The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-04-02
MY VOICE JUST GOT CLEAR OF MY CHIN

MY VOICE JUST GOT CLEAR OF MY CHIN.
was keeping tally. But 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 darl1ened. Then all
the gas jets were extinguished.
Raymond still slept, bat presently
somebody ticl1led his nose with the cor
ner Of Il handkerchief and he awoke
with sneeze. At the same time Soth
ern clicked the balls together on the
table and said: THAT was a rafting
good shot, old man. ] don't see how
you ever made H.
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 to the
imaginatiOn- 1t wasn't really funny
after that, for Raymond shed tears
when the gas was lighted, though he
wasn't so badly FRUSTRATED 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 a trick; and in a way which
showed how honestly man came by his
love for this particular sport.
was swimming in a 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 a 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 | struck out for the bank. The
water was delightfully."- warm, and
did not feel at all tired | made about
two hundred yards from the boat, and
then the first inStallment of the joke
was played on me. At the bot
tom of the pond was a spring which
spouted up ice water from some
mysterious cavern of the earth. When
| struck this imitation of the Labrador
current | began to understand how
funny q mere inanimate body of water
can be when it tries, Now when a joke
is played On fool he always does just
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 to
make me swim faster. | fell right into
the trap and clawed my way through
that icy strip in way that must have
been intensely gratifying to the fresh
water mermen who were putting up
the job on me. The ideal victim of the
practical joker always forgets what he
is about the instant that the joke be-
gins. In this case / totally neglected
TO consider that should need any mus
cular strength or any breath after
got through the cold water. But in
five minutes | needed both, as the gem
tleman in the west is said to need the
revolver
The shore was still quarter Of a
mile away, and it looked four times as
far. | was scared The joke was TAX
ing hold in good shape | turned and
called To my friends to bring up the
boat My voice got just clear OF my
chin and that was as far as my remain
ing breath could propel it. / couldn't
have been heard by q person who had
nothing else to do but listen, and my
friends were busily engaged in having