St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-01-27
THE BOYS FUN;
Or Two Ways of Telling a Story.

Z
4 Or Two Ways of Telling Story.
/ The following story is as good this
/ year as n 1884, when it was written and
published by one still among US, and as
read as ever with grace ul pen in every
good cause
/ Young people commit more faults
from thaughtlessness than from intent to
do wrong; and want OF rejection leads
children astray much oftener than want
OF principle Indi erence to the feel
ings OF the aged, a proneness to make
light Of pee liarities, are. however, oe-
caslonally indulg d in by the young,
and in the excitement of the momentary
qualification which such merriment may
1 produce, all thought of the wrong and
all sense of the right are equally forgot
ten. The proTerb of the Wsest man
saith: THE glory OF young men is their
. strength; and the beauty OF old men is
\ their gray head" The strength OF the
4 young should protect and offend the
/ beauty of the old. The hoary head
1 should ever be protected, whatever may
be the outward condition OF it's pos
SCISSOR; and neither sport nor ridicule
should be thrown upon him whose en-
feebled strength scarce sutfices to bear
which time has rdened him.
The following narrative, which is
strictly true, illustrates what has been
observed, and proves that the ust rec
ompeHse of a thoughtless fault may be
more speedily repaid to those who COM
NIT it than may be ther expected or
| desired by them. The common saying
of waking up the wrong passenger"
is peculiarly applicable to the case.
In one of the most populous cities of
| New England, few years since, a
| party of lads, all members of the same
school, got up a grand s!eigh-ride.
There were about twenty five or thirty
BOYS engaged in the frolic. The sleigh
was very large and splendid establish
ment. drawn by six gray horses. The
afternoon was as beautiful as anybody
could desire, and the merry group en-
joyed themselves in the highest degree.
1t was common custom Of the school
to which they belonged, and on
previous occasions their teacher had
accompanied them. Some engagement
upon important business, however. oc-'
cupyin him, he was not at this time
with them. It is quite likely, had it
been otherwise. that the restraining in
fuence of his presence would have pre-
vented the scene which lis the main
feature of the present story.
On the day following the ride, as he
entered the hool-ro m, he found his
pupils grouped about the st we. AMI in
high y errimeat, as they chattei about
the fun AMI frol c of the r exnrson.
He stop e awh lie and stoned. aid in
answer to some inquiries viii h he
ma out the ma ter, one of the lads,
a fine, frank and manly boy, whose
heart was in the r ght place, though his
love of sport sometimes led b m astray.
volunteered to give narrat We of their
trip and its vario 5 in idents. AS be
drew near the end Of his st3ry, he ex-
claimed: .'Oh, sir, there was one little
Cir NJ stan e which had al cost for 4
g item to tell you. Toward the latte
part of the afternoon, as we. were con-
ing home, we saw, at some d stance
ahead of us, a queer king alta r in
the road. We could not exactly make
out what it was It SCENE to be a sort
of haitian l-half mo strosity. AS we
approached t, it proved to be a r sty
old sleigh fastene beh nj covered
Wag IN, pro ee ing at slow rate and
tax ng up the whole road. Finding
that he owner was not disposed 10
turn out, we determined on
vol ey of snow al1s and a
COOL b lrrah. These we ga with a
re sh. and they produced the right
effect and little more. for the crazy
machine turned out into the deep snow
by the side of the road. and the skinny
old pony started on full trot. As we
passed, some one who had the whip
gave the old iilt of a horse agood crack,
which made him run faster than he ever
did before. I'll warrant. And so, with
another. volley of snow balls. pitched
into the front of the wagon, and three
times three cheers, we rushed by. With
that, an old teftoW in the wagon, who
was buried up under an old hat and be-
meath rusty cloak, and who had
dropped the reins, bawled ont: Why /
do you frighen my horse?' Why |
don't you turn out. then SAYS the I
driver. So we gave him three rousing
cheers more; b 5 horse was frightened
again. anu ran up against loaded
team, and, / believe, almost capsized
the old creature SO we left him. "
Well, boys" replied the instructor,
your eats. and, after our morning serv-
ice is ended, i viii take my turn and
tell you story, and all about a sleigh
ride. too.''
Having finished the reading of