The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-04-01

was keeping tally. sut as this occu
patton was not very interesting and
he was oppressed by WEAKNESS and
other things, he naturally fell asleep
Then the merry jest entered Sothern's
head.
There was nobody in the billiard
room but their party. They. were old
patrons and owned the place. In an
/ instant Sothern had communicated his
design to the others. The windows
were absolutely darkened. Then all
the gas jets were extinguished.
Raymond still slept, but presently
somebody tickled his nose with the cor
ner of a handkerchief and he awoke
with sneeze. At the same time Soth-
ern clicked the balls together on the
table and said: THAT was a rattling
good shot. old man. / don't see Low
you ever made it."
Raymond Strengthened up. in his
chair and gasped. Again the balls
clicked, and somebody remarked upon
the shot Raymond leaped to his feet.
Blind. blind" he yelled. Help
me, help me. boys, in Gods name! am
stone blind!"
Well, the rest may be left 10 the
imagination. 1t wasn't really funny
after that, for Raymond shed tears
when the gas was lighted, though he
wasn't SO badly prostrated as the 9TH
ers. who had never imagined that the
joke would be so successful.
That was pretty rough, as everyone
will admit, and yet think that smil-
ing nature once played me almost as
mean trick: and in way which
showed how honestly man came by his
love for this particular sport
was swimming in large pond at
the head of the Mystic river. which
flows through highly cultured part
OF Massachusetts. and eventually gets
into the very first circles by flowing
into Boston harbor. Such being the
social connections OF this body of
water, naturally did not expect from
it anything SO low in tone as practical
joke.
There were three of US in this SWIM
ming party, and we took boat and
padded out into the middle of the
pond which was nearly a mile wide.
Then we jumped overheard. We played
around the boat for awhile, and by
and by l struck ont for the bank. The
water was delightfully."- warm. and 1
did not feel at all tired. made about
two hundred yards from the boat. and
then the first inssaIlment OF the joke
was played on me. At the bot
tom of the pond was . spring which
spouted up ice water from some
mysterious cavern of the earth When
struck this imitation of the Labrador
current l began to understand how
funny mere inanimate body Of water
can be when it tries Now when Joke
is played on fool he always does }ust
what the Joker intends that he shall
do. A wise man sees through the
game, and does the other thing. In
this case the evident intention was 20
make me swim faster. l fell right into
the trap and clawed my way through !
that lev strip in a way that must have !
been intensely gratifying to the fresh 1
water mer1nen who were putting up 1
the Job on me The ideal victim of the !
practical joker always fo-gets what he /
IS about the instant that the joke BE- 1
gins In this case I totally neglected /
to consider that should led any mus
.ular strength or any breath after |
20: through the cold water. But in
i've minute. needed both, as the gen.
,leman in the west is said 10 need the
'evclver.
The shore wa: still n quarter os
nile away. and ii looked four times IS
ar. Twas scared The joke was tax
ng hold in good shape ! turned snd
allied to my friends To bring up the /
-oat Ny voice got Just clear Of my
hin and that was rs far az my remain
ng breath could propel il could1's
.are been heard by person who had
'othing else 20 do but listen. and Ey
riends were busily engassd n having i