Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1884-02-05
PECK's BAD BOY AND HIS. PA.
The Old Man Complains that it is
too Quiet Since the Boy Be-
came Good, 50 the Boy and
His chum Makes it
Interesting for
Him.


"""' w talh WIN lou, sulu INC
groceryman TO the bad boy, as he
came in laughing and slappi ng his
leg. 81 have heard something Today
that has hurt me as much as thought
you was my own boy" and the gro
ceryman looked as thought it
wouldn't take many good sized on
ions to make the tears come.
Great jewhillikens, what is it,"
asked the bad boy, rs his face sober
ed at the look Of pain on the face Of
his mercantile friend. What is the
matter2 Won't your creditors ac-
cept ten cents on a dollarp and the
boy looked like lawyer, ready to
help client out, and reached into
a cinnamon bag and took out hand
tul Of cinnamon.
'No nothing of that kind" said the
groceryman. II have concluded not
10 fail. But | am told on good au-
thorty that you have become bad
again, and that you have been play
ing the meanest trick on your pa that
YOU ever played. The minister told
me he was coming in from country
funeral the other day, and lie owe. =
took your pa on the road with n gun
and asked him to get in and ride, and
your pas pants were all torn, his
boots and gun full OF snow, and he
was so scared that hc kept locking
around all the way TO town expect
ing to be shot IN the back. Now
what kind of u way is that to treat
the author Of your being? Say, you
will have though ticket to the bad
place, aud your train will leave on
schedule time, and arrive at the
grand central depot in hades, just as
hihc fire is kindlcd. You bad, bad.
boy. | have been proud of yod, and
thought you would come out ,all
right, but now l know YOU are a
hypocritc."
"Thcrc, there don't put on any cx-
ira sadness" said the boy, as he
quartered an orange. "Pa is all
right. lie wanted us to stir him up.
You see, since have been good, pa
has been neglected, and he has le-
come sour, and his clothes don't fit,
He told ma that what he wanted was
excitement, and lac had got TO have
il. He said when the boys were
playing things on him, and making
him scratch gravel, and he felt as
though a house was going to fall on
him every minute, he enjoyed him
self, had a good appetite, aud felt
equal to any emergency, but since
the boys had become good, and let
him alone, his life was burden, he
had failed in business, and every
thing went wrong, and unless there
was change soon, he would lose his
mind. lie said he sighed for the old
times, when he didn't know whether
he was afoot or horseback, and when
something was liable TO happen every
minute. He said he was brought up
TO be surprised, and fall through
holes, and to have everything stop,
and to lead quiet life, and just eat,
drink, and sleep, with no cyclones,
no happy laughter of children raising
the deuce, was more than he could
bear. Ma told me about il, and the
state ofmind pa was in and l felt sorry
for pa. Ma told me TO try and think
up something that would sort of wake
up pa, or he would relapse into a
state of mclancholic, and have to hire
a doctor. | told my chum about pas
case, and he said it is too bad to see a
man suilcrthat way, and we must do
something to save his life. So we
agreed to take pa out rabbit hunting.
asked pa if he didn't want to go
with us, and he jumped right up and
yelled, and said it would tickle him
half to death to go. l told him
where there was place about four
miles out of town, where there was
dead loads of rabbits, but the man
that owned the farm drove every
body off. Pa said there couldn't no
man drive him of, and for us to
come on. Well, you'd a dide. Pa
wasn't afraid of anybody, until the
man hollered to him to git. You see,
we went out to the farm, and sta
toned pa by the fence, and my chum
and me went on the other side of a
piece of woods, to scare rabbits to-
ward pa. Then we went up to the
farm house, where man lived that
wa know, and told him we wanted to
scare man out of his boots, and he
said all right go ahead. So we bor-
rowed some farmers clothes, and old
plug hats, and went around behind
the barn and yelled to pa to get of
that farm. Pa said for us to go to
the bad place. lie said he came out
to hunt rabbits and by gosh he was
going to hunt rabbits. Then my
chum and me started toward pa,