The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1886-10-22

ana thrushcs with opte)oed songs just
the right sort Of day 70 put party %
tired school-boys In good huInor with
themselves and all the world.
''What are you going 20 do. Lionelr'
asked one Of the party.
II mean 10 play good joke ON some
one" replied Lionel. laughing In
mysterious manner.
Going to play Il on . boy or girl'"
one asked
Neither" WAS the short reply.
..Nian or woman? Or are you GO
ing 10 tease Lima Sydney's new dogP"
questioned another.
'.Neither the first nor the last"
ssrhcn IL must BE- . woman Come.
Lionel. let Us hear the plan; perhaps
We can help"
Every well. replied Lionel. Il will
let you help; and ! can promise that
every one Of you will have . jolly time
Nothing bad. however; but no one
shall ever lind out who did IL shall
EXPECT every one Of you to meet me on
the school ground at eight O'Clock
sharp and bring spades"
.sBut see here. Lionel" spoke up
Fred Morse. I'D like TO know whz,
the Joke il first"
ssI'll tell At eight o'clock Good
afternoon" and no turned towards
home.
At . quarter before eight six boys
were lying on the grass in the play
ground. six spades stuck in the turf
near BY. while rake was seen hang
ing on the fence.
s.lVoll I .~..... -. -. III -. u.
what Is all this racket about?" drawlcd
Ed Wallace. rolling over to take .
look At the full moon. which was
flooding the country with sea Of mel
low light
1T IL this" spoke Lionel. This
afternoon ~ recess was walking
along the fence here. and saw old
Widow Martin out in the garden try
ing TO dig up q place 20 plant her
onions; and just then (you know how
she likes to talk TO hcrsclD saw her
lean on her spade 10 rest her back.
and heard her say: oh. how l wish
had dollar to hire man TO dig up
this hard groundr And then she went
AZ il again. She didn't see me watch
ing her. but was. and felt just As il
I'd like to jump over the garden wall
and do 1t for her; because she = 80 old
and lame that il is impossible for ner
to do it Just then the bell rang and
we went to school. but Horned = plan
to give her . surprise tonight. or
rather tomorrow morning. So- shalt
we commcncer
"Yesr' came from all quarters. and
in moment they we're climbing the
fence.
Now. the first one that speaks
aloud or hits his spade against another
goes over the fence towards homer
commanded Superintendent Lionel
And want all the clods knocked
fine"
IAN rightr' and the spades we're
stuck into the soil. Several men aud
boys passed along the street. which
was quite = distance from the garden,
but. happily. no one saw them An
hour and half passed. and the garden
had oeen dug deeply and thoroughly;
and the rake had not been idle. either.
| for the fresh soil was raked fine and ~
nearly leveled As the iron teeth and .
pair Of willing hands could do it. The
| borders were carefully graded and
| pafted hard with the spades. ana all
along the edges the trcspassers wrote
with their fingers:
MRS. Patience Martin. Mapleton. y
| ssOnion beds, Potato Department.
Cabbage square and Yours Truly"
With light hearts and dirty shoes
they leaped over the fence. and with
little regard to military rules. the
spade brigade" marched up town and
disbanded.
| But do you think that Mrs Martin
never knew who played the joke on
her? Of course she did. She saw them
from her bedroom window all the
while they were busy. and II nearly
melted her old heart Tears trickled
down her wrinkled cheeks. and she
was almost tempted 70 raise the win
dow and thank them at once; but. kind
old soul. she guessed their object. and
wisely rcfrained from spelling their
surprise"
| But the next morning the school,
children were all looking over the
fence aud spelling out the rude capitals
printed upon board. and nailed up in
the center Of the garden. God bles.
the boys - Our Sabbath Home