The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1883-10-20
rHz BAD BOY.

HWhatis This 1hear about your
father creating II panic IN II dry
goods storel'' said the grocery man
TO the bad boy, as he took a butter
fryer and run it into a pumpkin a
few times. They tell me that he
? had about q hundred fcmaleclerks
7 freed on the shelves, and on the
counters, and Tat a floor walker
hit hinf over the head with a roll of
2 paper. cambria, and somebody turn
cd in a fire alarm. Is all Of that
truel"
well, II you will keep watchfo for
pa, at the door, ! will tell you all
about it," said the boy. Some
body told pa that ! was at the bot
tom of tile whole business, and
when a MAJ loses confidence III his
boy. and rolls up a trunk strap and
carries it %habitually, it stands a boy
in hand to keep his eye peeled.
You see, pa has been in a habit of
going to the store u good deal and
lallygagging with the girl clerks.
Any girl that will smile on pa, and
look sweet catches him, and he
would sit on a stool in front of the
counter ten hours a day, pretend
ing to want to buy some kind of
fringe, or c%orsets, or something,
and he would fairly talk the arm
the girls. Ma didn't like it at all,
and she told pa he ought to be
ashamed Of himself, cause the
girls was only Il making a fool of
him and all the people in the store
were laughing at him, but pa said
for ma to shut her yawp, and he
kept on trying to find excuses to
90 to the store. Ma told me about
1t, and she felt real sorry, and by
iinks it made me mad to see an old
man, old enough to have govt or
paralysis, going around MASKING
clerks in a store, and | told ma if
she would let me | would bre8k pa
up in that sort of business, and She
told me to 90 ahead and maze him
Jump like a box car. So tothcr
day ma gave pa q piece Of ribbon
to match and a corset TO change
for a larger size, and a pair OF
gloves to return BECAUSE the thumb
had ripped off, and told him to buy
four yards of baby flannel, and see
how much it would cost to have
her seal-skin cloak refined, and to
2 see if her new hat was done. Pa
acted as though he didn't want to
go to the store, but ina and me
knew that he looked upon it as a
picnic, and lie BACKED his boots,
and changed ends with his cuffs,
and put on his new red neck-tic,
and shaved himself, and fixed up
as though he was going to be mar
ried. | asked him to let me go
along to carry the packages, and
he said he didn't care if did go.
You have see those iniy rubber
rats they have at the rubber store,
haven't youi They look SO near
like a natural rat that you cant
tell the difference unless you offer
the rubber rat some cheese. got
one of those rats and tied a fine
piece of thread to it, with. a slip
moose on the end, and when pa got
into the store / put the slipnooSe
over the hind button of his coat
tail, and it followed him along, and
swOw 1t looked so natural want
ed to kick it. Pa walked along
smiling, and stopped to wink at a
girl, and she bent over to see what
he wanted, and then she saw the
rat, and she screamed and crawled
upon the shelf where the boxes
were, and put her feet under her,
and said, take it away, Kill it., and
she trcmbled all oyer. Pa thought
she had gone into 4 fit cause she
was paralyzed on his shape, and
he turned blue, and went on, cause
he didn't want to Kill her dead !;
and as he walked along, the rat fol-
lowed him, and Just as he bowed to
four girls who were standing to-
gerher, talking about the fun they
had at the exposition the night be-
tore, they saw the rat, and they
began TO yell and climb up things.
One of them got up on a stool and
pulled her clothes tight around
her ankles. so a living rat conldn't
have got into her stocking, let
alone a rubber rat. and the girls all
squealed Just like when you tickle
them IN t he ribs. Pa he looked
scared, as though lie was breaking
them all up with his shape, and he
kept on, and another flock OF girls
saw the rat, and they jumped up
on the counter and sat down on
their feet. and yelled rat Then