Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-10-22

And mes rs years old, and as tall as
well, She
Great Scott, mother! Only hear
thatf' said Malcolm, the black eyed,
elder of the two boys" "Old Dave
Cren! Bless his comical old soul! II
he ever dies, hope they'll bury him in
the barnyard, where he can have fun
through all eternity"
why, Malcolm! What spechl
But as for me-" continued the ire
pressible young man, give me liberty
or give me death | amt SO terrible
particular about what do. But IL the
decree goes out from Caesar Augustus
that we should be making merry on a
milking stool when we ought TO be on
our knees, why, i goes in for the win
ming party.
Don't look so shocked, mother!" ex-
claimed Rudolph, the blue-eyed, young
err son. I'VE shall have TO have little
charity for Malcolm this morning, II
he Is little irreyerent faint to be
expected is 1t that a fellow Is quite
himself after taking squint at love
letter."
oOh, rats. Say, pa, didn't | hear you
say something about having girl?'
said Malcolm.
M m-h-m-m.
We'll, now, won't that be jolly|
HAS she got red hair? Where did
you find her-at the intelligence Of
fice?"
Mr.. Cantwell divided potato exact
ly in the middle, sprinkled it layishly
with the sugar he should have put in
his coffee, and absently placed one-half
of It in his mouth.
II s'pose | may as well own up first
as last, said he. as soon as he had dis
posed Of thebi & "cud" sufficiently to
admit Of speech. She'll be here pretty
soon, anyway, and then the cat will be
out OF the bag. run across her in the
warerooms Of the Cloverdale cooper
alive creamery
Run across her! You did. Poor
thingH
ooh, yes. but she was gritty, and
didn't pretend to mind"
Mrs. Cantwell who was in no mood
to enjoy the light banter, left the room
a moment, to recover her composure
she had ben ten minutes trying to
swallow bit of bread, but somehow
her esophagus was obstructed by a
lump Of something that grew more and
obstinate.
Mother looks pretty well down at
the mouth, don't she?" So Rudolph.
/ Strange, too, isn't 1t? / should
think, now, she'd be just dying of JOY
to see q dozen cows drop right down
\ into her butter bowl And she loves
hired girl so, too just dotes on them
you know. Now pa, haven't you
served her pretty rough? Nothing
personal. you know only thought IL
inquire incidentally
Come, boys, you don't know You
I amt so old as you will be. What yor
bet your mothers face won't be GOV
cred all over with smiles in less thar
half an hour?''
y
girl, said Rudolph
shut upv said Malcolm. Yor
/ shant have the new girl I'm going tC
have her. I'll make mother laugh
now, In less than five minutes, now
you see, Of have to kill myself TO dc
4 It,"
Mother" he began, the moment she
appeared. "old Dave was out TO meet
ing last night.
"Was?"
Yes, and he spoke, He sat there
/ all through the service, sober as Mt
I Grlmwood cemetery. Just as meeting
/ was over, the parson invited any who
might desire to stop and ask him any
\ questions they wanted to about this
sermon, or anything. Dave Green go
! ght up and said he'd heard that Par
! son Goodwin was a master hand a.
answering questions, and there was
4 one that had been bothering him for 6
\ good while, He'd asked good many
smart ministers, but he hadn't founC
any enc smart enough TO answer that
| suppose the minister had noticed ole
Green's seriousness in service time
and thought perhaps there might b
some hope for the old sinner yet. Any
way he signifed his willingness t
answer. to the best of his ability, tht
momentous question.
"'How old is the devil? said the ole
heathen But he'd hardly got his sa
tanic majesty fairly out Of his moutl
when the minister. clapping his hanC
on Dawes shoulder
( Shock him. good for Parson Good
win.
The court objects to such unseemll
/ levity, Brother Rudolphus, As | wa
saying. the parson laid his hand"
Times most III"
on Dawes shoulder, and said jus
is quick as a wink My dear friend
Don't bother me about your fami!
ord | haven't any time TO tend 4
such things
That's what we were expected /,
laugh at was ii? o. interrupted Rudolph
grayely