Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1890-10-03
"B0b-O-Linkss Lesson.

Link. or Lincoln, Libby was such a
merry boy that he went by the name
of Bob o-Link" at home
He was not only merry, but care
less; he wanted everything "handv, I"
as he expressed it, which made great
deal of work for somebody; for his cap
aud mittens were nearly always
dropped on the table or in o chair ito
have EN- handy" it was such bothe..
to hang 'em up; his muddy rubber
boots were kicked off under the table,
for he would want 'em again pretty
SOON" his books and slate were flung
on the lounge to be ready when Aunt
Kitty got time to assist him in his les
sons; his rubber ball scudded aboat
on the sittiug-room carpet, kites and
snowshoes dangled from the hall has-
rack, his bat-stick stood in the UNI
brella-stand, SO he might catch 'em on
the fly" when he rushed out to meet q
boy.
Whenever he went out or in he LIFT
the door open. only minute: he was
going right in or out again, and twas
such DO her to always shut door
never thinking thst in the minute of
winters day more cold air would
rush into the house than could be
warmed in half an hour. Grandma
told him he ought to live in a saw-mill.
If he peeled an apple-which he
didn't very often, twas such bother"
the skins we're left in the pretty
apple-dish or thrown out of the win
dow on the grass-@Tam the goat
would eat 'em"-to Aunt Kitty's dis
gust.
That same Tam would wriggle be-
tween the barnyard bars at night, and
come beneath the window in Bob o.
Links chamber over the kitchen for
all kinds of eatables, which for him
included everything, from apple-cores
and banana-skins to tattered hats and
the soles of Links old shoes.
But he got handsomely come up
with. grandma said, last summer for
this last slovenly habit. as you will see.
There was wonderful Fourth O.
July celebration in the little town,
last year, and Bob-o'-Link was very
anxious to begin the day early. But
he never could wake in the morning
without shaking. He did not want
to disturb any one in the house. 20 he
hired Billy Dole" real nighthawk"
for a spotted marble and . spread
partridge tail, to wake him, by pulling
a string tied around his great toe, as
he had heard Of other boys doing.
The string was q stout hemp cord,
and in the end, tossed out of the open
MI R@1> - al
slip loop. "'Twould be handy for
Billy to put his hand in to pull" He
tied the other end to his toe in q bow
knot, he thought, but in the dark the
end slipped through and made hard
one.
Along in the night there came such
vicious twitch on the line that it.
brought Bob-o'-Link out of bed in
twinkling.
"Ow-ow-ow-w-w! Stop that, Billy
Dole, or III Ugh! ugh! Ooo-ooI
You'll saw my toe off !" And Link
hoped heavily on one foot toward the
window.
He could not unite the knot, and he
had lost his jack knife the day before,
laid it down somewhere to be handy.
His toe was most choked to DEATH
and felt as though 'twould burst, while
the line kept saving it pitilessly. -
I'll lick ye tomorrow, Billy Dole,
If It's Fourth O. July" he groaned.
You're just as mean as Noo-oo-ughL
Help! Help. somebody" The tugs
came faster and tiercer, and Selling
claw-foot of the old chest-of-drawers.
Link rolled on the floor and shouted /
with all his might, which soon brought
the whole house to the scene of
trouble.
Not Billy Dole, but naughty Tam
was found at the other end of the line.
Toward midnight he had felt crav-
ing to inspect his masters rubbish
heap and wriggled through the fence.
In nosing over the pile he had run one
of his long horns through the slip-loop
and got caught.
Bob-o-Link could not celebrate that
Fourth o July, for his toe was SO bad
" swelled and lacerated that he could
not get his shoe on, and had to hobbIe
about in grandms's big worsted slip
per. But he learned lesson which
he has not forgotten yet.-Youth's