The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-09-27
THE BAD BOY.
BY eEoacE V. PECK.

nutASS yooH P4 ts SS4tiu8 CooPtI of black eyes, and q nose that seems to be couple of degrees out of plumb" said the grocesyman to the bad boy, as he came in to eet couple of raw oysters. Has your "a been in a political row p
 @l admit that black eyes during a political campaign are liable to be an evidence of great real in ward caucuses, and know that some of our best citizens
 wear black eyes during the months oi September and October of presiAGBeial year, but pas liquid black eyes andifal- icised nose is not the result of politics. He has been in . cat light"
 A cat 6Khtw and the groceTyman held up his hands in horror. and added, Why, 1 supposed your pa and ma %.
 along splendidly. and never quarreled. What was it about!'
 70, you are all wrong," said the boy,
 as he took a cold chisel and pried ofi a few dates. "lt was not that kind of a Cat fight. You see we have dog that is
 death on cats. He can't see . cat any
 where but he goes after il, and trees 1t on
 fence, or a tree, or wood shed, or
 somewhere. Pa thinks it is cunning, and
 nothing 1 could ever say would induce
 pa to break the dog of the habit of chas-
 ing cats. He says cats arc no good, and
 that good Cat dog is worth his weight iA gold to any neighborhood. People
 who own cats in our neighborhood have got mad and throwed scalding water on the dog until he looks as though he was moulting like a canary bird, and he has had one leg broken by stones thrown by Cat proprietors, and he came home one night with one end of him filled with bird shot, but he never let up on cats, and pa encourages him in 1t. The other day pa and me and the dog took walk up street and we saw brindle ca. going across the street right near where there was lot of tropical plants on the bullyvard, jus. outside the sidewalk in front of a handsome house. Pa called the dogs attention to the Cat, and said, Go for her, Tige.' Tige went for the cat and she and the dog went whooping into the bed of tropical plants, some of them as high as mans head. Pa looked scared when the dog and cat went in amongst the plants, Cause the man that owned them was out sprinkling his lawn. and nc knew the man would be mad. Pa called the dog, but he was busy chasing the cat around amongst the plants, and it was not more than a minute before the plants were all broke down, and the dog and the cat were hav- ing monkey and a parrot time. The man who owned the cat was the first to get there, and he owed pa grudge, and he asked pa what he set his dog on that cat for, and pa said i, was darn lie, and the man hit pa in the si3e of his nose, and kicked the dog. ia icaned up against the fence 10 let his nose bleed in peace, when the man who owned the plants came up and asked pa what he sent his dog into those valuable plants for to retrieve another mans Cat, and pa said il was no such thing, and he could prove il by me. The man asked me if my pa did not set the dog on the cat and as pa had always told me no, to tell lis under any circumstances. told the man that pa said, Go for her, Tige, and the man was mad, and he squirted about barrel of water onto pa. and then got over the fence, and smote pa on one cheek with his fist, and as pa would not turn the other cheek also, as he had al- ways told me to do, the man took pa by the neck and turned him around and gave him another smote, and that was what blacked his eyes. Pa started to run, but l stayed and saved the dog, and promised to pay for the plants. Pa went home and told ma he had had the worst fight that ever was, and when came home he asked if the two men he whipped had been taken to the hospital. Gosh, but was disgusted with pa for trying to make ma believe he was fighter. But you'd dide to see the oommotion and cat hair in that bed of tropical plants, and to have seen how pas counten- ance changed in minute. He was laughing 10 sec Tige go for the cat, and spatting his hands, but when the cat owner struck him on the nose, he | stopped being tickled so quick his watch l run down, and his face had a woe-begone l expression, like a man who is short on | wheat. Pa says there is no comfort in l keeping dog in large city, and he | wants me to go to the sausage factory 1 and realize on him. But pa don't get | Jeff, you bet. He was down to the head | quarters of his political party before night, showing his wounds and claiming | that on his way home from the torchlight | procession the night before, with his | torch and helmet, he was set upon by | about fifty political opponents, who were | drunk, and nearly murdered, and he wants the party to pay him damages. think politics teaches a good man to be star liar, don't you p
 "Yes," said the groceryman, as he | wiped his hands on a piece of brown | wrapping paper, after weighing mack | erel, politics injure any man who gets | into the business. But did your father | denounee you for not lying him out of l scrape! Did he chide you for telling the | truth?"
 Well, he didn't exactly chide me-" said the boy, "but after we got home he l tried to show me that it was not always | best to be in a hurry about telling the 1 truth. He said person ought to tell the | truth, but he might use seme judgment about it. He said if had evaded the | s~-S1 k> Id