The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1885-05-29
The Surprise Party.
BY JIMMY BROWN.


l said awhile ago that had invented plan
for driving ghosts out of the wall.
My plan was to pour something into the
hole in the wall ofmy room where the ghosts
are that would make them glad to come out
and go somewhere else. Now there is kind
Of medicine called nastyfettidy that smells
worse than anything you can think Of l
went to our druggist and asked him if he
couldn't melt some for me SO that it would
stay melted. / didn't tell the druggist what
| wanted it for, but he said he guessed he
could do it, and gave me bottle full of some
thing that smelt Just like nastyfettidy. l
took it home and poured it into the hole, and
left the window open, so that the ghosts
could get out, and shut the door and went
down stairs.
| think the ghosts left. They couldn't
have staid in the wall, for | couldn't stay in
the room, and I'm not as delicate as ghost.
Father hopes that we shall be able to go into
the room some time next spring, but he
doesn't feel very sure about it, for we can
hardly live in the rest of the house. Of
course told him all about it, and when he
explained to me that l had done wrong, l
admitted it, and was very sorry. He told me
that for punishment | could not go skating
for month"; and hope, my son, it will teach
you not to play tricks in my house again.
But deserved it, and do hope it will teach
me something.
One day the whole family except me went
to New York to spend the night, and Tom
McGinnis was allowed to come and stay with
me, so that we could take care of the house.
AS couldn't go out skating, Tom and
thought we would make skating pond in
our front yard. So we poured great lot of
water over our front walk, which is made of
askfelt; and as it was very cold, it froze in a
very little while. We skated all day, and
towards night we poured more water over it,
so as to make it nice and smooth.
We have been having surprise parties in
our town this winter, and heard father say
that we had them worse in our town than in
any other part of the country. A surprise
party is whole lot of folks who rush into
your house at night, and don't give anybody
time to change their clothes or take their hair
out of curl papers. The surprise party gener
ally brings cake and pie with them, and
everybody eats some and drops the rest on
the carpet, and when the party is gone you
sit down and burst out crying, and say you
were never so worried in all your life, and
wish those wretched, impudent people were
thousand miles away.
Tom and I had a beautiful time after we
had got through skating and it was dark
we nau supper, anu tnen we DrouBhI uoWn
mattress from upstairs and turned somer
saults, on it in the parlor. We were going to
black up and play we were Ministries, but we
couldn't find any cork.
All at once we heard the most awful noise
in the front yard. Every few seconds some
body would Shrek like girl that sees a rat,
and then men would use swear-words, and
everybody would talk all at once Tom and
rushed up stairs, where it was dark, and
looked out through the window. A big sur
prise party was falling all over one another
on our front walk. Most of them were lying
on the ice and moaning, but every minute or
two man or a woman would get up and try
to walk, and then slip and come down ON
somebody else. 1t was most dreadful sight,
and Tom and could hardly keep from roll
ing on the floor and laughing loud enough for
the surprise party to hear After awhile
some of them managed to get off the walk on
to the grass, and then they pulled the rest off
the ice, and helped one another over the fence,
and went home, that is all except three or
four who were helped into a wagon because
they couldn't walk. The next morning we
put ashes on the walk, and when father came
home and we told him about it, he said we
had done very wrong, and then gave US each
| ten cents, and went into the house laughing.
never knew him to act that way before.