The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1883-07-14
THK BAD BOY.
From PBcx's SUE.

From PEcx's SUE.
II see your pa wheeling = baby
around a good deal lately" SAID
the grocery man to the bad boy,
as he came into the store one even
ing to buy a stick of striped pep
perment candy for the baby, while
his pa stopped the baby wagon out
on the side walk and waited for the
boy, with an expression of resigna-
ton on his fac.
whats got into your pa to be
a nurse girl this hot weather"
80, we have had a circus at our
house," said the boy, as he came
in after putting the candy in the
baby's hand. "You see, uncle
Ezra came back from Chicago,
where he had been to sell some
cheese, and he stopped over a
couple Of days with US, and he said
we must play one more joke on pa
before he went home. We played
it, and it is a wonder | am alive,
because l never saw pa so mad in
all my life. Now this is the last
time l go into a joke on shares. If
| play any more Jokes | don't want
any old uncle to give me away"
"What was itl" said the grocery
man, as he took a stool and sat out
by the front door beside the boy
who was trying to eat a box of red
raspberries on the sly.
"Well, uncle Ezra and me brib-
ed the nurse girl to dress the baby
up IL evening IN some old, dirty
baby clothes, belonging to our
wash woman's baby, and we put it
in a basket and placed the basket
On the front doorstep, and put a
note in the basket and addressed it
to pa, We had the nurse girl stay
out in front, by the basement stairs,
SO the baby couldn't get away, and
she rung the bell and got behind
something. Ma and pa, and uncle
Ezra and me were in the back par
lor when the bell rung, and ma told
me to go to the door, and | brought
in the basket, and set it down, and
told pa there was a note in it for
him. Ma, she came up and look
ed at the note rs pa tore it open,
and uncle Ezra looked in the bask-
ct and sighed, Pa read part of
the note and stopped and turned
pale, and sat down, then ma read
some of 1t, and she didn't feel very
well, and she leaned against the
piano and grated her teeth. The
note was in a girls handwriting,
and was like this:
GOLD BALD HEADED PEr.-You
will have to take care of your child,
because / cannot. Bring 1t up
tenderly, and don't, for heavens
sake, send it to the founding asy-
lumn. l shall 60 down myself.
Your loving
ALMIRA."
What did your ma say!" said
the grocery man, becoming inter
ested.
CO., ma played her part well.
Uncle Ezra had told her the joke,
and she said 'retch, to pa, just as
the actresses do on the stage, and
put her handkerchief to her eyes.
Pa said it was false, and uncle
Ezra said, 90, brother, that
should live to see this day. and
said, as | looked At The basket, pa,
it looks just like you, and | will
leave it to ma That was too
much, and pa got mad in a minute,
He always gets mad at me. But
he went up and looked in the bas-
ket, and he said it was some dutch
baby, and was evidently from the
lower strata of society, and the un-
natural mother wanted to get rid
of it, and he said he didn't know
any 'Almira' at all. When he call
ed it a dutch baby, and called at
tention to its irregular features,
that made ma mad, and she took
it up out of the basket and told pa
it was a perfect picture of him, and
tried to put it in pas arms, but he
wouldn't have it, and said he
would call the police and have il
taken to the police house. Uncle
Ezra took pa in a corner and told
him the best thing he could do
would be to see 'Almira' and com
promise with her, and that MA =
pa mad and he was going to hit
uncle Ezra with 4 chair. Pa was
perfectly wild, and if he had had a
gun | guess he would have shot all