Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-08-29

equally impossible for anyone to see
through it. Therefore, a man may
walk about in his back yard dressed
pretty much as he pleases. He can
wear his oldest coat, and his most com
Portable slippers. There is conserva-
tory at the end of the lawn, and here
the high fence ends. There is also a
little sub-back yard filled with tall
trees which shut out the view from the
road Around this minor back yard
the fence is only four feet high.
This minute description of my estate
is necessary for understanding the ex-
citing times 1 had during the days /
stayed at home and attempted to do
some writing in the quietness of my
own back yard.
| found that the fence was great
temptation to every passer-by. The
small boy, if he had stick in his
hand, liked to run it along tia boards
or beat the stick against them as he
passed along. This was annoying, and
/ sometimes shouted to him to stop his
racket, but merely received in return
number of personal remarks which,
1t is not too much to say, were dis
| tinctly insulting, considering the fact
that the speaker was entirely unable
DO see the person to whom he was
speaking.
Therefore, as / am of the kind of
person to whom experience teaches
something, l ceased to expostulate
verbally with the small boy with his
stick. l stole quietly around into the
sub-back yard and waited for him
beside the low fence. He always
came along quite unconscious of dam
ger, for / was well concealed by the
brick wall of the conservatory, and |
always succeeded in snatching his cap.
He usually jumped to the middle of the
road in his surprise before he realized
that he had to negotiate for the re-
turn of his cap. / made him give his
name and address and apologize in
the most abject fashion before /
returned his headgear. He was usual
ly the butchers delivery boy or the
lad from the grocery. 1 threatened to
turn the police upon him, or what was
worse, to go to his master and COM
plain; and l think that do not
flatter myself when 1 say that
during the time I stayed at home, l
had distinctly moral effect on the
lads of that neighborhood. A boy dare
not sass" you when you have his cap
in your hands, for he is, if l may put
it that way, handicapped in the con-
| troversy.
soon found, however, that there
was a more objectionable small boy
than tho ro,Nral ot tho
This was the boy generally there were
two of them, who rang the electric
bell at the back gate. He then ran
around the corner and appeared to be
amused at the blank look of the serv-
ant as she gazed up and down the
street trying to discover who had
called her unnecessarily from her
work
One afternoon 1 heard the prolong ed
ring of the bell and then the rapid
| footsteps of two urchins as they
ran along the walk outside of the
| fence, and SO thought the time had
come to teach these youngsters a
lesson. 1 slipped silently down the
| lawn, under the trees, into the shadow
of the greenhouse, and peered cautious
| ly over the fence, 80 that they might
not see me. There the two young
villains stood close to me and craning
their necks to see who opened the
garden door. l heard the click of the
latch as the garden entrance
was opened, and then the
two ragamuffins, with many giggles,
backed closer to the fence so the serv-
ant could not see them. They were so
preoccupied in watching danger from
one direction that they did not see the
real calamity that lowered near them.
Before they were aware of it my two
hands dropped down on them, as it
were from the skies, and l had firm
clutch of each by the back of his col
lar. Talk about the pleasures of hook
ing a salmon, it is nothing at all to the
excitement of catching an energetic
small boy and getting a good firm hold
of the collar of his coat For the next
two minutes l had all could do. They
squirmed and wriggled, and kicked at
the fence, threw themselves down, and
did every mortal thing they could think
of in trying to escape, but held on,
and finally it dawned on them that
they were nabbed. Then the elder said
defantly:
Say, mister, if you don't let me go
I'll yell for a policeman"
,"Yell," I answered.; "that's just what
want you to do, and when the police
man comes I'll be very glad to hand
you over to him"
Now the boys, if they had only
known it, were perfectly within their
legal rights in calling policeman,
and if a policeman had been called
don't know how l could have justi-
fed my own action. 1 was com
hitting an assault on them for an
offense l had not seen them commit,
and which, perhaps, was not punishable
by the law if there had been witnesses.
/ was taking the law and the young
rascals into my own hands, which is
not a thing to be permitted. However,
there was, as matter of course, nc
policeman in sight, and thought
l would chance it. hauled the light
er of the two boys over the fence,
| whila the other wriuplad and Strup.