The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1901-09-26
that ingenious way Of throwing tn,


joke was on poor Coleby.
So we lay there in the shade tha:
summer afternoon. and with Il per.
sistency that never tagged, we sang
in rhythmic monotone:
"Coleby. Coleby. bring back that
goose! Coleby, Coleby, bring back
that goose!"
/ The anvil rang louder than ever and
the sparks flew madly as Coleby's
hammer beat down with fury. lie be
came angrier each minute until at
last, in blind rage, he ran to the
edge of the pond, brandishing in his
hands pair of tongs.
He swung them around his head
and hurled them at us with the ut
most strength of his brawny arm.
Take that goose vunce," he cried,
and the tongs went straddling
through the air and fell ker-chug
right in the middle of the pond.
We boys really knew more about
the history of that goose than any
one suspected or we cared to tell.
Alf Waters had caught her in n
fence corner and had imprisoned her
in his fathers unused stable, and all
to hear what fuss Colcby would
make, for nothing cnraged him so
much as a depreciation committed
on his geese.
Three nights after having taken the
goose, Alf tired of his sport. and
taking her under his arm he carried
her to Coleby's coop. Colcby's coop
was locked. What could Alf do? lie
had no intention of keeping tha
goose, for he was one of The best fell
lows that ever lived.
"Now." thought Alf, 81 will put
poor gooSey where she will be COM
Portable for the night, and in the
morning she will go home herself"
The first place Alf thought of was
the upturncd boat the fisherman used
for n coop, and in five minutes the
goose was comfortably settled on the
ground with the two ducks and drake.
while the three chickens slept on the
rooSt above.
There! Aft had done his duty, and
it was Just in time, for scarcely half
an hour aftcrward Colcby and the
fisherman met ut the coop door, and
each thought the other a thief.
The summer days were filled with
the round of boyish pleasures, and al
though | say it with regret, we boys
frequently requested Crlcby, in our
most musical tones, to "hring back
that goose" And Colcby himself be-
came so angry NJ us that we would
scarcely dare to 90 near his shop.
But there came an end TO our teas
ing and his anger, and this was how
II happened:
Coleby's pond is made hv dam
built across Fall creek inst half a mile
above its union with the Ohio. The
dam had been built long time, and
the mill that stood by it was out Of
repair. We boys used it for general
amusement purposes and the fisher
man Kept his boats there.
Below the dam on the side next the
old mill was deep pool, in which we
boys delighted to swim, and into
which we used to dive from long
beam that stuck out over il. This
beam lay on the floor of the mill, from
one side and end of which the wealth
rrbonrding had been torn by destruc-
tive hands. From the beams end
danolcd n rope which secured one %
the iishcrman's boats as it lay on the
water below.
One afternoon Alf and went down
to the old mill to see the boys dive
We met Colcby's geese as we went
across the common, ard they hisscd
at us. for they liked us no better than
did Colcby himself We cared not u
bit for that, so we went on to thr
pond.
Ed Sawyer. Sam Parker and Tom
Rummel were to have contest for
the championship in diving, and We're
to take the plunge from the long
beam.
Wnen we arrived at the mill, there
sat six or eight boys on the floor along
the tpen side of the mill, with their
feet dangling over the water that lay
cool and deep six feet below. They
wera talking of the merits of the boys
who were to dive. Each one had his
champion, and was asserting how
much he would distance his competit-
ors in the contest.
Rummcrs going to win," said Eli
Iiaines. II saw him dive under a coal
barge at New Albany last summer and
come up on the other side, and !
know Parker or Sawyer can't bea'
that"
Sawyer can" put in Bob wilkins,
getting up and walking to the end
of the beam to look out over the coIa-
mon, "and he'll soon show you that he
can, for here he comes, and Parker
is with him"
We all went to the openside of the
mil, and greeted the boys with cheers.
Tom Rummel, too, was seen coming
along by Coleby's shop.
The geese waddled along in the path
before him, and in a spirit of fun he
ran among them, scattering them
r;ubt onJ loft He ran them nbout