The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-09-23


81 wonder if there can be pair
of shoes in itY'
Little Tim sat on the ground
close beside very ugly, dark-col
ored stone jug. He eyed it sharp
ly, but finding it quite impossible
to see through its sides, he pulled
on: the cork and peered anxiously
in.
Cant see nothin', but it's so
dark in there ] couldn't see if there
was anything. I've a great mind
to break the hateful old thing"
He sat for a while thinking how
bad he wanted a pair of shoes TO
wear to the Sunday school picnic.
His mother had promised to wash
and mend his clothes so that he
might go looking very neat indeed,
but the old shoes were far past
mending and how could he go bare
foot2 Then he began counting the
chances of his father being very
angry when he should find his bot
tie broken. He did not like the
idea of getting a whipping for it, as
was very likely, but how could he
resist the temptation of making
sure about those shoes? The
more he thought of them the m IRE
he couldn't. He sprang up and
hunted around until he found
good-sized brick. bat, which he
flung with such vigorous hand and
correct aim that the next moment
the old bottle lay in pieces before
his eyes. How eagerly he bent
over them in the hope of finding
not only what be was longing for,
but, perhaps, other treasures. But
his poor heart sank as he turned
over the fragments with trembling
fingers. Nothing could he found
among the broken bits wet on the
inside with a bad smelling liquid.
Tim sat down again and sObbed
as he had never sobbed before; SO
hard that he did not hear step
beside him until a voice said:
"Well! what is all this?"
He sprang up in great alarm. 1t
was his father, who always slept
late in the morning and was very
seldom awake so early as this.
"Who broke my bOttle2" he ask
ed.
81 did," said Tim, catching his
breath half in terror and half be-
tween the sobs.
tsWhV did youT'
Tim looked up. The voice did
not sound quite so terrible as he
had expected. The truth was his
father had been touched at the
sight of the forlorn figure, so very
small and so sorrowtul which had
bent over the broken bottle.
"Why," he said, 81 was looking
for pair of new shoes. 1 want a
pair of shoes awful bad to wear to
the picnic. All the other little
chaps wear shoes"
"How came you to think you'd
find shoes in the bottle2"
"Why, mamma said 80. I asked
her for some new shoes and she
said they had gone into the black
bottle, and that Il is of other things
had gone into it, too-coets and
hats, and bread and meat and
things-and ] thought if broke it
I'd find them all, and there amt
thing in it-and mamma never
said what wasn't so beforehand /
thought 'twould be so-sure."
And Tim, hardly able to sob out
the words feeling how keenly his
trust in his mothers word had adj
ded to his disappointment, sat
down again and cried harder than
ever.
His father seated himself on a
box in the disorderly yard and re-
NAMED quiet for so long a time
that at last Tim looked timidIy up.
I'm real sorry l broke your bot
tie, father. I'll never do it again"
"No, | guess you WON'T" he said,
laying a hand on the rough little
head as he went away. leaving Tim
overcome with establishment that
his father had not been angry with
him.
Two days alter, on the very even
ing before the picnic, he handed
Tim a parcel, telling him to oren it.
New shoes! new shoes" he
shouted. "Oh. father, did you get
a new bottle and were they in itT'
No, my boy, there isn't going to
be a new bottle. Your mother was
right all the time-the things all
went into the bottle, but you see
getting them out is no easy matter,
so I'm going to keep them out af-
ter this" The Morning and Day
of Reform.