The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-01-21
JOHNNY, THE NEWS-BOY.
Peck's Snn,

lar the INuii16F! dShOu tti6 iTcthttU- laced news-boy of Johnny, who showed up at the corner with bundle of papers, cold nose and red and white woolen muller. "Get on to his nibs," and the half frozen newsboys around the corner let up ol selling papers long enough to chaff Johnny about his muffler.
 .sGot it at de Christmas tree, at der Sunday school. All de boys dat had sand enough to go to de Sunday school got heeled wid something. It's great snap, and don't you forget it."
 "What does dey do dere?" asked the freckled boy. "Does dey keep yez climbing Christmas trees, knocking down presents for de fellows on de floor to get away with?"
 "Naw," said Johnny, as he sold a paper to man, and held his mitten in his mouth while he searched in his pockets for change for dime. ''De Christmas tree comes only once a year."
 "Den what does yer go all de time for" asked Reddy, the tough. ''Why don't yer lay off till der next Christ mas, and den work lem again?"
 "Dat's cheatin'," said Johnny. ''I'se going to stay wid 'em till graduate. Der's more stories that dey tell den you can find in de dime novels. Say, you fellows would be 'spired to hear about 'Liger, going right up trough de clouds, in chariot of fire, wid no balloon, no nothin' Liger just got ol, r:o tor, Oats what kind of huckleburry 'Liger was. And remember, dis was thousands of years ago, before dere was any balloons"
 70, wot yer givin' us," said the news boy, with the hole in his pants. "Dis man you talk about was blowed up wid dynamite. Iheard de boys in Duffy's saloon telling about it. He wouldn't join de union, and he heard something drap."
 70, go way" said Johnny. "You are all wrong. Dis flying trapeze bus mess of 'Liger's was before dey was any strikes, or any union, or any scabs, and dere was no Powderly, and no Knights of Labor. It wuz when de country was new. 'Liger had an engagement to get dere, Eli, and dere wuz no horse cars, no railroad, no nothin', and he got on his wagon and telephoned for de angels, and dey come Hopping deir wings outen de sky, and dey just took hold and said he-yo- -heave, and de chariot, just de kind what wuz in Bill Coup's show when he had de hippodrome, only de lok T aIa,, s@& T ferent, and 'Liger's chariot just got right up and dusted up in de sky. Pm givin' it to you straight, boys, and don't you forget it," and Johnny rushed across the street to sell paper, while the other boys looked at each other and shook their heads and said he had got lem, sure.
 "Johnny, dem stiffs in de Sunday school hez been giving you wind, or else you have been drinking egg nog," said one of the boys. Wuz de whole ting about dis 'Liger, or did dey have more den de one act?"
 70 de 'Liger business wasn't a marker" said Johnny. "You ought to hear de teacher talk to us boys abous de probable son. Dat wuz a parable"
 "How many acts was der?" asked the freckled boy, who somehow couldn't believe but there was a show connected with it. "And what is probable son, anyway"
 70, you make me tired" said Johnny. "Dere ain't any acts at all. You tink everything is a dime mu- nd 1o win skeleton. De probable con was prob ably de old mans boy, but he was a corker. De old man couldn't do any thing with him, and de boy ought to have been sent up till he was twenty one to de reform school. His father couldn't handle him, and he wouldn't take advice, so one day he lit out. 'spose he follered off a circus, but de teacher didn't say any thing about dat. He wore good clothes away, cause his old man was heeled pretty well, but de probable son did not know what was good for him. He wanted the it, and he went away from his com- fortable home, and wasted his sub stance in riotous living. Dat is, he painted de towns where he went. He was masher, and he got in with too fast class, and before they fairly got scored up he was distanced. He drank high wines, and speculated in every thing, and went in society, such as it was, and was high roller from away back. While his poodle lasted he was hunky, and all de bummers would drink wid him, and he was stuck on himself, and the girls smiled on him and called him pet names, and made him think he was 6 regular prince of