The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-06-25

just what he was going to say about
that extraordinary beauty was never
known. His defense was cut short by
a frightful noise and a rain of timbcrs, 4
crashing of the very house about his
and Miss Kitty's ears. Instinctiyely he
seized Kitty in his arms and whirled her
inside the sitting room door, just as the
porch upon which they had been sitting fell
in a mass Of ruins before their eyes, covered
by fragments of wood, which had once
formed a part of the neighboring black
smith shop, into which Jimmy Carroll
had just climbed carrying the queer looking
parcel. Hammers without handles were
strew all about them. Anvils, bricks,
h~orseshoes, and everything necessary to
to the proper furnishing of a blacksmith
shop covered the highway.
But Jimmy Carroll had gone, and
though many had heard, none had seen
him going. Had the west end of Eagles
vile been more populous on that memoir
able Fourth of July, Jimmy might have
been seen travelling skyward along with
the paraphernalia of the shop.
As it was nobody witnessed his aseen-
Sion hence nobody knew where to look for
him.
Nobody thought of him at first, not
even his watchful aunt. Her house was
somewhat shattered, and her nerves quite
broken. The people at the grove heard
the noise, and hastily dispersed to ascer-
ain the cause. 4 stream of men. women
and children rushed into the west end, to
find a sight Of destruction they were totally
was the greatest sufferer. Not a board re-
manned upon another on the site OF what
in the morning, had been his comfortable
little place of business.
The excited citizens began to investigate
the cause of such unexpected and UMPIRE
eedented happenings. An aged woman
who lived northwest Of the shop testified
to having seen Jimmy Carroll enter it
through the window carrying some
thing" search was instituted for Jimmy,
but it was nearly night before he was
found. \ great many ominous predic-
tons were made, TO the effect that frac-
tional parts only Of the darling boy would
be recovered. But Jimmy was never
born to he annihilated thus early in his
patriotic career. They picked him up a
quarter of a mile from the scene of his
-, Nri,,loI - - lalr l,+ ,rarI.r l..
nuded of clothing. Neither was he with
out the marks of his recent adventure.
His nerves had received a shock they never
could recover from. His teeth chartered
so badly that he couldn't utter a word for
days, and he could neither stand nor walk
for weeks. By and by, when public senti-
ment became more lenient toward him,
and he crawled out of his sick room, he
was a changed boy. He had been fluent
and even graceful talker before the Fourth,
but now he was a hopeless sufferer. He
couldn't So much as say no" without
putting a dozen ''os' into it, and, in spite
of all efforts to cure him, he grew up a
stammerer and stutterer of the most ma
lignant type. He inclined toward Journal
ism. and became n reporter, with all that
the name implies of enterprise and assur-
ance. As an interviewer he would have
acquired Worldwide fame but for his I'M
fortunate suffering. He is still in news
paper work, and still suffering. But he
lost his enthusiasm for the Fourth of July
on that memorable day that lie assembled
from the Village smithy."
Need say that Mark Lyons and Kitty
McDonald's quarrel ended the moment the
gallant Mark dragged Kitty from under
the falling porch into safety. They were
married, and the Goddess of Liberty made
them no more trouble.
Y subscription was raised to build the
innocent blacksmith another shop. Mark
Lyons contributed literally. feeling that
the blacksmith's loss had been his gain.
All came out of the explosion, with less
damage than Jimmy Carroll. 1t shook his
Sclf-confidencc to such an extent that he
gave up ali hope of Kitty, and Smilingly
saw her married To Mark Lyons. When
anyone asks linn HOW to help make the
Fourth of July properly glorious le says:
'N-o-o-o-o-o, th-th-tlla-n-k you. d-i-i-i-d
c-c-c- cel-c-b-b-brate it once. Mia Elton.