The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1883-12-22
THE RAD Roy.
Frm PEoR's Sun.

standard of time would mix YOU up
50 you wouldn't come"
40. YOU needn't ever be afraid
that | will get left" said the boy,
as he used the can opener to open
some peanuts. ~ would have
been here sooner, only pa met
with n serious accident, and had
to GO after a plumber for hun"
''llad to e. for a plumber g
said the groccryman in amazcment.
Are you out of your head Why
didn't yoa go tor a doctor What
has a plnmbcr got to- do with the
practice of medicine!
well, | proposed to call n doc.
tor, but pa wouldn't have a doctor.
lie told me to go for a plumber to
the house as quick as possible.
You see we have been troubled
with rats at our house, and we
tried poison, but they got fat on it.
We tried cats and the rats drove
the eats away. So pa went down
ind got some st,e trap aid set
'hcm around on the floor OF the
8 Lscmcnt. The floor is cement,
and Just as smooth as can he, and
me and my chum 90 down there
and skate with our roller skates.
This morning pa came down and
wanted to put on my skates. |
told him he couldn't skate, and
that | should think after his expc-
ricnce at the rink last winter, when
he pulled Il girl all to pieces grab
bling at her to keep from falling,
that he knew all about it and did
not want any fool boy to try to
tell him nothing. When a man
gets old and he thinks he knows it
all there is no use trying to argue
with him, and SO | unbuckled my
skates and pulled them off.and he
put them on. Well, he wabbled
around for a few minutes, like a
Teller that has been drinking gin,
and held on to things till he thot'
he had got his bearings, when he
struck ont for the back end of the
basement. AS he came along by
the back end Of the furnace one
leg began to GO over toward the
neighbors', and he grabbedhold Of
the corner OF the furnace. swung
around behind it, out of sight, and
we heard an earthquake, and some
thing snapped like a steel trap.
and pa yelled BY crimus,' and
ma came down after some sasSidge
for breakfast and she saw pa and
she said 'Merciful goodness and
by that time me and my chum had
got there. Well. you'd Il dide to
sec pa. He had come down like
a ton of coal, right on that steel
trap, and it had sprung and took
in a whole mouthful of pas pants.
and about a pound, pound and a
half or two pounds Of meat, and
pa was grating his teeth to try and
stand it. O, it was the most ride
ulous position | ever see pa into,
and he got mad and told me to I'M
spring the trap. We turned him
over and me and my chum tried
IL BEST to open the trap, but 1t
was n of these traps with a
strong spring and we couldn't. Pa
was tie only n that could un-
spring the rap, and he couldn't go
around behind hlsself to get at it,
so | told him l would go after a
doctor, but he said this was a case
where a doctor was no good, and
lie wanted a plumber OF a black
smith. Pa wanted to go up in the
parlor to sit on the sofa while I
was gone after the plumber. but
the trap was chained to the fur
mace, and we couldn't get it loose,
3. pa had to lay there on the ce-
ment floor till the plumber came.
The plumber laughed at pa, and
s1id he had done all kinds of
plumbing before, but he never had
a call like that. Well, we got pa
out. and 1 don't suppose there is a
madden man in town than pa Is,
but there was nobody to blame but
himself. Say do you see how | can
be blamed aboLt it Z"
"Naw they can't blame you,"
anid the grocery man, rs he lit a
clay pipe. "But this ought to be
a lesson to you, that life is one con
tinuous rat-trap, always set and
baitcd with cheese to catch the I'M
wary. The business man goes
about his business unconscious of
the rat-trap set where he can get
INTO it. He extends his business,
gives credit and gets credit him
self, everything t. booming and he
is sailing along as nice as your pa
was on the roller skates, when all
nj once there is a slack of business