Huntsville gazette., 1888-08-18
THE BOWSER FAMILY.
They Celebrate the Fourth In the Good Old
Way and Have High Time.

looked across bHe supper titoe dl Iio
that he had something to propose, and
also felt certain that his proposition
r. $3.50 was mixed up with the glorious Fourth.
Pretty soon he said'
1--WE are to go on a steamboat ex-
cursion to Harsens Island on the
Fourth"
"Please don't. We can enjoy our
=. selves far better right here at home"
u ''Mrs. Bowser, your forefathers
X fought, bled and died that we mightbe
r. free people," A
eyes"
s"It is a time when every patriot
- should show his colors | propose to
- go off with select few and have a
good time. 'sss9
"But nothing is select on the Fourtho
~ 81 don't believe you care two cents
whether we are slaves or freemen!" he
c3 hotly exclaimed.
ss< eyes, do"
- sThen get ready for the excursion.
Only select few are going. We shall
- have nice. cool ride, basket-lunch
- on the island, and return in time for
t.Fs the fireworks in the evening""
'sBut if any thing happens you'll
lay it to me-"
Amy thing happen? Lay it to you?
Mrs. Bowser, do you know who you
uI6 ldlhlue W.
'sBut you'll say I dragged you off,
aaaI !, and that it was all my fault )" @'' .
''o 49, II WILL ehe Very well. You and
.s;s~t H. our wall-eyed infant can; stay right
5sni ~ here I'm going on the excursion!'
III es u yielded the point after awhile, as a
"a eli wife always does, and the excursion
A4Jh was agreed upon. We were ready and
on time, and it did seem as if we were
certain of enjoying ourselves until we
si@.sN got to the boat. Then Mr.. Bowser's
a3At'iS ''seect few tnrned out to be mob Of
t;'E . four hundred people of all sorts, sizes
and colors, and we had scarcely found
seats when a man came up, slapped
him familiarly on the back and called
r4t out: ..
- Hello! old rutabaga, did you bring
your lung-pad alongp"
Mr.. BoWser turned very red and
FS then very white, and hads to talk to
80 tss@him. 4 told him that this one loafer
had slipped in by accident. and that no
n one should notice him. He must re-
member Washington, Paul Jones, Put
nam and the host Of other patriots,
and let nothing vex him. - .if
""' When the boat finally got away it
loaded down and every body was
smoking cheap cigars and feeling good
natured. Even the dozen fellows who
$50 had had their heads punched or their
eyes blacked while waiting seemed to
forget it as patriotism bubbled up. /
'i@ was looking around for the ''select
few" when young man who didn't
" die at Bunker Hill, because he wasn't
-a old enough, crowded along to us and
said to Mr. Bowser:
99 n s'Shay, ole man, we licked em, didn't
a4s , wepnssFs -.
80. Mr.. BOwser turned red, but touched
him with my foot. .---.-s.-a.---s
''Shay, ole man, give us little
-. Fo'th Shuly speech, will youp' con-
d tinped the patriot. +
Mr.. Bowser turned white, but got
him by the elbow. L. ga 80.
N assrSho you won't speech.sehP-a 81 Then
you are an old Tory you areis I'll git
err boys and pitch you overheard,
E willphf e. I'll "~
& had to talk with Mr.. Bowser. l
had TO tell him how Washington suf-
fered at Valley Forge--hows the true
IS spatrfOts OF the revolution starved and
4 AungeredA-hox we foughtaon suntil
: Victory came at last %and by and by
i q queted. him down He had just got
8 his pstriotismlb back when q middle
E aged man. who had always feltyery
Esorry that he didn't see CORVALLIS
Surrender at Yorkton, came along and
schucked me under the chin and said:
81 SHAY, sis, got yer ferr 'longP
Cause if yer got yer fel'r long kin
lick him in two mizzen by erwatch!
,sHooway I'm forefazzer, I ami Ished
ser blood, / did !''575Ee 54Ef A
HELD conversation with Mr..sBow-
Ser It was about how we whipped
:ssthe British and gained our indepen-
dence, and why, for that reason, every
i-,true patriot should go,oA on Fourth
.-of. July excursion and have good
time, and he was in pretty good humor
So when the boat landed. Circumstances
against me, however. We had
scarcely got seated in the shade when
Mr.. Bowser discovered that some one
had. changed lunch baskets with US.
.Thesone we had contained only two
sandwiches and a euchre-deck When
he made this discovery he turned on
me with:
s.I'll hunt this island over and find
that thief and break him in two!" M
But he didn't i interested him in
the revolution, and finally made him
realize it was his duty true pa
triot, to make sacrifices Washington
had staked his all that we might
I,raa tba tba in sof1i hort 11ptt