West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-01-23
THE MAGIC LANTERN.
Jimmy Browns Account of tho rrouhis
hc and Iils Friend Caused an Innocen,
lecturer.


Our town is getting to bc full OF leo
mrcrs. Mr. Travcrs saws that they
spread all over the country. lust Ike
cholera, and that when one lecturer
comes TO town. another is liable to
break ont at any time.
The las, lecturer that We had hap
pcncd a week ago lie was a magic
lantern one, and they are not 50 bad a.
other kinds. He had magic lantern pie
lures of Europe and Washington and
other towns, and he showed them ou a
big white sheet, and talked about them.
! made lot OF magiC-lantcrn pictures
When l had my camera. and some OF
them were real good The lecturer
came 60 our house TO spcud the night,
and the AFTERNOON before the lecture he
went out TO walk, and left the door of
his room open.
Tom was at my house that afternoon.
and aS we were going upstairs we saw a
tremendous lot of magic-lautorn pic
lures lying piled up on the lecturers y
table. Most of the pictures were houses
and mountains, but some of them were
people, and then thcrc were lot of real
funny ones such aS "a man falling over
pig, and a bic goat knocking n boy
over. Tom and | had "A very nice timo
looking no them, and we were very care
ful TO put them back ON the piles lust in
the same way that the lecturer had put
them. Only once in while Tom would
forget just where a picture belonged
and We had to put il in the wrong place
This was what made all the trouble. and
II any one was TO blame for it, Tom
was the one.
We didn't tell the lecturer that we
had looked at his pictures, for that
might have troubled him, and we ought
never TO give trouble 10 people that are
older than we are. Tom and went to
the lecture and so did almost every.
body else in town, and when the lee
turcr began TO speak YOU would have
said that he was one of the niccst mcu
YOU ever saw, hc looked so pleased.
The trouble began when. after having
showed Us lot ol pictures. he said:
The next picture, ladies aud gentle
men, is a portrait of Her Gracious Ma
lcstY Queen Victoria Now il hap
pcned that the next picture was a large
cat with dozen Kittens. aud somebody
said "Hawl haw, is that the Queen"
The lecturer knew hc had ma lc mis-
take, bur he pretended it was all right.
and said that the cat belonged to his 1t
lie girl, and It's name was really Queen
Victoria.
The next pictures we're mostly right.
though what the lecturer said would
be- picture of u steamboat on
the Rhine turned out to be Il
man on bicycle, and what he
called a view of the battle of Waterloo
was boy being knocked over by a
coat. After awhile he asked all his
German friends prcscnt-but don't
believe he knew a single one Of them
10 admire a beautiful portrait of that
hero and patriot Prince Bismarck. aud
when the porrait appeared ON the sheet
1t was a picture Of "A pig running away
rom fat butcher You should have
heard the lecturers German friends
howl, and ! believe thct would have
thrown something At him besides heavy
German words # he hadn't begged
their pardon and said il was all
mistake, and hc feared that some evil
minded person had wickcdly mixed up
his pictures.
Wen, the Germans stopped saving
things after awhile. and the lecturer
went on His pictures got worse and
worse. His lovely view of Venice. as
ne called 10, WAS picture Of a herd OF
bullaloes, and what he told US would be
a picture Of "a wedding i'm Egypt was a
cat and q dog fighting and an old
woman beating them with a club Thi.
made him nervous, and he kept putting
pictures into the magic lantern upside
Town. and making The King Of Greece
and The Queen of italy stand on their
heads, and asking the people to excuse
any mistakes, and wishing he could pu
his hands on the cvil-mndcd persons
who had meddlcd with his pictures. III
nally hc told The people that he would
show them the picture Of two innocent
and lovely childr N. Tom hit me in
the SIDE with his elbow when the lee.
turcr said this and whispered 10 me.
"Bc dll ready To- run. ! didn't have
he least idea what he meant till I saw
the picture. ! never was more aston
shed IN my life. for IL was ~ picture I
had madc OF Mr. Irayers and Sue sit
ing ON the sofa and holding each Otb-
sr.s hand 10 had got mixed up ian
some way with the lecturers own pict-
Irc.. and / believe Tom had something
% do with T., though hc won't own up
rom and J went out as soon rs wc
saw the picture. but wc could hear the
people laugh and yell when we were
half mile away / heard ancrward
that the lecturer didn't show any more
pictures, and that hc jumped out Of the
back window, with Mr. Traycr- close
after him Anyway. ho never came
back to our house. Mr. Travcrs. when
hc found that ! really hadn't put the
picture of him and sue among lhc others.
lorgaye mo, but Sue -ay. She never will
] think Tom ought To- own up, and II
4Jr Iravcr- catches him think Doe will.
Jimmy BroWH. ' iu H4rDlr's Young
People