The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1894-01-05
BAD boy.
By GEORGE W. PECK.
copyright. 1885. By American Press Associa-
toni
XIV.

THE OLD NAN MAKES A SPEECH.
..There. YOU drop that" said the gro
Gerry man TO the bad boy as he came
imping into the store and began 10
tumble around a box Of straw berries.
Il have never kicked at your eating my
Goldfish and crackers and cheese and
herring and apples, but there has got
to be a dividing line somewhere, n l
make it at strawberries at 9 shlllings
a box and only two layers in a box. !
only bought one box. hoping some
plumber or gas man would come along
and buy it, and, by gum, everybody that
has been in the store has sampled q
strawberry ont OF that box, shivered as
though it was sour and gone of with
out asking the price" and the grocery
man looked mad, took a Ratchet and
knocked in the head Of a barrel of APP
Piles and said, There, help yourself TO
dried apples
s.Oh, Idon't want your strawberries or
dried apples." said the boy as he leaned
against a showcase and looked at a bar
of red, transparent soap. Il was only
trying to fool you. Say, that bar Of soap
is old enough 10 vote. remember See
ing it in u showcase when l was
about a year old, and Pa came in here
with me and held me up TO the showcase
to look at that tin tobacco box, and that
round zinc looking glass. and the yellow
wooden pocket comb, and the soap looks
Just the same. only a little faded. If
you would wash yourself once in awhile,
your soap wouldn't dry up on your
hands" and the boy sat down IN the
chair without any back. feeling that he
was even with the grocery man.
"You never mind the soap. 1t is paid
for, and that is more than your father
can say about the soap that has been
used in his house the past MONTH" said
the grocery man as he split up a box 70
kindle the fire. but we won't quarrel.
What was it | heard about a band sere-
nading your father and his inviting them
in to lunch!
Don't let that get out or Pa will kill
me dead. 1t was a Joke. One of those
Bohemian bands that goes about town
playing tunes for pennies was over on
the next street, and l told Pa / guessed
some Of his friends who had heard we
had a baby at the house had hired a
band and was coming in a few minutes
to serenade him, and he better prepare
to make a speech. Pa is proud of being
a father at his age, and he thought it nc
more than right for the neighbors 10
serenade him, and he went TO loading
himself for a speech in the library, and
me and my chum went out and told the
leader of the band there was a family up
there that wanted to have some music,
and they didn't care for expense, SO they
quit blowing where they was and came
right along. None Of .hem could under.
! stand English except the leader. and be
only understood enough to go and tak'
o drink when he is invited.
"My chum steered the band up to on
house and got them TO play Babies OF
Our Block and Baby Mine and
stopped all the men who were goinl
home and told them to wait a minute
and they would see some fun; 50 wher
the band got through the second tun'
and the Prusslans were emptylng tn
beer out of the horns and Pa stepped on
on the porch there was more nor q hun
dred people in front of the house. YOU'D
"a died to see Pa when he put his hand il
the breast of his coat and struck an atti
tude. lie looked like a congressman O
a tramp. The band was scared, 'caus
they thought he was mad, and some o
them were going to run, thinking he wa
going to throw pieces Of brick house a
them, but my chum and the leader KEEP
them. Then Pa sailed in. He com
menced, Fellow citizens and then wen
way back to Adam and Eve and worries
up to the present day, givinga history Q
the notable people who had acquires
children and kept the crowd interested
/ felt sorry for Pa. cause ! knew how h
would feel when he am to find out hov
he had been sold.