The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1884-07-12
THE BAD BOY



the g%roceryman ia the bad boy, as
he came along with an old fashioned
oil cloth carpet bag, with ono han
die gone, and a tired look on the
carpet bag and the boy, as though
they had just returned from a jour
ney. Haven't seer you in here
Tor two weeks. and | began to
think you had been abducted, or
mysteriously disappeared. You
look sick"
"Oh, | am not sick, but tired,
and sleepy, and hungry. | wish
You would cut me off a cheese rind,
or give me a herring skin, or any
thing" said the bad boy, as he
dropped the carpet bag on the floor
and dropped onto a half-bushel
measure, and closed his eyes. owe
are Just on the way from the depot,
and pa has left me to carry this old
carpet sack, and he has gone up
the alley to climb over the back
fence, cause he wore his boots out
on the railroad ties coming up from
the Chicago convention"
"What Had to walk back -"
said the groceryman, as he handed
the boy a generous slice of cheese
with a spot of green mould on the
under side. Il should suppose
yeur pa had influence enough to
get a pass, or borrow money to get
home with, if he got busted"
That's what pa thought" said
the boy, as he made a camel's track
in the piece Of cheese, and then,
making up a face at the mouldy
mouthiul, reached into a cracker
barrel to get some crackers to take
the taste out. But borrowing
was played out the second day.
Pa lent money for two days, and
then had to borrow, but they had
all quit lending when pas turn
came to borrow. Gosh, but pa
and are ont Of politics from this
out. Pa says he will never vote
again. He says the country is all
gone to the dogs"
"Well, what vas your pa down
there for, anyway! He wasn't Il
delegate was he!" asked the gro
ceryman.
No, pa was only an assistant
delegate, and [ was pas assistant, "
said the boy, as he gathered in
groceries and provisions with both
hands, and ate as though he had
tasted tor several days. "You see,
the politicians have been playing
it on pa for six months. They get
him to work in ward politics, by
encouraging him to think he is an
important factor in the couutry's
affairs. He wanted to be Il dele
gate, and they encouraged him,
but he got beat, and then they told
him he had better go as an assis-
tant delegate. They told him that
delegates did not amount to any
thing without some smart fellows
to tell them how to vote, and what
they wanted was a lot of outsiders
to 60 along and brace up the dele
gates, and 'whoop-it-up.' There is
nothing hat pa likes any better
than to whoop-it-up, and he took
me along to give me an insight into
politics, and carry the satchel. |
don't want any more insight into
politics. | have had insight enough
to last me until | an twenty-one.
Pa told me, all the way down to
. Chicago, what an important bust
ness it was to be assistant delegate,
and how much depended upon
clear-headed outsiders, who really
managed the whole business. l
expected they would carry pa on
their shoulders. There was a band
at the depot, and pa pulled up his
collar, and pulled down his vest,
and looked around as much as to
say watch me now,' and | thought
he was going to make a speech,