The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-08-19
CHAPTER XVIII.

81 was down to the drug store this
morning and saw your Ma buying lot
Of court plaster, enough to make a shirt,
4 should think. What's she doing with
20 much court plaster" asked the gro
cery man Of the bad boy as he came in
and pulled of his boots by the stove and
emptied out a lot of snow that had col
1ected as he walked through drift.
'sOh, / guess she is going to patch Pa
mp so he will hold water. Pas temper
got him into the worst muss you ever SEQ
last night. If that museum was here
now, they would hire Pa and exhibit him
as the tattooed man. ! tell you have
got too old to be mauled as though was
q kid, and any man who attacks me
from this out wants to have his peace
made with the insurance companies and
know that his calling and election is
sure, cause 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
4 he wouldn't try little new cider.
"Good heavensw said the grocery man
as the boy swallowed the cider, and his
face resumed its natural look, and the
piratical frown disappeared with the ci-
der. "You have not stabbed your ia
ther. have you? have feared that one
thing would bring on another with you
and that you would yet be hung"
s'Naw, 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
load Of kindling wood and told me to
carry it into the basement. i 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 kindling wood, he had hot box, and
he told me If that wood was not in when
be came back from the lodge that he
~ould warm my jacket.
"Well, tried to hire some one to carry
4 in and got man to promise to como
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
me ont that night. knew when Pa
came home he would search for me, SO
slept In the back hall on q cot. But
didn't want Pa to have all his trouble for
nothing, so 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 mo and found that by
his unlkindness had changed to tom cat
be would be sorry. That is the biggest cat
7ou ever see and the worst fighter in our
ward. 1t isn't afraid of anything and
can whip Newfoundland dog quicker
than you could put sand in barrel of
sugar. Well, about II o'clock heard Pa
tumble over the kindling wood, and
knew by the remark he made as the wood
slid around under him that there was GO
ing to bea q cat fight real quick. He come
up to Mas room and sounded Ma as to
whether Hennery had retired to his vir-
tuous couch. Pal awful sarcastic when
he tries to be. could hear him take off
his clothes and hear him say as he picked
mp trunk strap: Tguess Twill go up to
his room and watch the smile on his face
as he dreams of angels. Iyearn to press
him to my aching bosom
II thought to myself mebbe you won't
yearn so much directly. He come up
stairs, and could hear him breathing
hard. looked around the corner and
could see he just had On his shirt and
pants, and his suspenders were hanging
down, and his bald head shone like
calcium light just before it explodes. Pa
went in my room and up to the bed, and
] could hear him say, Come out here
and bring in that kindling wood or
will start q fire ON your base burner with
this strap And then there was a 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, myi / think Pa took the
tom cat right by the neck, the way he
does me, and that left all the cats feet
free to get in their work. BY the way
Che cat squawled, as though it was being
choked, / know Pa had him by the neck.
i suppose the cat thought Pa was whole
flock of Newfoundland dogs, and the cat
had q record on dogs, and it kicked
awful. Pas shirt was no protection at
all in q cat fight, and the cat just walked
all around PAS stomach, and Pa yelled,
Police and Fire and Turn on the
hose and he called Ma, and the cat
yowled. II Pa had had the presence Of
mind enough to have dropped the cat or
rolled 1t up in the mattress, it would
have been all right, but q 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
mp.
II 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 u.s.
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 guess they anointed
themselves with vaseline and Ponds ex-
tract, and went and got into bed, cause
II was cold out in the hall, and the cat
had warmed nv bed "a well as IA had