Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-01-04
AN EVENINGS FUN.
". QUAO'S NIGHT TRIP WITH THE
VILLAGE BOYS.
What Appears To he Sport In tho Evsn-
ing Looks Very Much Like Con-
temptible Meanness Next Morn
ing-Wrong sdeAs-
IN. Quad's Talk to Boys

VI. SudC 10 bOys ]
Come, now, my lad, I'll be boy with yo1
his evening and Wen go out and have what
you call 'fu,L' How will we get CIT. Father
Doesn't want US racing around evenings, and
mother is deci leily opposed to it, and ws
must invent some excuse. Right here We
nave to practice a mean deception, if not tell
lie We " ant to see a school-mats about
something, o. We borrowed something ani
must return it, or any other excuse that
seems reasonable but is at the same tine no
letter than lying. You can tell by motcsr's
ACE that she doesn't entirely believe il, bus
she let's Us go, and in Ten minute we join two
other boys who have been through the SANE
mill.
Now, then, for the fun. 1t isn't funny to
Mt down on log and tell stories, nor to walk
up and down tie streets, nor stand and rub
brick wall with our backs. We have to
make some decided move. Let's stretch
piece of clothes-line across the sidewalk in
his dark spot, never dreaming that a woIhan
or an old man may get fall to render them
.ripples for life. After that wen go the
length Of this side street and carry of every
front gate which can be lifted off its hinges.
t ought to he awfully funny to steal q
neighbor's gate and leave his lawn and gar
len open to damage from stray animals, but
after it ha, been accomplished we are not
half as tickled as we thought to be.
A citizen who is about to build, has pilod
up some choice lumber. Let's throw the pills
DOWN 1t will make him a half days work,
and probably damage some OF the boards,
but we'l call it fun. Here's the cottage Of
Widow Watkins. We all know that she is
1readfuIly afraid of robbers, and so we slip
into the yard, tap on the windows, rattle on
the doors, and frighten her until we are GER
tain that she will get no sleep that night.
Here in the alley is a wagon belonging to a
teamster; we'll run it off half mile and
leave it behind q undergrad He will
want it at sharp7 in the morning, and it
will be fun to see him hunting the town over.
and losing his wages for half a day.
A merchant has a dozen barrels Of salt ON
the platform in front of his store. A kick
or two loosens the strips which hold them
in place, and they go rolling into the street.
Two of them burst open and scatter their
contents, and it is only after We have left the
ueighborhood that the idea of danger to
passing vehicles occurs to any body. Let the
wheel of passing wagon or buggy strike
one of those barrels and there will be an ac-
cident and perhaps loss Of life. Here's .
garden full Of vegetables Pull up twenty
five or thirty heads of cabbage and stack
them in a pile. and cut open q dozen
squashes or so, and old White will be aston
ished when he comes out in the morning. We
had anticipated q big laugh over it, but
somehow, after the work had been accom-
plished, not a grin is visible on any counts
nance Deacon Smith has a lot of choice
grapes on a rack almost hid under his bed
room window. 1t will be huge joke to steel
them to the last bunch. Every boy crawls
forward on his stomach, imagining himself
to be a Pawnee Indian on the warpath, and
good share Of the grapes are plucked and
carried away. Awful smart, isn't It'll We
call it "cooning," but the deacon lose, the
grapes just the same as if they had been
taken by professional thief.
we separate from the others no one says
anything about having had a heap OF fun.
We have to enter the house and run the
Cauntlet of father and mother. and IL Ques-
toned too closely We must tell half dozen
lies and go to led with them on our con-
science. Come, now, we've been out to-
gether and let RE ask you how you like it'll
I've been there as a boy, and know that
got up next morning ashamed to look any
one in the face What seemed like sport a
few hours before now looked like contempt
BILE work. Ninety times out of a hundred
the boy who goes out nights for fun finds it
in the manner l have described. / don't
say that all such boys will grow to be bad
men, but they are beginning life after wrong
and dangerous ideas.