The Coconino sun., 1901-07-20
THE SMITHERS PICNIC
Whole Family ls Glad That tho Fourth
 Conss But Once A Year

tA you, IuTS. CInltutTS. dshcu uttic
 VI Mrs. White, who had run in to borrow pattern and enjoy the news. I did enjoy seeing you start off with the wagon loaded down with lunch baskets, tirecrackers and flags. 1 said then to MT. White that Mir Smithers may be little we'll, eccentric, and I'm sure, Mrs. Smithers, clever people are always eccentric, look at Daniel Webster and Robert Burns-but he s the best of fathers. Yes, I'm sure you had an ideal day, right in the heart of na- ture, and"
 "Oh, yes, we spent the day in the heart of nature, but l can't say that it was an ideal one. Next year, Mrs. White, we spend our Fourth in town; it-it is safer!'
 Good gracious, you don't mean to say that the horses ran away, or"
 Those horses haven't run anywhere for a good 20 years, my dear. Mir. Smithers es pecially arranged for a safe pair. We reached our destination two hours late, and then Mir Smithers would send the team back so that the horses might rest. The driver was to come back for us at seven o'clock He did not seem to appreciate the thoughtfulness of MT. Smithers."
 "Oh, well, those people never do appre- ciate-"
 "No, as Mir Smithers says, you must do right, and not expect to be appreciated. We'll, the boys were wild with delight when we arrived, and Mir. Smithers started 1t once to put up the fagpole. It took two hours, and not one of us was allowed to speak or move, because it made him nerv- ous, so the time passed rather slowly. Then Mir. Smithers read the Declaration of In dependence, to put us into the proper frame of mind"
 "You must have been ready for your luncheon by that time"
 We were, but we didn't enjoy it much, after all. The driver had placed the lunch baskets on an ant heap before he drove of. I couldn't help suspecting that he did it on purpose" ..,
 That was unfortunate, but, still"
 "Yes, as Mir. Smithers said, we had plenty of fresh air, pure water, and
 But the worst thing about fresh air is the fact that it makes you hungry, and pure water is not filling, say what you please.
 "True. We'll, after eating what luncheon the ants had left, we set to work to enjoy ourselves. Then Mir Smithers told the boys that he himself would fire of all the fire crackers, as he did when he was boy. He said the boys of the present day didn't know how to enjoy themselves as he used. The boys didn't look very enthusiastic, but they knew better than to say much. Then he took out a tin can, filled it with crack CTS, laid fuse, and stood up looking so pleased and benevolent that I hadn't the heart to tell him that the boys would rather do it themselves"
 "And I suppose the fuse failed to work, so-"
 "It did, until Mir. Smithers leaned over to investigate. Then it did its work thor oughly. Mir. Smithers was in the act of telling the boys that people were never hurt, save by their own carelessness, but he didn't finish the sentence"
 Mercy, was he much hurt! And" "When the smoke cleared away a little, we saw him dancing like dervish who had found hornets nest in his path. His whiskers, the pride of his life, were singed, one eyebrow was gone and his eyes soon sweled shut. The explosion had blownd down the flag pole, which was not very secure, and it just grazed his head in it's fall. IT was sorry for the boys to hear his re- marks!'
 Gracious, your day was spoiled"
 'Tt was, my dear. For the rest of it Mir. Smithers lay on the ground while bandaged his eyes with cold water ',
 "And the boys9 Did"
 ''They had rather hard time, too, what with being called unhappy orphans every few minutes, and knowing they would have no dinner. They also discovered that all the matches had gone up in the explosion, and no more firecrackers were possible"
 "Oh, weren't you glad to get home?"
 'T certainly was, but it was late when we did. The driver said the distance was too great for him to get back at the time Mir Smithers had appointed. When the doctor came MT. Smithers expected him to praise his neroism, but he only laughed and said half the small boys in town had been worse hurt than he was, and had kept on cele hrat;no Well it's lucky that next Fourth