The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-05-23

evening lately ana, Delng very thirsty,
poured out for himself a tankard of
water in a glass which he thought was
empty. Imagine his surprise and con-
sternation when his son Tommy, aged
eight, came running in, just as his
draught was finished, and shrieked:
Why, papa! you've swallowed my
tadpolep' Whaaat I" shouted the
alarmed father. you young idiot!
Run for the doctor!" But the only
medical man who could be got hold of
at the moment was Frenchman visit
ing in the neighborhood On the case
being rather incoherently explained to
him by the now thoroughly frightened
family, he said You most make
heem swim" "But my husband can't
SWIM" replied poor Mrs. Brown, in
tears. "No, it is not re man Eat shall
swim, it is re leetle frog who shall swim,
you know, gull fdut que le poisson mage,
so you fill him wiz re water to his teeth,
zen re eete frog he will swim up to re
mout of Monsieur, and ven he see re
light he will shomp out, So" And they
gave him bucket after bucket of water
till he became horribly sick, but no
tadpole " shomped out" BY this time
poor Brown was suffering agonies.
The tadpole, or the large quantity of
water, one or the other, was causing him
great pain, added to which he himself
was in a state of mortal and indefnable
terror. Just then the family physician
made his appearance and tried to alay
their fears, but all to no purpose; some
thing practical must be done. Think
ing little stimulant would do his
patient good after the drenching he had
had, he said: "Now | should recon-
mend you, if you want that tadpole to
jump, to give him a good dose of
brandy. That will make him frisky and
perhaps he will then, under the influ-
ence of liquor, make his sudden APP
pearance and relieve you ALL" The
plan was tried on a most wholesale
scale, but instead of making the tad
pole frisky it only made Mr.. Brown
somewhat tipsy, in which state he be-
came what the Scotch call "greetin'
fu'." In a maudlin way he babe his
weeping wife an affecting farewell and
insisted on being put to bed to die.
The doctor, however, seeing that the
poor man, as well as his family, was
suffering agonies of mind about the I'M
fortunate little polliwig, determined to
take active measures and bring matters
to a satisfactory crisis by little scheme
of his own. He ordered Mr.. Brown,
who was now in bed, to be partially
undressed, promising to return in an
hour with his assistant, when he hoped
to be able to relieve him permanently
In the succeeding half hour the patient
suffered all sorts of pains, real and
imaginary, and was more than ever
pnnuinnpI of tho activity of hiO
welcome tenant. The doctor, how
ever, meanwhile had offered half a
dozen small boys handsome price
for the first tadpole they would
bring him, and the fact being noised
abroad, his house soon resembled
Pharoah's palace during one of the
plaques of Egypt 1t was filled with
frogs and froglings of all sizes and ages,
causing great CONSERVATION to the
medical household. But long ere this
the doctor and his assistant had started
off to finally cure their patient. The
doctor carried healthy polliwig in a
small bottle in his pocket, the assistant
powerful electric battery in a valise
Turning every one out of the room, the
conspirators quietly hid the battery
under the bed, after adjusting it to its
utmost power. The new polliwig was
then carefully placed on the pillow near
the despairing mans head, one battery
wire was arranged under his chin and
at signal from the doctor the other,
with the full power of the battery, was
suddenly applied to his stomach. With
horrid yell the poor wretch suddenly
sprang up in bed, and the doctor and
his assistant both shouted: " Hurrah
he is out at last" The unsuspecting
family, hearing the yell, rushed in to
see the startled Mr.. Brown sitting up
in bed, the poor little tadpole lying be-
side him. He was soon made aware of
the change in the state of affairs, and
warmly thanked the doctor, as did all
the family. " He gave me an awful
spasm as he got out though, but, thank
heaven, it is now all over" Just at that
moment, however, the ever unfortunate
Tommy came rushing into the room
with a glass in his hand, saying" Why
papal here is my tadpole! You never
swallowed it after ALL" If a bomb-shel
had burst in the room the consterna-
ton could not have been more complete
The father, now cured, suspected some
trick, he did not exactly know what
but seeing the doctor and his assstan
convulsed with laughter he angrily re-
quested their immediate Withdrawal
from his house, and they, nothing
loath, were only too glad to escape into
the open air The story soon leaked
out and while the doctor was highl,
praised for his treatment, so much 81
that he was ever after called DIR. Tad
pole, poor Mr.. Brown had hard tim,
of it. He soon got so disguised will
being nicknamed :" old Polliwig" tina
he left the country and returned per
manently to town, where no one eve
knew of the bad time he had had wher
he swallowed the tadpole. &c House
Keeping.