, 1883-10-06
THAT BAD BOY.

looked sick and yellow and tired,
and he had lost half his flesh.
"What's the matter with you ?
Haven't got the yellow fever, have
you ?" and he put chair where the
invalid could fall into it.
"NO. Got the agcr," ssid the boy,
as he wiped the perspiration off his
upper lip, and looked around the
store to see if there was anything in
sight to take the taste of quinine out
Of his mouth. "IIad too much dreamy
life Of ease on the farm, and been
shaking ever since. Darn a farm,
anyway"
"What, you haven't been to work
for the deacon any more, have you?
thought you sent in your resigna-
tion,' and the grOceryman offered
the boy some limhurger cheese to
strengthen him.
ooh take that cheese away" said
the boy, as he turned pale and gag
ged. "You don't know what sick
person needs any more than a pro-
fcssiOnal nurse. What | want is to
be petted. You see, went out to
the farm with my chum, and / took
the fish-poles and stayed in the woods
while he drove the horse to the dea-
cons, and he gave the deacon my
resignation, and the deacon wouldn't
accept it. He said he would hold my
resignation till after harvest and then
act on it. He said he could put me
in Jail for breach of promise if quit
work and left him without giving
proper notice, and my chum came
and told me, and so l concluded to
go to work rather than have any
trouble, and the deacon said mychum
could work a few days for his board
if he wanted to. 1t was darn poor
board for a boy TO work for, but my
chum wanted to be with me, so he
stayed. Pa aud ma came out to the
farm to stay a few days to help. Pa
was going to help harvest, and ma
was going to help the deacOn's wife,
hut pa wanted to carry the jug to the
field and lay under a tree while the
rest Of US worked, and pa just talked
the arm off of the dcaCOn's wife. The
deacon and pa laid in the shade and
see my chum and me work, ana ma
and the deacon's wife gossipped so
they forgot to get dinner, and my
Chum and me organized a strike, but
were beaten by monopoly. Pa took
me by the neck and thrashed out a
shock of wheat with my heels, and
the deacon took my chum and sat
down on him, and we begged, and so
they gave US our old situations back.
But we got even with them that very
night. tell you, when a boy tries
to be good and quit playing jokes on
people, and his pa hire him out on a
farm to work for a deacon that haint
got soul except when he's in church
and boy has to get up in the night
and go to work, and has to work till
late at night, and they kick because
he-wInts to put butter on his PAN
cakes, and feed him skim milk and
rusty fat pork, it makes him tough,
and he'd play a joke on his aged
grandmother. After my chum and
me had got all the chores done that
night, we set out on a fence back of
the house, in the orchard, eating
green apples and trying to think of
a plan of revenge. Just then l saw
skunk back Of the house, right by
the outside cellar door, and told my
chum il would serve them right to
drive the skunk down in the cellar
and shut the door, but he said it would
be too mean. | asked him If it was
any mcaner than for the deacon to
snatch Us both baldheaded because
we couldn't NOV away hay fast
enough for two men to pitch it, and
he said it wouldn't, and so we got on
each side of the skunk and sort of
scared it down the cellar, and then
we Crept up softly and shut the
cellar doors. ~Then we went into the
house, and l whispered to ma and
asked her if she. didn't think the
deacon had some cider, and ma began
to hint that she hadn't had a good
drink Of cider since last winter, and
50 the deacon's wife said us boys
could go down the cellar and draw a
pitcher of cider. That was too much.
1 didn't want any cider, anyway, so
| told 'em belonged to a Temperance
society, and should break my
pledge, if | drdwed cider, and she
said 1 was a good boy, and for
me. never to touch a drop of
cider. Then she told my chum
where the cider barrel was, down
cellar, but he amt no slOuch. He
said he was afraid to go down cellar
in the dark, and so pa said that he
and the deacon would go down and
draw the cider, and the deacon's
wife asked ma to go down with her
and look at the berries and fruit she
had canned for winter. SO they all
went down cellar. Pa carried an old
tin lantern with holes in it to light
the deacon to the cider barrel, and
the deacon's wife had tall candle
to show ma the fruit. tried to get
ma not to go, because ma is friend
of mine, and l didn't want her to
have anything to do with the circus,
but she said she guessed she knew
her own business. When anybody
says they guess they know their own
business, that settles it with me, and
don't try to argue with them. Well,
my chum and me set there in the
kitchen. and | stuffed a niece of red