Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-12-05
A DAY ON COONEY ISLAND.

The 18th day of September was a memora- | ble day in the annals of Cooney Island-a day on which the pulse of that locality | throbbed with unwonted excitement, and the 1 traces of tears were seen on many a rosy and | wrinkled cheek The dramatic occurrence | which marked the autumn day elicited the | sage reflection from Mike Welch; "Begorra, l ye can't tell fwhat minute is goin' t be yer | nixt-" This remark was understood by those | who heard it to imply weighty philosophic | truism as to the uncertainty of life; a sort of ''in the midst of life," etc., deduction. But | when the sun rose on that eventful day and shot his glances of light down into the little valley there was nothing in the atmosphere | the pain brewing in the crucible of Fate | The leaves in Lindsey's Wood whispered as | blithely, the chicken hawk circled on still | wing over Doolan's yard where the goslings were, and the female portion of Mrs. Finn's | dairy ma-a-a-ed just as plaintively as she had done on other and less eventful days. Indeed, the ordinary routine of duties was taken up in the habitual Finn manner. At | 6 o'clock MT. Finn slouched down the Old Point road to his work in the Glory Hole of the cement quarry. At ' o'clock the break | fast dishes had been cleared away by Mrs l Finn.
 | At 7:30 little Mike stepped iuto the back yard with long putty blower in his hand. The nanny goat was quietly feeding on q | cabbage stump near the door. Mickey climbed over the fence into the adjoining lot, and lay down in the long grass. He had a hunk of fresh dough in his hand. Lying on his back he carefully trained his putty blower on q hornets nest under the gable of the | roof, and sent a chunk of dough with un- erring aim into the fragile nest. A dozen hornets, mad with rage, flew out and darted | through the air in search of the aggressor, Then another round shot of dough cut like Q | bullet through the nest. This awakened an army of infuriated hornets. They darted in cratic flight around the chimney, they flew, | these winged poison bearers, under the caves, and even circled around the shanty. Then, as though animated with unanimous desire to kill the nanny, they all flew in a swarm down upon the helpless animal
 | Twenty insect backs were bumped and 1 twenty darts were driven home in her sleek hide. Her short tail shot upward like a jury mast on adismantled ship. She jumped four | feet into the air and her loud cries of pain awoke the echoes in the valley She began turning summersaults and running blindly | against the fence.
 "Arrah, musha, lux a that now!n cried Mrs. Finn, as she came to tho door with q l plate in her hand. ''Faix, I'm afeard tn nanny's looney."
 While the goat was apparently striving to stand on her head and to scrape the hornets off by contact with the fence, Mrs. Finn threw bed quilt over her and carried the struggling animal into the kitchen, mutter- ing she did so, ''Oh, dear; oh, dear; her milkll be split intoirely"
 With the help of Mrs. O'Bren, who had been attracted by the disturbance, the nanny was swathed in handages of red flannel and poulticed with wet salt and wood ashes Meanwhile little Mike went grinning down the road on his way to school.
 During the afternoon Mickey drowned six flies in the ink bottle, and cut three new notches ill his desk, He was the last scholar caught chewing gum, and was forced to stand on the platform beside the teacher with a clothespin on his nose and chew gum as hard as he could chew for an hour. And while his jaws ached, and he was forced to breathe through his mouth, he suffered tho humiliation of being laughed at by the school. But when he was dismissed little Mike bounded away like colt in meadow.
 When he arrived at home he found the nanny still swathed in bandages. She made a picturesque object, relieved as she was in her red flannel adornment, against the green grass of the roadside. As soon as little Mike appeared at the door his mother saluted him with:
 ::Mickey, go down tn road an' meet yer
 
 him U go down U tn company's store an' git wan quarter iv a pound iv grane and black tea, mixed, half pound iv brown sugar, an' Q baar iv yaller soap-wan iv thim weeny 8 cint baars, and mind ye tell him to chaarge it. Are ye hungry, me lad9 Well, come here till give ye slice O bread an molas- ses. Whin ye're conin' back I'll lave ye scrape out tn nlolasses pail, so will, bekase there's only that much molasses in tn pail as'll stick t tn sides"
 Encouraged by the promise of so nlunif- cent reward, little Mike hastened off in pursuit of the billy goat, which animal he quickly harnessed to the bone cart. When his mother had closed the door of the shanty he secured the nanny also and put her between the shafts, so that he had his team hitched tandem. Down the road dashed this unique turnout, followed by crowd of admiring children. The windows along the route were filled with inquiring faces as the goats went by at a gallop, the billy making frequent de tours in pursuit of dogs, and more than one mother prophesied eventual harm to that ''dare divvil, Mickey Finn"
 Just where the road turns down a steep in- cline leading to the Ponckhockie chapel there rises blue stone wall forty feet ill height, topped with primitive railing MT. Finn had to pass this spot on his way home, and here little Mike put the goats out to pasture | ness, he seated himself on the top of the wall with his feet dangling over the edge. While , looking downward the thought occurred tc him that it would be great achievement to climb down the face of the wall. With. out waiting to estimate the danger of the undertaking, he threw his cap into the wagon, frightened the strap which held . up his trousers, erept carefully over the edge and disappeared from the view of the goats l uic of@ &l,.ol i1lx,Ye o%% and the old graybeard deliberately walked te the wall, dragging the nanny and the wagon after him, and looked down at hls master who was clinging like leech to the stones and Lowly making his way downward. The ..@4 r1~n ~na-eaa.- .an
 To The Public . AM NOW PREPARED TO FURNISH THl \ citizens of Waterbury and vicinity with flora ,r designs of all kinds. Long experience enable b me to guarantee satisfaction. In addition to m