The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-11-13
PECk'S BAD BOY ABROAD

Lar . 4 p. at5 - -
/, 1864. the Russians sent a feet Of var
ships to New York and notified all Eu-
rope to stand back and look pleasant.
and, by the great horn spoons. am 60
, Ing to stand by Russia or bus t.. ] would
like to be lover there at Port Arthur
and witness an. explosion of a torpedo
under something. Egad, hut glory in
here Is Port Arthur. By this barrel Of
dried apples, and there IS Mushapata,
by the ak handle barrel see ~ ~. AZ
Well, you and IL are Just a Ike said
the boy. Lets have sham battlc,
right here in the grocery. Get down that
can Of POWDER s II & 81,
"'Taint against the Law. lis, II e" sad
the old man as he handed down tin
canister OF powder. IL want excite,
ment, and valuable information, but !
don't want to unduly excite the neigh:
bors.',
"Oh. don't worry about the neighbors. :"
said the boy, as he poured little pow
der Under the barrel Of dried apples.
Now, as you gay, this Is Port Arthur.
This chest of Ooong tea represents a
Japanese cruiser outside the harbor This
box OF Goldfish represents a Russian fort,
see, AMI the stove represents a Russian
cruiser This barrel Of ak handles Is
the Russian army, ontrenched behind the
nag OF coffee. Now, we put a little
powder under all OF them, ad lay train
from ono to the other. and now you
get out few OF those giant firecrackers
you had left over from last Fourth OF
July, and a Roman candle. and we can
Illustrate the whole business SO Alexo-
Witch and Ito would take to the woods
mo danger, Is, there?" said the old
grooeryman, las he iTouglit out the
fireworks. looking as happy and inter-
ested as the bad boy did. II want to
post myself on war in tho far East, but
l don't want to do anything that would
occasion remark"
"Oh. remark nothing" said the boy.
as he fixed a flrecracker under a barrel
OF rice. another under tin can Of soda
|. crackers, and got the Roman candle
ready to touch on at the stove. ut
Will not make any more fuss than taking
n hash-light photograph. Just piff-
s-s-sis-boom--an there you are, full Of
Information" RI
well, let-er.go. Gallagher said the old
man, sort OF reckless Ike, MS he got be-
hind the cheese box. "Gol darn tho on
pensc. when you want to illustrate your
ideas OF war" 8
The hoy little Roman candle. got bo-
hind a barrel Of potatoes and turned
the sputteringy Roman candle on the giant
tlrecracker under the stove, and when
he saw the fuse OF the trecra cker was
i llEntcQ, nc CuTHeO inc loren Oh tucs EUWucE
underline barrel OF dried apples. and In a
second eyoryt hing went killing; the barrel
OF dried apples. with the cat in It, went
up to the ceiling; the stove was blown
over the counter, the cheese box and the
old groceryn,an went with crash to the
back end Of tho store. tho front win
dows blew out OH the sidewalk, the
store was full OF SMOKE the old man
rushed outFthe back door with his wills
kers snged and yelled "Fire!" while the
bad boy fell out the front door with his
eye winkers gone, and his hair slnged. the
cat got out with no hair to hrag on, and
before they could breathe twice the fire
department came tlattcring UP toSa hy-
drant and soon turned the hose inside
the grocery. There was not very much
fire, and after tipping over every barrel
and box that had not been blown sky
h!ghthe Aromen gave one last look at the
inside of the grocery, one last squirt at
|, the burned and singed cat. that had
craWled into q bag OF cinnamon on the
top shelf, and they went away, leaving
1.-THE doors and windows OPEN; the crowd
dispersed, and the bad boy went In the
front door. pecred around under tho
counter, pulled the cork out Of q bottle
Of olive oil and began to anoint himself
whore he had been scorched, Hearing a
shuftling. as OF arctic oyershoes filled
with water, in the back shed. andfa still