Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-01-08
The Boss Roy.

Bill NYe: Dear reader, do Won re-
member the boy of your school who did
the heavy falling through the ice and
was always about to break his neck, but
managed to live through it all? Do
you call to mind the youth who never
allowed anybody else to fall out of a
tree and break his collar-b bone when he
could attend to it himself?
Every school has TO secure the SER
vices of such a boy before it can sue
coed, and so our school had one. When
| entered the school l saw at glance
that the I GARD bad 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 | APP
piled for the position. | secured it
without any trouble whatever. The
board understood at once from my
bearing that would succeed. And /
didnot betray the trust they had re-
posed in me.
Before the first term was over | had
tried to climb two trees at once, and
been carried home on a stretcher: been
pulled out OF the river with my lungs
full of water and artificial respiration re-
sorted to; been jerked around over the
north half of the county by fractions
horse whose halter had tied to my Leo.
and which is now three inches longer
than the other; together with various
other little early eccentricities which |
can not at this moment call to mind
My parents at last got so that along
about 2 O'Clock z. NJ. they would look
snxiously out of the window and saw,
Isn't it about time for the boys to get
here with Williams remainsp They
generally get here before 2 O'clock
One day five or six of us were playing
81 spy around our barn. Everybody
knows how to play II spy One shuts
his eyes and counts 100, for instance,
while the others hide. Then he must
lind the rest and say II 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 pile of
straw so as toland near the goal, touch
it, and and let the crowd in free with
out getting found out. | did this
several times, and got the binder,
James Bang, pretty mad. After boy
has counted 500 or 600, 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 withJames
Cicero Bang. | knew that he almost
hated me, and yet went on Finally.
in the fifth ballot, saw 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
| was detained unayoidably. There
was ''batten' on the barn that was
loose at the upper end. | think | was
wearing my father S vest on that day, AS
he was away from home, and | fire.
quently 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 a
prominent but very uncomfortable po-
sition.
| remember it yet quite distinctly.
James G. Bang came around where he
could see me. He said: II spy Billy
Nye 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: o, see We.
You needn't think you're out of sight
up there. can see You real plain.
You better come down and blind. /
can see you up there!''
tried to unbutton my vest and get
down and lick james, but it was no use.
1t was a very trying time can re-
member how | tried TO kick myself
loose, but failed. Sometimes would
kick the barn and sometimes large
hole in the horizon. Finally | was res
cued by a neighbcr, who said be didn't
want to see a good barn kicked into
chaos just to save lopg-legged boy
that WASH worth over SIX bits.
1t affords me great pleasure to add
that while | am locked up to and madly
loved by every one that does not know
me, James c. Bang is the brevet presi-
dent of fractured bank. taking
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 tbs most generally get there with
both feet ddapted from the French
By pernussion.)