The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-12-10

Ol LIt us vi II ~
bored me more than half an hour, and when
he went out, instead of paying Johnny for his
trouble, he said, very severely: Hand me
the bride, lad, Pm afraid you've been worry
ing the horse Johnny very cody let go the
bride and gave the horse a cut with the whip,
that started him into a run, after when ne
SwOre a fearful volley at the Elder, and walked
off, breaking the whip in small pieces as he
went. The Consequence was that the morse
never stopped till he got home, and the EId9r
had a five miles walk in n highly excited frame
Of mind. He wanted ] should punish the
boy; but / told him that | had no authority
over him, and did not want any.
II fear lie is incOrrigible, =" said Uncle Luke.
He went to the protraCted meeting last fall;
and took his place on the anxious seat Tor the
sake Of getting near enough to the Stove 10
put a handful of pepper i'll it.. 1t took just
two minutes by the watch to clear the house
Of over a hundred people"
YES" said | ''he is totally devoid OF rev.
crence, and seem to delight in abusing the
Young people who have joined the church.
And then, whenever there are Indians in town
he is always acting as a gO-between TO get Wills
key for them. If the place is burned by them
some dav, / have no doubt we shall W 1t to
Johnny"
| think Johnny's ears must have been tin
gled that night; for having become the suO-
iect Of discussion in our little circle he was
handled without gloves, and his evil deeds given
Il liberal airing. 1t was conceded that :" was
naturally a bright boy, and that he had some
personal pride, that induced him to keep his
hands and face clean and hiG usually ragged
clothes in some kind Of order. But no one
could deny that he was lazy, saucy, mischiev-
Gus and prOfane; just such q boy as the vii
Iage could well afford to spare. Uncle Luke
rOundlv asserted that the bows example and
evil influence in the village were more than
enough to cOunterbalance the effect of all its
three SUNDAY schools, and proposed to sub
scribe literally to a fund to hire him to leave
and stay away.
He was not a regular employee of Mr.. Castles
and consequently we did not feel in any way
bound to invite him, though we pitied his
homeless condition, and would have been glad
to do something for him, If he would let us.
JOhnny's chances of getting a Thanksgiving
dinner were rapidly leSsening, when George
took up the cudgels in his defense and insisted
that the village people were constantly pick
ing at him, and that if the truth were known,
more than half his tricks were in self de-
Tense.
1t was finally agreed to put it to vote, by
ballot, whether Johnny should be invited.
The counters were brought from the checker
hoard, and it was agreed that the white Ones
should be for and the black against him; the
color which each voted being kept secret. At
the very last moment | relented, | know not
why, unless the spirit of the poor Orphans
mother lowered near and influenced me, and
the hand which I extended with two counters
in it, one of each color, fully intending to de-
post the black one, dropped the white in
stead.
Even to this day l tremble, and nv heart al
most ceases to beat, when / think Of what
might have been the result had / followed my
first impulse.
"Hity-tity =" exclaimed Mr.. Castle, who
held the hat. THE ballot is a tie, and We
shall have to appeal to Ella for a casting
vote"
Ella, who understood nothing of our late
procedure, but who seemed to consider it some
Of a new game, on hearing her name
spoken raised her head and said very gravely:
81 like Johnny. He brought me some mice
in a box and some maple sugar"
Johnny is elected said Mr.. Castle.
ELLA may be the best judge of human ma
ture after all. | dom think the child could
be attracted to any one who was really vicious
at heart"
And so JOHNNY got his invitation, and said
he would come ''f he felt hungry about that
time of day."
The other invitations were all greatfully
forward to the festival with pleasant antici-
patton. Mrs. Burke, who kept the mill
boarding house, said that she could tell who
were invited to our Thanksgiving, by their
self-satisfed look and the extra amount of
food they consumed. Instead of starving
w aNIuiiG EANaNIl NaphNAb1y buCf
seemed to have their appetites in training.
In a country village, where everyone knows
what everybody else, is doing, our preparations
for Thanksgiving attracted no little attention,
and must acknowledge that for a time / felt
somewhat nervous over my undertaking.
But as the day approached and everything
seemed to conspire to render our plans success
full, my anxiety wore away, and I found my
self, with the others, glad that Thanksgiving
was so near at hand.
Thanksgiving morning ushered in, warm and
pleasant, a beautiful Indian Summer day, and
Mil Castle at Castles Mill.n as Uncle Luke
was wont to style our large bat very plain
house, presented an animated appearance.
Inside the house four willing women, volun-
ieers for the occasion. assisted my cook tc
prepare the various viands for the grand din
ner, While | mustered into service every table
cloth, napkin, knife, fork, SPOON, and all the
dishes OF every kind In the house, eyen resort
Ing to the expedient of borrowing dishes OF
Mrs. Winslow, our minister's wife, who, witt
her husband, was among our list OF guests.
Outside, half a score of men INDUCED In
various pastimes, such as pitching quoits, OF
shooting at a mark; the more sober minded Of
them how and then dropping into a ~theologica
discussion with Mr.. Winslow, whose Thoughts
meyer for an instant strayed from his sacred
calling. He was generally regarded as
model OF unwoldllness, but Uncle Luke call
ed him a theological machine.
The ladies began 10 arrive before noon, ant
/ found my hands full in receiving and ent5l
tanning them.
Uncle Luke and George came IN and devot
ed themselves exclusively to the children
their bit Of strategy In the case Of Tom Love
having proved quite unnecessary, that gentle
man coming In late In the morning, cleanlI
shaved, dressed trather aashily> In new broad
cloth, and as sobe as q Judge.
John Lick and Paul Toms also appeared II
Il nQw ertfa nf bIapk fu fha lafact Krnaduru,
style $50 youched for by One Legged Dick, tn
village taiIor), and the laborious dignity ant
severe propriety Of their demeanor nearly up
set my gravity whenever I looked their way
albeit Il greatly relieved my forebodings.
The children got hungry by noon, and w
were compelled to feed the smaller ones, pre-
vailing upon the others by q glowing descrip
ton Of the nice things upon the tables to wal
till dinner was ready. Little Ella went to bed
and was snuglY esconsed III the parlor bed