The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-07-09
EOB.O'.LlNK'S LESSON.
Having Everything Handy Spoiled n small
Boys Expected Celebration.

ECB.O'.llNk'S LESSON.
| Having Everything Handy Spoiled small
| Boys Expected Celebration.
Link, or Lincoln. Libby was such
merry boy that he went by the name OF
''Bob-o'-Linl" at home.
lie was not only merry, but careless;
he wanted everything handy" as he
expressed it, which made great deal
of work for somebody: for his cap and
E,ittcns were nearly always dropped on
the table or in chair Ito have en-
| handy--it was such bother to hang
EN- up;" his muddy rubber boots were
kicked off under the table, for. nc
| '.wonld want 'cm 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 lessons: his
rubber ball scudded about ON the sit
| ting-room carpet, kites and snow-shocs
danglcd from the hall hat-rack, his bat
stick stood in the umbrclla-stand so he
might catch EN- on the fly" when he
rushed out to meet a boy.
Whenever he went out or i'm he left
the door open, only a minute, lie was
going right in or out again. and twas
such bother to always shut a door
never thinking that in the minute Of
a 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 saw-mill
If he peeled an applc-which he
didn't very often, +" twas such a both
er'-the skins were left i'm the pretty
apple dish or thrown out of the window
on the grass-"Tam the goat would eat
'cm"-to Aunt Kitty's disgust.
That same Tam would wriggle be-
tween the barnyard bars ut night, and
| come beneath the window i'm Bob-o'
Links chamber over the kitchen for all
kind of catibles, which for him includ-
ed 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. lie did not want to disturb
any one in the house, Sc he hired Billy
Dole-"a real night-hawk''-for spot
ted marble and spread partridge tail,
to wake him, by pulling string tied
around his great toe, as he had heard OF
other boys doing.
The string was Il stout hemp cord.
and in the end, tossed out of the open
window, Bob-oLink made large slip
loop. "'Twould be handy for Billy to
put his hand in to pull" lie tied tho
other end to his toe in a bow-knot, no
thought, but in the dark the end slipped
through and made hard one.
Along in the night there came such a
vicious twitch on the line that it
brought Bob-o'Link out of bed in a
twinkling.
"O,e-ow-o,r-r-r," Stop that, Billy
Dole, or lll-Ugh! ugh Ooo-oo' You'll
saw my toe off," And Link hoped
heavily on one foot toward the window.
lie could not unite the knot, and he
had lost his jaclS-knife the day before
laid it down somewhere to be handy.
His toe was most choked to DEATH"
| anu iSII As thosSH t"ouia pui ot, NhhS
the line kept saving it pitilcssly.
IN lick you tomorrow, Billy Dole,
# tits Fourth o July!' he groaned.
you're just as mean as a-Noo-ooo.
ugh.'" Help! help, somebody! The
tugs came faster and fercer. and seiz-
ing the 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 a cray
ing to inspect his masters rubbish heap
and wriggled through the fence. In
nosing over the pile he had run one ol
his long horns through the slip-loop and
got caught.
I,ob-o'-Link could not celebrate that
Fourth o July, for his toe was SO badly
swelled and laccratcd that he could not
get his shoe on, and had to hobble
about in grandma's big worsted slipper.
But he learned a lesson which he has
not forgotten yet.-Yonth's Companion.