Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1903-10-01

them by old father and mother
Bleakley, two good old people. who
while they were far advanced in
years, yet remembered that they
we're once young and enjoyed boy
hood and girlhood days and were
pleased to see the yOung people en-
Joy themselves tho their age for.
bade them taking a part.
1T was one of the worst blum
ders Of my younger days but il
learned me a very important lesson
never to NEEDLE where you've no
business. 1t took place in Ran
dolph county, Missouri, way back
in fifty seven" continued the old
man. Times and customs were
not as they are now. We did not
have fine sleighs and rows of
sleigh bells to jingle and invita-
tiOns to send around. nor did we
stand upon our p's and as, as
they used to say, on our going.
We frequently got up a surprise
party. We would hitch up the
teams, generally two horses, to
what we called a log slide. The
runners of this were made of a
tree with the proper crook, the
tree split open and the runners
hewed to the proper shape. Cross
benches were pinned on, front and
rear, a tongue made of a split pole
fastened to the top of the front
end of the runners, pins or stan
dards put in the end of cross
benches, and then on this was
placed wagon box or bed with
plenty of straw in the bottom and
to this a few quilts were added.
Then off we'd go to get all the
boys and girls of our set. Some
times there would be fifteen or
twenty piled into one slide. We
were sometimes out for three days
and nights in succession, sleeping
at one house and then another.
On this particular occasion the
house where we had. gathered con-
sisted of a front room and an up
stairs, a dining room and a cook
room. How did we sleep after
our party endedi Oh, that was
easy enough. Straw beds were
made down on the floor. / have
always be en- glad that this was the
case that fatal night. The girls
slept upon these improvised beds
and the boys went up stairs and
slept on the same kind of beds.
The stairway went mp by quarter
wind in one corner of the front
room. The door of the stairway
was about three steps up and fas-
tened with a button near the top;
we had noticed that it sprung
apart and that 1t left goOd-sized
crack at the bottom.
we babe our girls goodnight,
wishing happy hours and pleas
ant dreams till morning light. We
paired off as there was an album
dance of room, andI and Bill
Stokes slept together. We had
not retired long before we heard
an uproar downstairs. Screaming,
shouts, laughing as if all bedlam
h ad broken loose. We knew then
those girls were having a high
time, but what about3 There was
Lizzie Crews. always the embodi-
ment of fun, and Polly Mayo, fully
her match, and the others ready to
join in.
Our curiosity was dreadfully
excited. remembered the crack
at the stair door and the evil one
lit must have been he, because a
good spirit never would have sug-
gested so dreadful mistake, one
of fOrethought would have known
the consequences. In that evil
moment / whispered to Bill, Let's
slip down to the stair door and
take a peep at things below" He
agreed at once. 1t always seemed
TO me like he ought to have had
more sense. His girl was down
there and TO lose her was Go lose