The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1883-07-14

Ezra told him it was all n Joke, and
it was his own baby, that we had
put it in the basket, and then he
was madden than ever, and he told
uucle Ezra never to darken his door
again. l don't know how he made
up with ma for calling it a dutch
baby from the Polack settlement,
but any way, he wheels it around
every day, and ma and pa have
got so they speak again"
"That was a mighty mean trick,
and you ought to be ashamed of
yourself. Where do you expect to
fetch up when you diei" said the
grocery man
81 told uncle Ezra it was a mean
trick" said the boy, "but he said
that wasn't a printing to some Of
the tricks pa had played on him
years ago. He says pa used to
play tricks on everybody. l may
be mean, but l never played wick
ed jokes on blind people, as pa did
when he was a boy. Uncle Ezra
says once there was a party of four
blind vocalists, all girls, gave an
entertainment at the town where
pa lived, and they stayed at the
hotel where pa tended bar. An
other thing, l never sold rum,
either, as pa did. Well, before
the blind vocalists went to bed pa
caught a lot of frogs and put them
in the beds where the girls were to
sleep, and when the poor blind
girls got into bed the frogs hoped
all over them, and the way they
got out was a caution. 1t Is bad
enough to have frogs hopping all
over girls that can see, but tor girls
that are deprived of their sight,
and don't know what anything is,
except by the feeling of it, it looks
to me like a pretty tough joke. l
guess pa is sorry now, for what he
did, cause when uncle Ezra told
the frog story, l brought home a
frog and put it in pas bed. Pa
has been afraid of paralysis for
years, and when his leg, or any
thing gets sleep, he thinks that it
is the end of him. Before bed time
| turned the conversation onto pa
ralysis, and told about a man
about pas age having it out on the
west side, and pa was nervous, and
soon after he retired. l guess the
frog wanted to get acquainted with
pa, cause pa yelled SIX kinds of
murder, and we went into his room.
You know how cold a frog is!
Well you'd dide to see pa. He
laid still, and said his end had
come, and uncle Ezra asked him if
it was the end with the head on, or
the feet, and pa told him paralysis
had marked him a victim, and he
could feel that his left leg was be.
coming dead. He said he could
feel the cold clammy hand of death
walking up him, and he wanted
ma to put a bottle of hot water to
his feet. Ma got the bottle of hot
water and put it to pas feet, and
the cork came out and pa said he
vas dead, sure enough, now, be-
cause he was hot in the extremi-
ties, and that a cold wave was
going up his leg. Ma asked him
where the cold wave was, and he
told her, and she thought she
would rub it, but she began to yell
the same kind Of murder pa did,
and she said a snakelhad gone up
her sleeve. Then | thought i. was
time to stopthe circus, and | reach
ed up mas lace sleeve and caught
the frog by the leg and pulled it
out, and told ma | guessed he had
taken my frog to bed with him, and
| showed it to him, and then he
said | did it, and no would maui me
so | could not get up alone, and he
said that a boy that would do such
a thing would go to hell as SURE as
preaching and l asked him if he
thought a man who put frogs in
beds with blind girls, when he was
a boy, would get to heaven, and
then he told me to lite, and | lit.
| guess pa will feel better when
uncle Ezra goes away, cause he
thinks uncle Ezra talks too much
about old times. Well, here comes
our baby wagon, and | guess pa
has done penance long enough, and
| will go and wheel the kid awhile.
Say, you call pa in, after | take the
baby wagon, snd tell him you
don't know how he would get along
without such a nice boy as me, and
you can charge it iu our next
months bill"