The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-09-06

butcher knife that would be another"
Gee, did Edith Williams cut you?
Where?"
"on the street. She didn't speak to
me-"
girl. There amt any of 'em dare speak
to me. / mean a cut on barbed wire
Climbing over a fence?'
'Worse'n that, Mud slide. But we
fixed 'em. We got a bottle. One of
these big beer bottles, see, with an aw-
full jaggy edge. o, say, one of the
downtown gang slid down on that. Gee,
you ought { heard him yen. He was
sittn' down. l guess he amt goin to
sit down much any more for while"
Guess you'll have to say that all
over again. Tommy. You've got me
going"
Amt you ever seen a mud Slide?
Say, what did you fellows do when
you were kids and went swimmin?
Didn't you have no mud slides? You
missed lot of fun. You make one by
the swimmin' hole. Throw water up
on the bank and get it muddy and
Shiny. Then you can slide down and
plump into the water. We all race for
the sWimmin' hole. We got to beat
the downtown gang there"
Same old swimming hole?" asked
the guardian. 60 out through Mel
Inns pasture and through the grove
and down the pike about a mile, and
then down the tracks, across the tres
tie, and through the cut till you come
to the willow tree that's been struck
by lightning and fallen across the
river"
"Dyou ust to swim there?" asked
Tommy. Why didn't you have no
mud slide?"
Didn't know how to make one, 1
guess"
We'll, you missed it. Well, the
downtown gang beat US there to-day.
An l was first down the mud slide.
l went down like you do on a sled.
You know. On the stomach. We
hadn't seen the downtown gang. They
was hidin' in the bushes. Say, there
was a piece of barbed wire down in
that mud. 1t took me right here in
the chest and it just ripped clean
down to the knee. Clear up, too. Far
as the barb would go. Then the down
town gang jumped out of the bushes
an yelled. My, it hurt. An bled.
You ought to have saw it bleed. 1
ought 'av knOwed thit it wasn't safe.
Fellow that'll go down a mud slide
without. seem whether there's glass or
barbed wire in it ought to get stuck.
But we fixed 'em. You ought 'av seen
that kid hit the bottle. o, my"
You awful little heathen," exclaim-
the guardian. What are you going to
do? Kill each other?"
Nav" said Tommy; "but kids got
to take their chances. We amt ba-
bies. We had fight with the down
town gang, and then l plastered mud
on the cut, an then we all went in.
An then l snuck out and got the bot
tie an broke it. An then / stuck it
in the mud slide while the downtown
gang wasn't lookin'. 1t was all hid
in the mud, but there was a whole lot
of jaggy edges stickin' up. Then we
told all our fellows to keep shy Of the
slide, an pretty soon one of the down
town gang got out and started to go
down. He went down sittin' down. o,
my"
Tommy beat both bare feet on the
steps to indicate his joy.
Say, you ought to heard him yell.
An he cried. Golly, he cried. I didn't
cry, and 1 guess mine hurt just as
much. Then we had another fight with
the downtown gang, an they had to
carry that kid off"
Thomas" said the guardian, severe
ly. II guess I'll have to tell your
mother a few of these things. She be-
lieves every day you're going to he
brought home drowned. but don't be-
lieve she appreciates all the fine points
of swimming
Nov, Uncle Jimmy, you amt go
in to tell her any such thing. Why, she
never will let me go in again, an then
I'll have to run off an lie about it, an
that'll be worse. Bill Nebbins always
has to lie. an he has to sit out in the
sun an dry his hair. Once he got in
an awful fix. The downtown gang made
him chew beef. Didn't you ever have
to chew beef? Say, kids must 'av been
funny when you was a boy. WHY.
chewing beef is where the other kids