Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1884-02-07

came out to hunt rabbits and by gosh
he was going to hunt rabbits. Then
my chum aud me started towards pa,
wading through the snow, and pa
thought we were grown men, seven
feet high. When we got about twenty
rods from pa we told him TO git, and
he was going TO argue with US, when
we pulled up our guns aud fired both
barrels at him. We had blank cart
ridges, but pa thought he felt shot
striking him everywhere, and he started
for barbed wire fence, and we loaded
our guns again and fired just as pa got
on the fence, and he yelled murder.
You know these barhed wire fences,
don't your The barbs catch on your
pants and hang en-. Well, pa got
caught by the pauts, and couldn't get
over, and we kept firing, and he drop
ped his gun in the snow, and tried to
tear the fence down, and he kept
yelling, For Gods sake gentlemen,
spare my life. ] don't want any of
your rabbits. | got to laughing so |
couldn't shoot and ] laid down in a
snoS bank, and my chum kept shoot.
ing. Pa finally got off the fence aud
burrowed in a snow-bank, and held
up a piece of his shirt which the fence
tore of, for flag Of truce, and We
quit, and he stuck up his head and
saw me laying there on the snow, and
pa thought his gun bad gone off and
killed one of the farmers, and my
chum said, Great hevings, you have
killed him. At that pa grabbed his
gun and run for the road, and started
for town. and that's where the minis
fer overlook him. Along towards
night me and nv chum came home
with four rabbits, and we told pa he
was pretty rabbit hunter to leave
before the rabbits got to running, and
that we looked ell around for him.
BE looked surprised, and asked US If
We struck any corPses around on that
farm, and | thought | should bust.
We told him we didn't see any, and
then he told US that he was standing
there waiting for rabbits, when 4 gang
of about fifteen roughs came and or.
dcred bin away, and he refused 10 60
He said they opened FIRE on him, and
be threw himself into hollow square,
the way they used to do in the army,
threw up intrenchments of snow, and
defended himself, and when be was
finally surrounded and had TO retreat,
be saw the ground covered with dead |
and wounded, and he expected be had
wiped out an entire neighborhOod. lie
said II was singular we didn't see any
corpses. ] asked him how he tore his
pants, and be said the gang shot them
all to pieces. Then we told him Of
the joke We had played on him, and
how we fred blank cartridges at him
as he was trying TO get over the fence,
and he tried to laugh, but he couldn't. !
He was inclined to be mad at fret,
but fiually he said this was more like
business, aud he hadn't felt as we'll be.
fore since we initiated him into the
Masons, and we could play anything
on him, aud do anything We chose ex.
ccpt let him alone. 80 you see | am
not SO bad as you think. Pa enjoys
it, and 50 does my Cbum aud me. Eth :
old rutabaga, do YOU see p
20. yes. that is all right if your pa
likes that kind of fun, but If you was
my boy would maui you till you
couldn't stand" just then q big
cannon FIRE cracker that the boy had
lit and laid on the floor exploded and
the groceryman went out the back
door bareheaded while the by went
cut the front door wbistling, "Be sure
and call me early, for I'm to be queen
Of the MayP
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A SUCCESSFUL strike occurred when