Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-10-04


sure, cause l am bad man and don't
you forget it." And the boy pulled on
his boots and looked so cross and des-
perate that the grocery man asked him
II he wouldn't try little new cider.
Good heavens! said the grocery man
as the boy swallowed the cider, and his
lace resumed its natural look, and the
plratcal trown disappeared with the CT
der. You have not stabbed your IA
Their, have you? | have feared that one
thing would bring on another with you
and that you would yet be hung"
Nav, l haven't stabbed him. 1t was
another cat that stabbed him? You see,
Pa wants me to do all the work around
the house. The other day he bought a
load of kindling wood and told me to
carry 1t into the basement. | have not
been educated up to kindling wood, and
didn't do it. When supper time came
and Pa found that had not carried in
the klndhng wood, he had a hot box, and
he told me If that wood was not in when
he came back from the lodge that he
would warm my jacket.
well, tried TO hire some one to carry
1t IN and got man to promise to come
IN the morning and carry it in and take
his pay IN groceries, and | was going to
buy the groceries here and have them
charged TO Pa. But that wouldn't help
Inc ont that night. / knew when Pa
came home he would search for me, so
slept III the back hall on cot. But !
didn't want Pa to have all his trouble for
nothing, so l borried an old tom cat that
my chum's old maid aunt owns and put
the cat in my bed. thought if Pa came
in my room after me and found that by
his unkindness had changed to a tom cat
he would be sorry. That is the biggest cat
You ever see and the worst fighter in our
ward. 1t isn't afraid of anything and
can whip a Newfoundland dog quicker
than you could put sand in a barrel of
sugar. Well, about / o'clock heard Pa
tumble over the kindiing wood, and l
| knew by the remark he made as the wood
| slid around under him that there was go
ing to bea cat fight real quick. He come
up to Mas room and sounded Ma as to
! whether Hennery had retired to his vir-
tuous couch. Pals awful sarcastic when
he tries to be. | could hear him take off
his clothes and hear him say as he picked
up trunk strap: 1 guess will go up to
! his room and watch the smile on his face
as he dreams of angels. yearn to press
him to my aching BOSOM
Il thought to myself mebbe you won t
yearn so much directly. He come up
stairs, and l could hear him breathing
| hard. | looked around the corner and
could see he just had on his shirt and
| pants, and his sUspenders We're hanging
down, and his bald head shone like a
calcium light just before it explodes. Pa
went in my room and up to the bed, and
l could hear him say, Come out here
and bring in that kindling wood or |
will start fire on your base burner with
this strap. And then there was yowl-
| ing such as ! never heard before, and Pa
said, Helen BlaZes,' and the furniture
in my room began to fall around and
break. Oh, my! l think Pa took the
tom cat right by the neck, the way he
| does Inc, and that left all the cats feet
free to get in their work. BY the way
the cat squawled, as though 1t was being
choked, l know Pa had him by the neck
l suppose the cat thought Pa was whole
flock of Newfoundland dogs, and the cat
had a record on dogs, and it kicked
awful. Pas shirt was no protection at
all in a cat fight, and the cat just walked
all around Pas stomach, and Pa yelled,
Police and Fire and Turn on the
hose and ne called Ma. and the cat
yowled. If Pa had had the presence of
mind enough to have dropped the cat or
rolled it up in the mattress, it would
have been all right, but a man always
gets ratified in time of danger, and he
held onto the cat and started down stairs
yelling murder, and he met Ma coming
up.
Il guess Mas nightcap or something
frightened the cat some more, cause he
stabbed Ma on the nightshirt with one
hind foot, and Ma said Mercy on us,
and she went back, and Pa stumbled on
hand sled that was on the stairs, and
they all fell down, and the cat got away
and went down in the coalbin and
| yowled all night Pa and Ma went into
their room, and l guess they anointed
| themselves with vaseline and Ponds ex-