Democratic messenger., 1894-03-10

an purity soon we seed =" he Rascal
himself tuotin' over the track on his
way 10 the Worlds Fair. His mother
jest brok" down an ~obbed an cried
The Rascal. The Rascal, :" But L
wal. latled so much couldn't ketch
him. an 50 he 'scaped gittin' whip
pin jest the way he most allus done.
W'encvcr ! went To put my coat on
in the mornin' an fnun' the sleeves
wrong side out m tied together |
allus said The Rascal" Whenever
ioun my boots at the bottom Of the
well, or my coat wavin' from the
ridgepolc allus said The Rascal {"
Whenever his mother ioun' sand
mixed with the bread she he'd set to
raise she would jest heave II big sigh
an cry,"The Rascal. Wen she foul
the moaSscs jug filled 'iih kerisene
m the keriSene can filled with moIas-
<cs, ail the poor soul said wuz Jest
them two words, '''rhe Rascal ~
1t was The Rascal" who turned
/ the hose on the minister " en- lac came
down To 'iiciate at Sues weIdin' 1t
was The Rascal" who kerriel live
mud turkIc into SUNDAY School to see
''how 'twould look crawlin up the
aisle"
Wal, he acted 81. all the neighbors
begun To sell their farms that they
might move out Of the reach of The
/ Rascal. His mither an | uster talk
together after he he,! gone to sleep
he give Us no time 10 talk together
afore-'bout what we should do with
him. Sometimes she selested tyin' him,
but | knowed The Rascal" could
climb out of any pen that wuz any
lower than the sky For no man could
build any box, or dig any hole that
would hor him. An'so we allus finally
concluded 10 let The Rascal" run
wild; +; an 50 he KEEP on with his
res lar turnin' the wirl' upside down
ev'ry day an sometimes ofener.
One day his mother come runnin'
out into the fiel' where | was to work
an tol' me "The Rascal wuZ sick.
Been eatin green apples, ! s'pose,"
said |, "an' little collie won't hurt
him, anil kinder keep him outer
mischief for an hour or two vile it
lasts guess We better not hurry bout
sendin for the doctor"
But his mother said he wuz real
sick, an she wuz worried about him,
an 50 the doctor wuz sent for.
But he KEEP CROWN wuss and
wuss. An soon we forgot all about the
million tricks and pranks the little
tcller he'd PLAYED on us,an' the million
scrapes he he'd got us into. For purity
soon VIZ SAW that 1.-The Rascal was
trayelin on Il long journey, way out,
alone, into the dark. Out Of many
scrapc had ! taken The Rascal by
the arm and led him home; but now
he wuz travellin' OH road where his
fathers arm warn't strong enough To
take him by the han an lead him
back.
An we'en We knowed that We
culden' fetch him back no more his
mother an' me foun' out, all to wunce
how much We loved The Rascal "
We he'd led back them brown bare
feet from muny crooked paths, where
they had strayed away. But they wuz
travellin' now down black path that
leads out into the night, an We know
ed this time we couldn't take him by
/ the hand an lead him home.
His mother gathered him in her
arms an cried An | toi her b.
leeved the great God loved The Ras-
cal" Jest as we did an wonld gather
him up in his arms jest as she did in
hern, an white saint of him. An |
b'leeve he did.
There is little mound out in the
graveyard where the grass haint
growed yet An ev'ry Sunday night
wen the sun hez gone down, his mo-
iher gnes nut there an cries above
The Ra>cal's" grave