Mexico weekly ledger., 1884-01-31

PECK'S BAD BOZ AND HIS PA.
BY geo. W. PIECE.

pinned a piece OF beer glass cut in
imitation of a diamond. ''Santa Claus
must have remembered you splendid
ly," and the grocery man handed the
boy a sour orange.
80, don't talk to me about Santa
Claus" said the boy, as be bit into
the orange, and then went to the vim
egar barrel and drew some vinegar in
a glass and took q swallow to sweeten
the taste of the orange. "Do you
know 1 wonder there is a boy in this
whole world that does not grow up to
be a first-class liar, when they have
their parents to lie to them the first
sever years of their lives about Santa
Claus! What can a child think, when
told it is wicked to lie, and then find
out that its parents have been lying
to it about the Santa Claus businessl
Do you know l have watched for
Santa Claus to come down chimneys,
and when l asked how a big fat fell
low could come down such q small
hole, and crawl through a stope pipe,
pa would tell me that Santa Claus
was made of India rubber, and was
blowed up, and all he had to do was
to let the wind out, and then he would
he small enough to get into a g,mlet
hole. When l found that Santa Claus
was a fraud, and accused pa Of de-
ceiving me, he got hot and said / was
too smait for my boots"
.'Oh, that is all right, but what did
you get!" said the grocery man.
81 got nice enough things, but l
haven't got them now. 1 traded off
a lot of my things for presents for
some boys down u way, that didn't
get anything. I made a change in
the Christmas tree business, at our
church. You see, they have been in
the habit of getting all the children
together the night before Christmas,
and having a Christmas tree, and it
is cruel on the poor children. The
rich parents put expensive presents
on the trees for their children, and
the poor children get a ten-cent whis-
tic, Or a popcorn ball, or an orange.
The poor children began to think that
Santa Claus showed Partially, and
that he vas in the employ Of rich
folks, and they were beginning to get
sour on Santa Claus, but this time
me and my chum sold all the presents
we got at home, and ven and bought
q whole lot of nice things for the
poor boys, and when the man began
to distribute the presents, and the
poor boys had their mouths made up
for popcorn balls, and they got club
skates and fur caps, and nice warm
mittens. they yelled so the minister
was afraid the church would be pulled
as q disorderly house. / never had
so much fun in all my life, as 1 did
to see those poor boys rake in the
presents. All / have got left is this |
necktie and alum diamond, but the
fun 1 had, makes this forty-cent dia-
mond look as bright to me as though
it was the Kohnioor. Do you know
what the Kohnioor IS: 1t is the big-I
gest diamond in the world"
"That's a good boy" said the gro
ceryman, as he shaded his eyes to
look at the bad hoy's diamond and
put the finger IN his tongue to see il
it tasted of alum. But there is one
thing I want to talk to you about. II
saw you jump on q hose cart and ride
with the fremen at the fire last night, |
and your pa said you was hanging
around the engine house a good deal.
Now you want to let up on that.
Those firemen are pretty tough, and
you will be spoiled if you 60 with
them. l wouldn't have anything to
do with them, or you will bring your
fathers gray hairs in sorrow to the
grave. Firemen are hard citizens"
"When was this that firemen were
hard c~itizens?" asked the boy indig-
nantly. "They are just as good citi-
zens as you are. If your grocery
gets on fire down cellar, from the
kerosene barrel, what do you do? Do
You go down cellar and put it out?
Nav, you don't. You grab your in
policy and light Out, and the
firemen come and go right down into
your subterranean hell Of burning
kerosene, and squirt water till they
are overcome by the smoke, when
their partners draw them out by the
legs, and others take their places, and
they keep up the fight until your
property is saved, when you come
back and kick because they tipped
owe a barrel of apples. They rush
into burning buildings and ave the
lives of women and children. Do
they do it for pay? Nav! ALI they
get is seventy-five dollars a month,
and you pay that much to the man
who drives your grocery wagon.
There Is not a fireman who gets as
much salary as a street car conduc-
tor, in any city in the country, and
the firemen are the bravest men that
live. Why, gol darn you, you haven't
got as much sense as a calf"
"But, hold on, Hennery. Hear
me- and the grocery man tried to
stop the bad boy.
"Get out. I am ashamed to know