News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-07-24
THEY TRADED NAMES.
A Little Story by Frank r. Stockton about
Two Little Boys and the Trouble they
Got Into.

"That matter about your fish buyin'
reminds me of what happened two sum-
mers ago to my sister, or ruther to her
two little boys-or, more correct yit, to
one of 'em. Them was two cur Gus little
boys. They was allus trading with each
other. Their father deals mostly in
horses and they must have got it from
him. At the time I'm tellin' of they
had traded everythin' they had, and
when they hadn't nothin' else left to
swap they traded names. Joe, he took
Johnnys name and Johnny, he took
Joe's. Just about when they'd done
this they both got sick with sumthin' or
other, the Oldest one pretty bad, the 9th
er not much. Now there amt no doctor
inside of twenty miles of where my sis
ter lives. But there's one who some
times has call to go through that part
of the country, and the people about
there is allus very glad when they
chance to be sick when he comes along.
Now this good luck happened to my sis
ter, fur the doctor come by jist at this
time. He looks into the state of the
boys, and while their mother has gone
down stairs he mixes some medicine he
has along with him. What's your
name q he says to the Oldest boy when
he'd done it. Now as he had traded
names with his brother, fair and square
he wasn't goin' back on the trade, and
he said, joe and my names John
ny, up and says the other one. Then
the doctor he goes and gives the bottle
to their mother, and says he: This
medicine is fur Joe. You must give
him teaspoonful every two hours.
Keep up the treatment and he'll be all
right. AS fur Johnny, there's nothin'
much the matter with him. He don't
need no medicine And then he went
away.
every two hours after that Joe, who
wasn't sick worth mentionin', had to
swaller dose of horrid stuff, and pretty
soon he took to his bed, and Johnny he
jist played around and got well in the
nat'ral way. Joe's mother kept up the
treatment, gittin' up in the night to
feed that stuff to him, but the poor little
boy got wuss and wuss. and one mornin'
he says to his mother, says he: Mother,
[ guess I'm goin' to die. and I'd ruther
do that than take any more of that med
icine, and 1 wish you'd call Johnny and
we'll trade names back agen, and if he
don't want to come and do it, you ken
tell him he ken keep the old minkskin I
gave him to boot, on account of his
name havin' Wesley in it. Trade
names, says his mother, what do you
mean by that? And then he told her
what he and Johnny had done. 'And
did you ever tell anybody about this p
says she. Nobody but DIR. Barnes
says he. after that I got sick and
forgot it, When my sister heard that
an idee struck into her like you put
a fork into an apple dumplin.' Traded
names and told the doctor She'd all
along thought it strange that the boy
that seemed wuss should be turned out,
and the other one put under treatment,
but it wasn't fur her to set up her
opinion agen that of man like DR..
Barnes. Down she went, in about
seventeen jumps, to where Eli Timmins,
the hired man, was plowin' in the corn.
Take that horse out of that, she hollers,
and you may kill him if you have to,
but git DIR. Barnes here before my little
boy dies When the doctor came he
heard the story, and looked at the sick
youngster, and then says he: IF he'd
kept his minkskin and not hankered
after Wesley to his name, he'd had
better time of it. Stop the treatment
and he'll be all right" Which she did;
and he was"