Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-10-07
CHAPTER XX.
HIS PA PLAYS jokes.

HIS PA PLAYS JOKES.
Say, do you think little practical
joke does any hurt" asked the bad boy of
the grocery man as he came in with his
Sunday suit on and bouquet in his but
tonhole and pried off couple Of figs
from a new box that had been Just
opened.
No. sir" said the grocery man as he
licked off the sirup that driplsl from Il
quart measure from which he had been
filling jug. Il hold that man who
gets mad at apractical joke-that is. one
that does not iujure hints fool. and
he ought 10 be Stunned by all decent peo-
pie That's a nice bouquet You have in
your coat. What is it-pansies: Let me
smell of it, And the grocery man bent
over IN front of the boy TO take Whit
at the bouquet. As he did so stream
OF water shot out of the innocent looking
bouquet and struck him full in the face
and run down over his SHIRT. and the
grocery man yelled murder and fell over
barrel Of AK helvos and scythe snaths
and then CROPPED around for towel to
wipe his face.
You condemn skunk said the gro
Gerry man to the boy as he took up an Ak
helve and started for him. What kind
of a golblasted squirt gun have You got
there: l will maui you. 10y thunder"
and he rolled ur his shirt sleeves.
"There, keep yyr,1 temper. Itook test
vore Of you un the subject of practical
jokes before the machine began to play
upon the confagratiOn that was raging
man who would get mad at a Joke was
fool, and now l know it. Here, let me
show it TO You. There IS rubber hose
runs from the bouquet inside my coat to
my pants pocket, and there is bulb of
rubber that holds about half pint. and
when Teller smells of the posy squeeze
| the bulb, and you see the result. It's fun
where you don't squirt it on person
! that gets mad"
The grocery man said he would give
| the boy half pound of figs if he would
| lend the bouquet to him for half an hour
to play 1t on customer, and the boy
| fixed it on the grocery man and turned
| the nozzle so it would squirt right back
| into the grocery mans face. He tried it
! on the first customer that came in and
| got it right in his own face, and then the
bulb in his pants pocket got to leaking,
and the rest of the water ran down the
| grocery mans trousers leg, and he gave
it up in disgust and handed it back to
| the boy.
How was it your Pa had to be carried
home from the sociable in hack the
other night" asked the grocery man as
/ he stood close to the stove so his pants
leg would dry. He has not got to drink
ing again, has he:'
"Oh, no." said the boy as he filed the
| bulb with vinegar TO practice on his
chum. lit was this bouquet that got Pa
into the trouble. You see, l got Pa to
smell of it, and I just filed him chuck
| full of water. He got mad and called
me all kinds of names and said / was no
| good on earth and l would fetch up in
states prison, and then he wanted to Dor
row it to wear to the sociable. He said
he would have more fun than you could
shake stick at, and l asked him if he
didn't think he would fetch up in states
prison, and he said it was different with
a man. He said when a man played a
| joke there was certain dignity about it
| that was lacking in boy. So lent it to
him, and we all went to the sociable in
the basement of the church. l never see
Pa more kitteny than he was that night
He filled tire bulb with ice water, and
the first one he got to smell of his button
hole bouquet was an old maid who thinks
| Pa is heather, but she likes to be made