The herald., 1895-06-04
HALSTEAD'S PADDY'S RUN PAPERS

ty, ana come you here, sirl' The party
summoned walked to the spot designated
by the tip of the rod, and the three other
boys stood by his side in moment with
out an invitation. What do you here?"
roared the teacher, who had been but par
TALLY informed. There was no response,
and the teacher in fury turned to No /,
saying: ''And SO you say you will whip
me? In one ten-thousandth part of a
minute 1 could finish you. Did you say
that?' NO" was the answer. "Then
what did You say?" That was the hard
question. The answer was, Il did not
say that I could do it, but that we four
could" and there was the quadrilateral
anxious, but not alarmed. They began to
feel the glow of the blood that makes war
joy. With a snort of contempt and de-
fiance and a flourish of the whip that
made it whistle, the teacher glared at the
row of traitors and yelled, "And for what
was that?" Because you whip Dick
every day for nothingl" Dick showed
much more oomposure when lashed than
then, for there were tears In his eyes. The
tyrant lowered his whip, and his face
flushed. He said, Take your seats, every
one of you, quick!' That order was obey
ed but not on the jump. Dick was whip.
ped no more. The mysterious biggest boy
declared himself a sympathizer with the
rebellion. l will give the teacher the crod-
it of saying he was no coward, but knew
he was in the wrong.
There is not a vestige of the solid old
loghouse or a tree standing of the grove
that surrounded 1t. All were dust and
ashes long, long ago. The Fairgrounds
have yielded many crops of wheat and
corn. The springs where the water car
riers filled their buckets have been dry
for many and many year. Tho merry
group of children have vanished forever.
Poor, dear old Dicks name appeared in
list of killed in a great battle in Tennes-
see. There were those among the boys who
snowballed each other i'll mimic battle
around the old house who heard
The cry that rang in Shiloh's woods
And Chickamauga's solitudes
and died in bloody blue coats for the old
flag that we read about around the Frank
lin stove in the log school.
And the graceful girls with rosy faces
and sparkling eyes who sang the sweet
and silly songs and played in their inno-
cence the kissing games have faded like
the blossoms of spring
Paddy was the descriptive word, with
tingo of affection in it, that the old
Welsh farmers in the earlier half Of this
century called tract extending six miles
by four in Morgan and Ross townships,
Butler county, o. 1t comprised about 60
farms, and the central point was village
containing church, a blacksmith shop,
a wagon maker shop two groceries, tailor,
shoemaker and dressmaker shops, doc
tor, a minister denomination, Congrega-
tionaD, huckster, tavern that was one
of the most quiet places in the world-not
even excepting the graveyard-and no
lawyer The village was called officially
New London and is yet of that name, and
humorously styled Bagdad, while the post
office was Paddy's Run, and 1T was re-
garded as pleasing indication that the
amount of mail matter distributed was
extraordinarily large for the number of
Inhabitants.
1t was related as one of the literary an
ecdotes that q magistrate, who was citi-
zen of celebrity in the neigh borhood, sue
ceeded once in an official paper in SPELL
ing Paddy's Run, Butler county, o., five
different ways and the gossips very need
lessly added that in the five trials accuracy
had not been attained even once. The
magistrate, however, was not insensible
of his dignity and came out strong on cer-
emonial occasions. Once upon time he
performed marriage ceremony on horse
back sin the middle of the big road. !"
The bride was on the horse behind the
squire, and the groom had horse of his
own, and in his bride hand was a Span
ish silver dollar and the license. Let me
see that license" said the representative
of tho law. And when it was handed to
him he examined it critically. 1t was
correctly filled up, and the signatures were
all right, and the Spanish dollar was all
right. Join your right hands, was the
word of command, and it was obeyed with
difficulty. You do solemnly swear that
you are of lawful age to marry and that
there is no reason why you should not
do so?" The answer was clear from both,
1--WE do" You mutually and both Of
you promise, so help you God, to be true
and faithful to each other in all times and
places, sick or well, poor or rich, SO long as
you both are alive?" The answer came
low and sweet from the bride and strong
and hearty from the groom, 1--WE do"
"Inasmuch as here is a license under the
county seal and you have joined hands
and promised according to law l pro-
nounce you man and vito in the name
and on behalf of the state of Ohio"
The wife took q seat on the horse be-
hind her husband, and they kissed each
other and trotted away happy and founded
a family MURAT HALsTEAD.