choir grls sad
 ,hey wouldn', play. and the old maid
 struck. and the play came Q d stand ! still
 [ Well ,ha, beats anything ever ! heard tell of lis shame for people outside the profession to do p!ay-aoting.
 and won, go to the entertainment, un- less ge, pass. sad the grocery man. Did you rehearse any more =
 , .Yes. the minister wanted 10 tfy the
 ghos, scene,' sad the boy, and he wanted me 10 be the ghost Well. they have two Harkses and two Topsies n Uncle Toms Cabin. and though, ,~o : ghosts in Hamle, would abou, Ill the bill
 for amateurs, % 1 go, my chum to act as one ghost We broke them all up. 1
 wanted 10 have something new in ghosts 90 my chum and me go, two pair of ma's
 long stockings, one par red and one pair blue, and pu, on a red and blue one,
 and my chum did the same. Then we go, some ruffied clothes belonging to ma,
 with founcss and things on, and put them on % they must go down to our knees, and we put sheets over us, that came clear to our feet. and when Hamlet go, to : yearning for his fathers ghost came in ou, of the bathroom with the sheet over