Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-08-31
THE BAD BOY.
tie cEauseS His Ha and Ma to Work on sun
days and Nearly Gets Them Churched.
His Father Reaches Him with IL Stave.

| AAci'o, otiid lLe SlOCeiy HAL W III
bad boy, as he came in looking sick a
heart, and all broke up, How is you
muscle this morning?"
"All right enough" said the boy
with look of inquiry, as though Won
dering what was coming next
"Why?'
80, nothing, only l was going t.
grind the hatchet, and some knive
and things, this morning. and
thought maybe you would like to g
out in the shed and turn the grind
stone for me, to develope your mus
cles. Turning grindstone is tn,
healthiest thing boy can do
That is all right enough" said tn,
bad boy, as he took up sweet crack
er, "but please take a good look al
me. Do l look like a grind stone boy
Do l resemble good little boy
that can't say no. and goes off and
turns a grindstone half day for
some old duffer, who pays him by
giving him a handful of green cur
rants, or telling him he will be man
some day. and the boy goes off one
way, with lame back, while the
good man goes the other way, with
sharp scythe, and Il chuckle at the
sOftness of the boy? You are mis-
taken in me. 1 have passed the
grindstone period, and You will have
to pick up another sardine who has
never done circular work. Not any
grindstones for Hennery, if you
please"
"You are getting too smart" said
the grocery man, as he charged a
pound Of sweet crackers to the boy s
father. You don't hare to turn the
grindstone if you don't want to-"
That's what l thonght," says the
boy, as he takes a handful of blue
berries. "You grindstone sharps,
who are always laying for a fool boy
to give taffy to, aud get him to break
his back. don't play it fine enough.
You bear on too hard ON the grind
stone. [ have seen the time when a
man could get me to turn a grind
stone for him till the COWS come home,
by making me believe it was fun, and
by telling me he never saw boy that
seemed to throw SO much soul into
turning a grindstone as l did, but 1
have found that such men are hypo-
critics. They inveigle boy into their
nest. like the spider does the fly, and
at first they don't bear on hard, but
just let the blade of the axe or the
scythe touch the grindstone, and they
make a boy believe he is bigger
man than old Grant. They bet him
he will get tired, and he bets that he
can turn q grindstone as long as any
body. ard when the boy has got bis
reputation at stake, then they begin
to bear on hard, and the boy gets
tired, but he holds out, and when the
tools are ground he says he is as fresh
as daisy, when he is tired enough
to die. Such men do more to teach
boys the hollcwness of the world, and
its tricky features, than anything, and
they teach boys to know who are
friends and who are foes. No, sir,
the best way is to hire a grown per-
son to turn your grindstone. l re-
member l turned a grindstone four
hours for a farmer once, and when l
got through he said l could 60 to the
spring and drink all the water l
wanted for nothing He was the
tightest man I ever saw. Why, tight
That man was tight enough to hold
kerosene"
That's all right. Who wanted you
to turn grindstone, anyway! But
what is it about your pa and ma be-
ing turned out of the church! ]
hear that they scandalized them
selves horribly last Sunday"
"Well, you see, me and my chum
put up a job on pa to make him think
Sunday was only Saturday and ma
she fell into it and guess we are all
going to get fired from the church
for working on Sunday. You see
they didn't go to meetin' last Sun
day because mas new bonnet hadn't
come, and Monday and Tuesday it
rained, and the rest of the week was
so muddy no one called, or they
could not get anywhere. so Monday
] slid out early and got the daily pa
per, and on Tuesday my chum he got
the paper off the steps and put Mon
days paper in it's place. l watched
when they were reading it, but they
did not notice the date. Then
Wednesday we put Tuesdays paper
on the steps and pa said that it
seemed more than Tuesday, but ma
she got the paper of the day before
and looked at the date and said ii
seemed SO to her but she guessed
they had lost a day somehow. Thurs
day We got Wedne sdsy's paper on the
steps. and Friday we wrung in Thurs
days paper, and Saturday my chum
he got Fridays paper on the steps
and ma said she guessed she would
wash to morrow, and pa said he be
lieved he would hoe in the garden
and get the weeds out SO it would
look better to folks when they Went
by Sunday to church. Well, Sunday
morning came, and with it Saturdays
daily paper, and pa barely glanced
it over as he got on his overalls ant
went out in his shirt sleeves a hoeins
in the front garden. And 1 and my
chum helped ma carry water TO wash
She said it seemed like the longes
week she ever saw, but when W,
brought the water, and took plat,
of pickles to the hired girl that wa.
down with the mumps, we got in tn,
lilac bushes and waited for the cur
tain to rise. It wasn't long before
folks began going to church ant
you'd a died laughing to see then
all stop in front of where ma wa
washing and look at her, and then g
on to where pa was hoeing weeds ant
stop and look at him, and then driv'
on. After about a dozen teams ha,
passed heard ma ask pa if he kne,
who was dead, as there must be
funeral somewhere. Pa had jus
hoed into bumblebees nest and sal,
he did not know of any that wa
dead, but knew some that ought {,
be, and ma she did not ask any fool
ish questions any more.
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