The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1883-05-02
No 28.
His Pa Busted.


nent printed on parchment paper, and
representing several thousand dollars
worth Of stock III a silver mine.
"Lookahere, said the grocery man, as
he turned pale, and thought of telephon-
ing to the police station for a detective,
you haven't been stealing your fathers
mining stock have you? Now you 60
right back home and put that stock in
your pas safe, like good boy
Put it in the Safe Oh, no. we keep it
in a box stall in the barn. [ will trade
this thousand dollars in stock for two
heads Of lettuce and get pa to sign it over
to you, if you say So Pa told me Icould
have the whole trunk full if [ wanted it,
and the hired girls are using the silver
stock to clean windows and kinGle fires,
and pa has quit the church and says he
won't belong to any concern that har-
bors bilks What's a blk % said the boy,
as he opened candy jar and took out
four sticks of horehound candy.
IA bilk,' said the grocery man, as he
watched the boy, " is a fellow that plays
man for candy, or money, or anything
and don't intend to return an equiva-
lent. You are a small sized blk. But
what's the matter with your pa and the
church, and what has the silver mining
stock got to do with it?'
Well, you remember that exhorter
who was here last fall aud used to board
around with the church people all the
week and talk about Zion and laying up
treasures where the moths wouldn't
gnaw them and they wouldn't get rusty,
and where thieves wouldn't pry off the
hinges. He was the one that used to go
home with ma from prayer-meetingWhen
pa was down town, and who wanted to
pay off the church debt in solid silver
bricks. He's the blk. / guess if pa
should get him by the back of the neck
he would jerk nine kinds of religion out
of him. When you strike a pious man
on the pocket-book it hurts him. That
man prayed and sang like an angel and
boarded around like tramp. He stayed
at our house over week, and he had
specimens of rock that were chuck full
Of silver and gold, and he and pa used
to sit up nights and look at it. That
mans scheme was to let all the church
people who We're in good standing and
who had plenty of money into the COM
pany, and when the mine began to re-
turn dividends by the car load, they
could give largely to the church, and pay
the debts of all the churches, and put
down carpets and fresco the ceiling. The
man said he felt that he had been steered
onto that silver mine by a higher power
and his idea was to work it for the glory
of the cause. He said he liked pa and
would make him vice president Of the
company. Pa bit like bass, and | guess
he invested $1,000 in stock, and ma she
wanted to come in, and she put in 81 900
that she had laid up to buy some dia-
mond earrings, and the man gave pa q
lot of stock to sell to other members Of
the church. They are all in it, even the
minister. He drew his salary ahead.
and all the deacons they come in, and
the man went back to Cc.prado with
about $50, 900 of good pious aapney. Yes
tcrday pa got paper from Colorado ssiy-
ing the whole snap away, and the pious
man has been spending the moneJ in
Denyer and whooping it up. Don't you
never try to get rich quick, said the
boy, as he peeled herring and took a
couple of crackers.
Never you mind me" said the gro
Gerry man. "They don't catch me on any
of their silver mines. But [ hope this
will have some influence on you, and
teach you to respect your pas feelings
and not play any jokes on him while he
is feeling so bad over his having been
swindled.n
ooh, I don't know about that think
when man is in trouble, if he has a
good little boy to take his mind from his
troubles and get him mad at something
else it rests him. Last night we had
hot maple syrup and biscuit for supper
and pa had a saucerful in front of him
lust a steaming. / could see he was
thinking too much about his mining
stock and [ thought if there was any
thing I could do to place his mind ON
else would be doing a kind
ness that would be appreciated. | sat
on the right side of pa, and when he was
not looking I pulled the table-cloth SO
the saucer of maple syrup dropped off III
his lap Well, you'd died to see how
quick his thoughts turned from his finan-
cial troubles to his physical misfortunes.
There was about a pint of hot syrup and
it went all over his lap, and you know
how hot melted maple sugar is and how
it sort Of clings to anything. Pa jumped
UP and grabbed hold of his pants legs to
pull them away from hisself, and he
danced around and told ma to turn the
hose on him, and then he took a pitcher
Of ice water and poured it down his
pants, and he said the condemned old
table was getting SO rickety that's saucer
wouldn't stay on it, and said it he put
some tar on his legs, the same kind that
be told me to put on my lip to make my
moustache grow, the syrup wouldn't
burn so, and then he cuffed me and /
think he felt better. It is a great thing
% get mans mind off his troubles, but
where man hasn't got any mind, like
YOU for instance
At this point the grocery man picked
lp fire poker, and then the boy went
out in hurry and hung up sign in
front of the grocery, ssCash paid for fat