Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-10-13
A VERY SWEET pov

My West Indian host and | were Just
driving off to his plantation on the north
side of Barbados, and little Jim Grow,
one of his negro boys, was dancing along
beside us, swapping his fingers and grin
ming from ear to ear, when a sudden shout
was heard, taken up instantly by dozen
shrill voices, Sweet Boy Sweet Boy p
In a moment Jim's laughing face
changed to the look of demon, and with
a scream Of rage he rushed after his tor
mentors, who redoubled their cries till the
whole street resounded
" Poor Jim p' chuckled Mr.. A.: che
will never get rid Of that name if he lives
to hundred and it may well stick to
him, considering how he got it.
About year ago we began to make a
very rich kind of moiasses on one of my
estates by new process which I'll show
you this afternoon, and when the first lot
was ready, and | saw that it had turned
out well, | thought might as well send a
small keg of it to friend Of mine here in
the town, and poor Jim was the unlucky
fellow whom picked out for the Job.
Down went Jim to the town, keg and
all, and got along all right till he was
halfway up the main street, and not FIVE
minutes walk from the house for which
he was bound. The moment the bows saw
the molasses keg they came swarming
round him, like flies upon sugar, begging
and praying him to give them lust one
taste of the sweet stuff. But Jim put on
tremendous airs, and told them to gel
away, and not exasperate him; and Sc
he was stalking majestically along with
the precious burden on his head, when all
at once the bottom of the keg came out
and III moment poor Jim was one flood
of molasses from head TO foot.
INSTANTLY the boys pounced upon hin
with yells Of delight, like dogs upon 9
bone. Some clawed the molaSses off hin
with their hands; some scraped him with
their lack-kniyes; others tore away strips
of his jacket to suck, and even cut of
locks of his sticky HAIR; till his head
looked as if it had been nibbled bv tho
rats.
If one of our overseers hadn't come III
and scared them off, | don't know what
would have become of him, for with hi.
eyes bunged up and his mouth full of mo
lasses, he could neither fight nor run. But
as you see, the name of Sweet Boy ha.
stuck to him ever since, and the mere
sound of 1t is enough to drive him nearly
crazy. ."-Hdrper's Young People.
TOYS MADE OF OLD CoRKs.
Curious toys may be made of cork. One
OF these is the well-known little tumbler
such as is generally constructed of pith
but cork, especially if it be followed. will
answer the purpose. Make the puppet Of
three or four corks, shape and paint it as
skillfully as you can, and glue to the feet
or under them hemisphere of lead, and
when thrown into any position the figure
of course rights itself, and, like a cat, al
ways falls on its feet. 1t is quite possible
to make cat, also of pith or cork, which
| will indeed always fall upon its feet.
Another toy is duck of cork, which is
also ballasted with lead, and which car
outride any storm. These are made by
gluing square pieces of cork together, and
then shaving the whole into shape with 9
sharp knife. \ duck or swan of cork
containing a piece of iron, can be placed
on sheet of paper, etc, and made tC
move by magnet concealed beneath the
paper.
a more difficult toy is the walking
man." A puppet is made from cork, the
legs being movable at the hips, yet so con
structed that the body does not fall back
ward or forward. The soles Of the figure
are shod or plated with iron. A horse
shoe magnet is then moved under tam
BOURNE or other frame covered with paper
or parchment, and as the soles follow the
poles of the magnet, the figure, of course
may be made to walk over it.-iS Nicholas
LONGHEADED MULE.
\ rich man had piece of land upon
which a poor mule was grazing. " I shall
harness you," said the man to the mule
"and make You plow this land to grow
melons on, of which l am very fond, while
the stalks will supply you with food" Tt
which the mule replied: " If | consent tc
toll on your plan you will have all the
melons and will be worse of than | an
now, inasmuch as | will have to eat dry
stalks instead of fresh green grass
I'll not do it, sir" How unreason
able you are" demonstrated the land
owner; your father never had any fooC
but thistles, and yet worked sixteen hour.
a day without grumbling." "Alasl that i.
true" retorted the mule, "but, you know
my father was an ass."-Erchange