Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1885-01-02
al SPYI"
Bill Nye Indulgcs In "Reminiscences of
Chudhood's Happy Hours.


Bill Nye InduIgcs in "Reminiscences of
Chndhoods Happy Hours.
Dear reader, do you remember the
boy in your school who did the heavy
falling through the ice, and was always
about to break his neck, but managed
to live through it allP Do you call to
mind the youthwho never allowed any
body else to fall out of tree and break
his collar bone when he could attend to
it himselfp
Every school has to secure the
services of such boy before it can sue
ceed, and so our school had one. When
/ entered the school l saw at glance
that the board had neglected to provide
itself with boy whose duty it was to
nearly kill himself every few days in
order to keep up. the interest, so ap-
piled for the position. 1 secured it
without any trouble whatever. The
board understood at once from my
bearing that would succeed. And 1
did not betray the trust they had re-
posed in me.
Before the first term was over l had
tried to climb two trees at once and
been carried home on stretcher; been
pulled out of the river with my lungs
full of water and artificial respiration
resorted to-; been jerked around over
the north half of the county by frac-
tious horse whose halter had tied to
my leg, and which leg is now three
inches longer than the other, together
with various other little eccentricities
which can not at this moment call to
mind. My parents at last got so that
along about two o'clock p. m they
would look anxiously out of the win
dow and say: Isn't it about time for
the boys to get here with Williams re-
mainsP They generally get here before
two o clock, .-.
One day five or six of us were play
ing II spy around our barn. Every
body knows how to play 81 spy" One
shuts his eyes and counts one hundred,
for instance, while the others hide.
Then he must find the rest and say 81
SPY so-and-so and touch the goal
before they do. If anybody beats him
to the goal the victim has to 'blind"
over again.
Well, knew the ground pretty well,
and could drop twenty feet out of the
barn window and strike on a pile of
straw so as to land near the goal, touch
it, and let the crowd in free without
getting found out / did this several
times and got the binder, James Bang,
pretty mad After boy has counted
five hundred or six hundred, and
worked hard to gather in the crowd,
only to get jeered and laughed at by
the boys, he loses his temper. 1t was
so with James Cicero Bang. knew
that he almost hated me, and yet Invent
on. Finally, in the fifth ballot saw a
good chance to slide down and let the
crowd in again as had done on former
occasions. / slipped out of the window
and down the side of the barn about
two feet, when l was detained un-
avoidably. There was "batten" on
the barn that was loose at the upper
end. / think was wearing my father $
vest on that day, as he was away from
home and frequently wore his clothes
when he was absent. Anyhow the vest
was too large, and when slid down
| that loose board ran up between the
vest and my person in such way as to
suspend me about eighteen feet from
the ground in prominent, but very un-
comfortable, position.
l remember it yet quite distinctly.
James @. Bang came around where he
could see me. He said: 'I spy Bill Nye
4 and touch the goal before him." No
one came TO remove the barn. No one
seemed to sympathize with me in my
great sorrow and isolation. Every little
while James G. Bang would come
around the corner and say: 80 see we.
You needn't think you're out of sight
up there l can see you real plain.
You better come down and blind. /
can see We up there!'
/ tried to unbuttOn my vest and get
down there and lick James, but it was
of no use.
1t was n very trying time. can re-
member how i tried to kick myself
loose, but failed. Sometimes / would
kick the barn and sometimes | would
kick a large hole in the horizon. FL
nally was rescued by neighbor who
said he didn't want TO see good barn
kicked into chaos just to save long
legged boy that wasn't worth over six
bits.
1t affords me great pleasure to add
that while j am looked up to and mad
ly loved by every one that does not
know me, James G. Bang is the brevet
President of fractured bank, taking a
lonely bridal tour by himself in Europe
and waiting for the depositors to die OF
old age. ....
The mills of the gods grind slowly,
but they most generally get there with
both feet (Adapted from the French by
permission. Detroit Free Press.