The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-14
A DAY OF FUN IN THE WOODS.
The Newsboys and Bootblacks Have a
Glorious Time at Broad Ripple.
The Various Ways in Which They ENJOYED
Themselves-A Feast Which Afforded
Them Safety Of Good Things.

Yesterday was great day. Any one of the
225 newsboys and bootblacks who attended the
picnic at Broad Ripple will testify to that 1t
was great day from the start, as, headed by the
When band and the ladies of the Y. W. c. T.. q.
they marched to the depot, keeping step to the
most enhancing music. It is safe to say the
When band gave the best they had in the shop.
and couldn't possibly have done better if they
had played for the President of the United
States himself. with both houses of Congress
thrown in. 1t hardly seemed like walking at all
more ike rolling down on clouds of glory.
With such start no wonder the boys cheered
when on the cars and actually moving They
cheered everybody and everything, and nobody
tried to stop them. Eight of the largest boys
had been made marshals and their new author
ity was not abused. mo truck ride this time, "
said one of the banners they carried which pro-
claimed them the guests of the generous Monon
route, and the vigilant marshals saw to it that
no unbadged interloper stole a ride on them.
1t was little more than a half mile march from
the Broad Ripple depot to the grove on the
river, and the boys fell in promptly and orderly
and followed the band, the ranks being occasion
ally broken by the harmless freshness incident
to the sight of green fields and the shifting of
country air. At the grove, Chaplain John g.
Blake made a brief address. The river-he i'm
parted the information with some enthusiasm,
not having quite forgotten that he was boy
once himself-was near, and there was plenty of
shallow water, where it was safe to battle; he
wanted them to go in there and keep together
not to go to the deep places, that picnic didn't
want to take any corpses home; they took
up too much room. That sort of humor tickled
the boys. There was no preaching in it, and the
address was not finished two minutes before
seventy-hve or eighty boys were in the water.
There was no lack of games-base-ba ball, football,
swings, croquet. In five minutes twenty-five
boys were ripping open rotten log, into which
a bewildered chipmunk had run, and in less
than five minutes more they caught him. To
their credit, be it said, they let the little animal
go unhurt. Soon after, the boys began to bring
all manner of strange things into camp-turtles,
crawfish By the hatful, and the most wonderful
and startling specimens of insect life.
The generosity of Indianapolis citizens, of the
Monon. and of the When band was catching.
The farmers and neighbors near the grove paid
the rental of the ground Henry Nj. Hessone
Jacob Crone, James Mustard, j. ". Bates w.
Fl. Dixon, l. N Jackson jackson Dawson, NJ
Dawson, Charles Dawson, John Boardman
William Dawson, Samuel Whitmore and others
contributing James Mustard furnished wagon
and team to haul provision from the train, and
w. NJ. Dawson created the widest excitement
ing three bushels of apples broadcast
among the boys. Sometimes fifty boys would
fall on one apple, in seemingly inextricable
tangle of legs and arms. and the next wnirl fifty
apples would fall on one boy, which made very
fair average.
Capt. Eli Ritter, next to the ladies, who were
fixing things for dinner, attracted more attention
than any person on the ground. The Captain
was the custodian of the dinner horn, under or
ders to blow it a gwen signal Every Eve min
n 0Al0paf1OUS from III
and baseball fields would call upon this import
ant official to know exactly when that horn would
blow, and a crowd of small boys who had behed
the unloading of the icecream freezers glued
their eyes to 1t and never removed them until
when patience had its reward and the horn was
blown.
A line was made and with little pushing or
crowding the boys, big and little, seated them
selves for the feast When word was passed
along the line that there was enough for twice
as many boys as had come, there was look of
doubt on some faces, while others, accepting the
truth, nerved themselves to the occasion, re-
solved to eat twice as much The boys behaved
WE'LL Sunday school scholars could not have
done better. The bill of fare was simply stun
ner. There must have been a wagon load of
sandwiches, besides which were great
slices of sugar-cured ham and roast beef; there
were pickles. which was mistake for
those young appetites needed no whetting;
there were jelly. and jam, and pies, and
cheese and the pie was in great broad, generous
Slices like your mother and grandmother cut
| there was mountain of cake. AS for ice cream
there were thirty gallons, and of lemonade, sixty
gallons. In fact, when it came to the sumptuary
part OF the performance the boys rolled in cake
reveled in ice cream and bathed in lemonade
They did their best, ard boys could do no more
There were still several gallons of cream remain
ing after that gallant charge upon it, and q
special lunch given just before the train left
In the afternoon to give them another opportu.
nifty to make way with it.
After dinner Chaplain Blake was presented a
pie baked for him by bride at Broad Ripple,
Capt Ben Richardson making the presentation
speech. The When band gave a concert in
which, catching the inspiration of the OCCASION
they excelled all their former efforts A quartet
sung number of songs. Chaplain Blake sung
'Old Shady" and everyb body was entirely agree
able Remarks were made by Capt. Eli Ritter
and Rev. j. A. Rondthaer, besides which the
reverend gentleman presented series of resolu-
tions, adopted as with one voice-a whopping big
voice, that made the old woods ring thanking
the generous people who, in their private and
corporate capacities had made it possible for
the newsboys and bootblacks of Indiana to have
such royal time" Everybody came home
happy-most of all, the ladies of the w. G. r..
u, who had planned and brought about this
great event-a day without a single accident or
an unpleasant feature of any kind in it.