Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-03-03

| managed at intervals to get in Il few
remarks about the futility of life. l
wanted them to believe that | didn't
care much whether school kept or not.
"A short while after. Whistler came
in. He had on his hunting clothes ana
held q big powder can in his hand.
He said that the powder was Of a
new brand and that he had just
bought a pound Of it for trial from his
friend Hydebar.
Let me look at it, | said, reach
ing over for it with my unoccupied
hand The owner Of the stable looked
at the can ana began to tiget in his
chair
For Gods sake, be careful boys"
he exclaimed. You never can tell
when that damned stuff Is going off,
oh, that's all right. old man l r.
| piled. / guess | know q thing or two
about handling powder Turning %
! Whistler / asked him If the stun was
| any good.
'''Oh. | guess So, he answered, care
lessly. Anyway, there's enough in
! that can to blow up this whole build
| ing
3y this time the chair warmers had
| quit talking about their skates. anu
all We're looking uneasily nj the pow
der can. The owner of the stable was
! jumping UP ana down III his chair like
| 4 speckled hen. l had the reputation
Of being more or less. reckless. ana my
! pessimistic remarks when l first cam,
in seemed to have made q deep inn
| preston on him. I could tel by his
! actions that he feared ! was going II
! do something startling
Il turned the can Up ana pretended
! to pour out a part Of its contents into
| my hand. Then l threw the loose
| powder which | had been holding into
| the fire. 1t flashed up. ana some ~
| the chair warmers nearly fell out of
| their seats. As for the nervous livery
man, Why he was on the verge III
| heart disease. He danced about wild
| ly. beseeching me to have a care with
| the powder. Whistler too, pretended
70 be frightened. ana cautioned M
| about letting the can get too near thu
| fire. Finally l stood W and. putting
on as gloomy a look A. I could muster.
| | addressed the crowd something like
this:
Wei, YOU are a fine lot Of towards.
You seem 70 BE- terribly afraid Of dy-
ing. Your actions when q little DOW
der blazed up in the stove make me
believe that you are lot of old
women. As for me, am pretty tired
Of the game, ana would as soon croak
| now as any other time. While We
arg at it we might as well all light out
at the same time. 50, here gUes.'
while | was talking, all the chair
warmers except the liveryman him
self seemed to be spcllbound. They
looked at me with horror in their eyes.
but not one of them made move 10
escape. The liveryman jumped toward
me and seized my arm with a grip Of
steel.
For Gods sake. man, what is the
matter with you?' he reared. DO you
want to kill US all?'
81 am going to blow this blooming
building up l replied and before he
could stop me | hurled the powder can
| into the stove Was there a scramble?
Well, say, l just wish You could have
been there to see it. My descriptive
power fails me when | get to that part
Of the tale. | can get along tolerably
well with the incidents leading up to
the evacuation Of the office, but when
] come to that part | have to acknow-
ledge that my vocabulary is too small
for the job. However. when the can
went into the stove the chairWlrmers
bounded to their feet ana all shot for
the door as though they had been fired |
out Of a gun. One man fell on the floor |
ana the others trampled over his body. |
They all reached the door at about the |
same instant and as the opening was |
small. those in front became wedged |
in and those behind fought like Wild |
cats tOclimb over them. one man. who |
was forced to the rear. turned away |
from the struggling mass and plunged !
through the window, taking the sash |
along on his shoulders. He never |
stopped running until he had reached |
the hotel he kept.tw blocks away Then |
he began to shout and gesticulate 50 |
wildly that n crowd gathered. Heman-
aged to make them understand that ! /
had thrown can of powder into the
stove Of the livery Office and that the
building was about to be blown to
atoms.
IN the meanwhile, the chairwarmers
had succeeded in getting out of the
stable and they ran about in various
directions spreading the news of the
impending doom Of the building. The
story travelled about with the rapidity
of an electric message. Men and wo-
men began to pour into the narrow
street in which the stable faced. The
street was blocked. and traffic in it
was suspended, although the crowd
kept at what was considered a safe
distance from the building. Whistler
and had slipped out directly after the
chairwarmers and we watched the after
performance from the window Of q ho-
tel nearby.
Finally, after the crowd had stood
about for ten minutes or more they
began to ask each other why the build
ing did not blow up. At the end of
thirty minutes they grew holder and
started to crowd closerto the structure.
The liveryman came running up with
4 long pole in his hand and n lane was
opened to let him through. I forgot to