Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-10-18
" Pr ,"iG he rcouid 90 home and beharc."

' Pr, s"id hC 1rouid 90 home and beharc."
"Oh, probably it doesn't hurt the COM
plexion-' said the grocery man as he
Sprinkled some fresh water on the wilted
lettuce SC it would look fresh while the
hired girl was buying some, land yet it
is mighty unpleasant, where man has
got an engagement to go to card party, |
as l know your Pa has tonight. AS to |
getting mad about it, if was your Pa |
would take a barrel stave and shatter |
your castle scandalous. What kind of
fate do you think awaits You when you |
die anyway"
well, l am mixed on the fate that |
awaits me when l die. If l should 60 |
off sudden, with all my sins on my |
head and this burnt cork on my face, ] |
should probably be neighbor to you |
way down below, and they " ould give |
me job as fireman, and 1 should feel |
bad for you every time l chucked in
nuther chunk of birthstone and thought |
of yor trying to swim dog fashion in the
lake tf fire and straining your eyes to
find an iceberg that you could crawl up
on to cool your parched hind legs. If
pent and be saved. shall be toasted
brown. That's what the minister says,
and they wouldn't pay him $1,000 a
year and give him a vacation to tell
anything that was not so. l tell you, it
is painful to think Of that place that so
many pretty fair average people here
are going to when they die. Just think
of it-a man that swears just once, if he
don't hedge and take it back. will 90 to
the bad place. If person steals pin,
just small, no account pin, he is as
bad as if he stole all there was in
bank, and he stands the best chance of
going to the bad place.
You see, if a fellow steals a little
thing like a pin, he forgets to repent,
cause 1t don't seem to be worth while to
make so much fuss about. But if fell
low robs bank or steals whole lot of
money from orphans, he knows it is a
mighty serious matter, and he gets in his
work repentinG too quick, and he is liable
to get to the good place, while you, who
have only stole a few potatoes out of a
bushel that You sold to the orphan asy-
luln, will forget TO repent, and YOU will
slzzle. l tell you, the more | read about
being good and going to heaven the
more l think Teller can't be too care
full, and from this out YOU won't find
better boy than l am. When l come in
here after this and take a few dried
peaches or crackers and cheese YOU
charge it right up TO Pa, and then l won't
have it on my mind and have to answer
for it at the great judgment day. l am
going to shake my chum. cause he chews
tobacco, which IS wicked, though don't
see how that can be. when the minister
smokes, but l want to be on the safe side.
Il am going to be good or bust a sus-
pender. and hereafter you can point to
me as a boy who has seen the folly of an
i'll spent life, and if there is such a thing
as 15-yearold boy who has been ter
ror getting to heaven l am the hairpin.
l tell you when l listen to the minister
tell about the angels flying around there
and l see pictures of them purifier than
| any girl in this town, with chubby arms
with dimples in the elbows and shoulders
| and long golden hair and think of my
self here cleaning off horses in a livery
stable and smelling like an old harness,
it makes me tired, and | wouldn't miss
going there for so. Say, you would
make healthy angel for back street of
the New Jerusalem, but you would give
the whole crowd away unless you washed
up and sent that shirt to the Chimes
laundry. Yes, sir, hereafter you will
find me as good as l know how to be.
| Now | am going to wash up and 20 and
| help the minister move"
| As the boy went out the grocery man
sat for several minutes thinking of the
change that had come over the bad boy
and wondered what had brought it about,
and then he went to the door to watch
him as he wendell his way across the
street with his head down as though in
deep thought, and the grocery man said
to himself, THAT boy is not as bad as
some people think he is and then he
looked around and saw sign hanging up
in front of the store written on a piece Of
| TX cover with blue pencil: