The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1886-01-07
PECK'S BAD ROY.

"His nibs come down to breakfast
YETI" asked the bad boy OF clerk in
Washington hotel, as he leaned up
against the counter with his elbows
on the marble slab, and took a hand
ful Of tooth picks and put them in his
vest pocket.
"Whose nibs?" said the clerk, as he
gave the boy look that would have
froze him in any other climate. | do
not know OF any Nibs stopping at this
house. Who do you mean, and who
DO you want|
my pa. Don't you know paH" and
The bad boy looked at the clerk as
though he must be poorly posted on
great men if he didn't know pa. "Pa
is that biz dQtfer in room 40. with ma,
and ] sleep with the help. You must
lave seen pa. His nose is red, and
iind of itdtic, it slants sideways SO,
and he looks frightened all the time,
as though he expected something was
going to drop on him.
80, yes, know him." said the clerk
Il thought he was western senator,
IN his first trip to Washington, he
seemed to have such a great weight
on his mind. He was sitting in the
office last night, thinking. and he put
up his elbow every little while, as tho
to ward off something. / thought he
had the whole country on his mind.
so your pa is not statesman"
"Nawl" said the bad boy, with a
contemptuous>cnrl OF the lip. "Pa is
no statesman. He was never even an
alderman. He is just down here for
fun, and he is having it. 1t is not the
country he has on his mind. 1t is me.
We came down on sleeper from Chi
cago, and pa got into the worst fix
you ever seen. You see he had low
er berth, and ! had the one oyer him,
and ma had a lower next to our sec
tion. They have a card with the
number of the berths hung on the
curtain, and 1 thought what trouble it
would make if somebody was mean
enough to change the numbers on the
curtains. Pa got mp in the night to
60 out to the back end of the car aud
see If the porter was going to black
his boots, and while he was gone |
thought it wouldn't do any hurt to
change pas number to mas berth.
There isn't no harm in q mans get
ting into bed with his own wife, il
there? II / had been mean / would
have changed the number and put il
on the berth occupied by an old maid
and q rat terrier, next to ours on the
other side, but ] didn't want q strange
|
woman scratching pa, and didn't want
no dog chewing pas shirt in the nigh
so Ilust changed it on to mas berth
Wen, you'd dide if you'd been there
Pm came waltzing down the aisle, bal
ancirfg himself against the berths, ant
the cars was going orfful fast. HI
looked ut the cards until he founC
number eight, and he parted the cur
tains aud sat down, pulled off his slip
pers, and rolled in. Ma was dreaming
she was az angel, and when she fel
crowded size woke up, and then sh
found there WAS man there. Pa Il
Ylo same moment found there was
woman in there, and he thought h
had got in with the old maid. Pa wa
Just going to apologize and say
should not occur again, when m
screamed, and braced herself agains
the back side Of the berth, and kicke
: pa out on the floor, She thought p
was the porter, or some total stranger
and she was mad, and she called hin
names. Her screams brought thepo
: ter and the conductor, and they too
r pa out into the wash room, and tol
him he was an old william, and he at
: mitted that he WAS, and one held hii
while the other went in the car an
told ma to keep quiet, as she was j
luck that she was not robbed and mu
Y dered, as the man who had insulte
+ her was one of the worst looking vi
D lians they had ever seen, reguls
a slecping-car robber, and they were &,
!. ing to hold him until they got to Pitt
l. burg and turn him over to the autho
e tiles. Pa sat down on marble wasl
. stand and sighed. He said he kne
r he was wretch, and ought to die, an
@ was willing to, but he asked as sp
cial favor that they bring him h