The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-03-01
PICKS BAD BOY AND HIS "A
sr GEORGE VI. rkcx.

w GAQ&Gx W. fMNAs
 Here, here said the grceesyman is the bad boy, as he came in the bael door hurriedly and bol,ed il, and hid be hind barrel, "whAt you coming in the back door for ia tha, manner, like . pi- rate of the Spanish mains My oskes customers dont sneak in through the back door and hide behind things What ails yos r
 "Sh-h lfa man comes up from the street car in about two minutes, w,,h one coat tail torn ofi, and pieces of umbrella frame sticking out cf hissef like porcu- pine quills. his hat gone, and a scared complexion on his face, and asks if you have seen chubby faced little boy, you drive him out doors cause he isnt re- sponsible," and the boy pulled coffee sack down off barrel to cover himself up.
 Who is the wild man you are expect ing and what have you done y'asked the groceryman.
 "Sh-s-sh. It's pa. Ard fl he gos ou, of the car without coming through the window, he IS liable to show up here pretty quick. You see, pa has been try ing to make us believe he could see jasg as well as he ever could. and he has qa,, wearing speetaeles, and gets mad every time anybody suggests tha, he cant sec very well. Ma says he is ashamed 10 have folks think he IS getting old. Some times come in the room and pa snaps his fingers and says. hello, Bruno, good dog, thinking am the dog, and when he finds out his mistake he laughs and says it was only joke, and he says he can see as well as any man in this town l told him some day some person would play joke on him and convince him ,ha, he was near sighted, and he said they might try all the Jokes they wanted 10 on him. We'll pa IS awful polite Ia ladies. and for fear that he will pass some lady that he knows, and not speak to her, he speaks 10 all of 'em. Some of 'cm get cross to have a stranger speak to them, but pa has such innocent, benes- olent. vacant sort of look when he smiles. that they go on, thinking he has escaped from some asylum. Well, he was m street car. and on the other side of the car was hold maid, ~ith pug dog in her lap. curled up like a baby. see pa was getting his eyes soi on the woman and the dog. bu, knew he couldn't make out whether |; was a baby she had or not, so l whispered to pa that Il was too bad to carry babies on street cars, poor li,,lc things That was enough for pa He h,i like d bass. lie began to look benevolent. and smiled A, the lady jus, IS though he lived neA, door 10 her, and she looked sort of cross. bsi pa could no, see that and he smiled again and leaned over towards her and pointed to the dog and asked, How old IS the little thing:' Well, thought l should just mel, and run right through the perforated seat of the car. The wc- man said Ii was only.eleyen months old bu, she looked as though she dIdn', know as II was any of hIs business anyway. ,ued to get pa ,o change the subject and talk with me, but when he gess to talking with a woman tha, settles II, and he told me to hush up and look out of the win dow al the scenery. Then pa smiled again and got one eye on the lady and one on the supposed baby, which she had wrapped shawl around, and said, it. tie one always been healthy, l suppose 2 The woman snapped out that II had al ways been healthy enough, exeep, when II was cutting teeth i, had 4 sort oi dis- temper. The Other passengers began to look al pa ard smile, and the lady was teginuing 10 blush and could sec d,s- ,ani mutieiings of cyclone, and pail, d pas sleeve and told him wonIdn', Ia k 70 strangers Ina; way fl was him. but "a he punched me in the fib with his elbow and told sne to mind my own business, and l went to The end of the car near the door so as to get out quick in case of an alarm oi fire. Pa returned to the assault and il made me perspife. Is il boy or gir. :! said pa. aud the lady's face coloIed up and she pulled the strap in stop the car. Just as the car stopped pa got up and in his polites, manner he said, AS he I held out hs hands. Let me help you with the baby Well. you'd died. You would have JUS, lad nigh, dosn in the straw n ,he car and blatted When the driver opcred the door flew and Jas' ] then looked in and the dog had go, mad |, pa when he pu, out his hands. and i had grabbed pas hand, and was chewing his mi,,en and growing, and Inc lad, called pa an old wretch and sad he oagh' to be arrested for going around insulting unprotected females, and saw her um- brella go up in the aif and come down or pas head, and pa yelled to somebody ts take the dog off. The woman came ou, o the car on gaIiop, holding the dog by ,hs ! leg and the dog had one of pas buckskir mittens in is mouth, chewing for all that was cut. When she struck the street shs told me to call a policeman and have ,bs old tramp arrested, and sad 'yessum, and she went of with the dog under hel arm. asked pa f should follow hi, lady friend and ge, his mit;en away iron her little baby, that he vas using io cui teeth on, and pa loo<ed SD mad. as he told me 10 go to gehenna, that 1 gD' oath, Fcar and came here. and Jeff aim picking pieces of umbrella from out of bIs neck tie. and explaining 70 he other passen gers that he knew that dog ~asn', bAb, all the tune. Say, can you sec how ~1' 10 blame abou, p4's misfortune
 can't see as you are io blame, said