The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-07-09

blowers were then selling at HVe ior Il
cent. and powder was cheap as sand'
owing TO the fact that the powder max
ers, expecting war, had made hundred
times as much as was needed, and as the
war didn't come, they were willing 10
take almost anything they could get for
Il. The consequence was that the powder
got was sufficient In quantity TO NIL a
rubber bag as large as five sofa cusn-
ions. This / sank In the middle of the
pond without telling anybody what l IN
tended TO do and through the putty
blowers, sealed tightly together. END 10
end. / conducted a fuse. which l made
myself. from the powder bag to the
shore Ny idea was that i could touch
| the thing off, you know, and that about
sixty square feet Of the pond would fly
| I'D In the air and then fall gracefully
hack again. II Il had worked as ] ex-
pected. everything would have been all
| right but Il didn't. had too much pow
| der. for a second after ] had lit the fuse
there came 81 muffed roar, and the whole
pond in a solid mass. fish and all. went
| flying up in the air and disappeared.
Everybody was astonished, not few
were very much frightened. was scared
10 death. but / never let on to any one
that I was the person who had blown
the pond off. How high the pond went j
i don't know, but I do know for week
there wasn't any sign OF 1t. and then ap-
most Unexpectedly out Of what appeared
| to be a clear sky there came the most
| extraordinary rain-storm you ever saw
| 1t literally poured down for two run
| DAYS. and, what l alone could understand,
| with It came trout and sunflsh and min
| nows. and most singular 10 all but my
| self. an old scow that was recognized as
| the property OF the owner Of the pond
| suddenly appeared in the sky failing
| toward the earth at fearful rate OF
| speed When l saw the scow coming
was more frightened than ever. because
! was afraid II might fall upon ana XII
some of our neighbors. Fortunately
| however, this possible disaster was
averted. for II came down directly over
the sharp-pointed lightning rod on the
tower of our public library, and stuck
| there like a piece of paper on file.
THE rain washed away several acres
of finely cultivated farms, but the loss
| OF crops and fences and so forth was
| largely reduced by the fish. which came
| with the storm. one farmer TOOK rake
and caught three hundred pounds OF
| trout, forty pounds of sun-fsh. eighty tur-
ties and a minnow In his potato patch
| In five minutes. Others were almost as
fortunate. but the damage was sufficient
ly large to teach me that parents can
| not be too careful about what they let
| their children do on Independence Day.
| And weren't you ever punishedY ask
ed Jack.
| mo. indeed" said the major. Nobody
ever knew that / did II, because l never
told them. In fact you are the only TWO
persons who ever heard about 1t. and you
| mustn't tell. because there are still a
| numbers of farmers about the region VINO
would sue me for damages in case they
knew that l was responsible for the ac-
| cident."
THAT was pretty awful" said Mollie.
''But don't want 10 blow up ponds sos
10 get cascadeses. but / want torpeters.
Torpeters arnt any harm, are they Uncle
| Ma3or?"
| well, you can never tell. Torpedoes are
sometimes made carelessly," said the
major. They ought to be made as care
fully as a druggist makes pills. So many
| pebbles, so much paper and so much
saltpeter and sulphur. or whatever else
is used TO make IL 20 of. had very
unhappy time once with carelessly
made torpedo. had two boxes full. They
were those tin-foi torpedoes and | ex'
pected they would make quite lot OF
| noise, but the first ten ] threw dowr
dent go off at all. The eleventh. for some
reason or other, never knew exactly
what, hurled with all my force against
the side Of my fathers barn, and my, what
| a surprise IL wasi II smashed In IN,
whole side Of the barn and sent som'
bales of hay and our big farm plough
! bounding down the hillside into the town
The hay bales smashed down fences; ont
OF them hit cow-shed on It's way down
knocked the back out OF II and ther
! | proceeded 10 demoiish the rear end OF
small crockery shop that fronted on tn
main street. 1t struck the crockery shoI
square in the middle Of Its back and
threw down fifteen dozen cups and sau
! GERS, thirty-two water pitchers, and flv'
China busts Of Shakespeare The dill
! was frightful-but / couldn't hell
! that. Nobody could blame me because
! had no means OF knowing that the mai
who made the torpedoes was careless an'
put a solid ball Of dynamite in my tor
| pedo. So you see. Mol1ie, that even tor
/, | pedoes are not always safe
. Yes" said the little girl. II guess II
play with my dolls on Tuesday The,
| never 20 OF and blows things up
That's very wise OF YOU" said th'
, | major.
.. but what became OF the plough. Uncl
| MajorT asked Jack.
"Oh, IL didn't do so much damage. l
| simply furrowed its way down the hill
, | across the main street to the commons
II pyoughed UP about a hundred feet o
the commons before It stopped. but no
| body minded that so much, because
was TO have been ploughed up and seede
. again within few days. OF course. tn
| furrow II made IT, crossing the road wa
|, | bad, and TO make II worse the shar
: | caught one Of the water pipes that rul
under the street and ripped 1t In two s.
, | that the water burst out and flooded tn
, | street for while"
: The children were silent for few
: moments and then Jack asked:
"Well. Uuncle Major, what kind OF fire
, works are safe. anyhow"
, MY experience has taught me tina
8 there are only two kinds that are safe.
, replied their old friend. zone is a Jack
/. o-lantern and the other Is a cigar, and
E as you are not old enough to hav
a | cigars. II you Will put on your hats an,
0 coats and go down into the garden an
get me two pumpkins. I'll make each o
, | you Jack-o-iantern. What do you say I?