, 1905-06-21

but going on toward nine. My father
had given me $40 to spend IN noises:
but, unlike most boys, | did not care
so much for noises as | did for novel;
ties. 1t didn't give me any particular
pleasure to hear Il giant cracker go Oft
with IL bang. What | wanted to do
most of all WAS to get up some kind of
an exhibition that would please the
people and that could be seer in day
time instead of at night. when every.
body is tired and sleepy. So instead
of spending my money III tirecrackers
and torpedocS and rockets | spent 50
of it on powder and 81 on putty blow
ers.
What | wanted to do was to make
II grand effort and provide passershy
with Il free exhibition of what | was
going to call 'Carraway's Grand Gey-
ser Cascade To 90 this properly |
set my eve upon Il fish pond not far
from the town hall. Ii was IL very deep
pond and about Il mile in circumfcr-
ence. Putty blowers were then selling
at five for Il cent. and powder was
cheap as sand owing to the fact that
the powder makers, expecting Il VAR.
nad made IA hundred times as much as
WAS needed, and as the war Gian't
come they were willing to take almost
anything they could get for it. The
consequence was that the powder | got
WAS sufficient in quantity to fiji Il
rubber bag as large as five sofa cush-
ions.
This l sank in the middle of the
pond, without telling anybody what |
intended to do, and through the putty
blowers, sealed tightly together, end to
end, | conducted a fuse. which | made
myself, from the powder bag to the
shore, My idea WAS that | could touch
the thing of. you know. and that about
sixty square feet of the pond would fly
up in the air and then fall gracefully
back again. If it had worked as | eX-
pected, everything would have been al
right. but it didn't. | had too much
powder. For II second after | had lit the
fuse there came a mufiled roar, and the
whole pond in Il solid mass, fish and ali.
went flying up in the air and disappear
ed. Everybody Vas astonished: not a
few more We're very much frightened.
| was scared to death, but | never let
on to any one that | was the person
who had blown the pond off. How high
the pond went | don't know, but do
know that for a week there wasn't any
sign of ii, and then. most unexpectedly.
out of what appeared to be Il clear sky
there came the most extraordinary
rainstorm you eve saw. 1t literally
poured down for two full days. and,
what | alone could understand. with it
came trout and sunfish and minnowS.
and, most singular to all but myself, an
old scow that was recognized rs the
property of the owner of the pond sui
denly appeared in the Sky falling t.
ward the earth at Il fearful rate OF
speed. When | SAW the scow coming |
was more frightened than ever. be.
cause | was afraid il might fall upon
and kill some of our neighbors. Forth.
nately, however, this possible disaster
IA averted for it'came down directly
over the sharp point lightning rod oil
the tower of our public library ami
stuck there like Il piece of paper on a
pin.
THE rain washed away several acres
of cultivated farms, but the loss of
crops and fences and 50 forth was
largely reduced by the fish which came
with the storm. one farmer took Il
rake and caught 300 pounds of trout,
forty pound of sunfish, eight turtles
and Il minnow in his potato patch in
five minutes. Others were almost as
fortunate, but the damage was sutfi-
GENTLY large to teach me that parents
cannot be too careful about what they
let their children do on Independence
day"
And weren't you ever punished?'
asked Jack.
No. indeed" said the major. NO
body ever knew that | did it, because
l never told them-in fact, you are the
only two persons who have even heard
about it, and you mustn't tell, because
there are still Il number of farmers
about that region who would sue me
for damages in case they knew that
was responsible for the ACCIDENT
Philadelphia Press.