Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1905-09-22
hey dropped their work and made a

they dropped their work and made a
rush for us, and one fellow yelled some
thing in the Belgian language that
sounded like, Il saw them first" and he
got hold of dad and me, and the rest |
stood off like a lot of hack drivers that |
have seen a customer fall into the hands |
Of another driver, and made up faces at |
Us, and called the farmer who had |
caught US the vilest names. They said |
we would be skinned to u finish by the |
faEer who got us, and they were right. |
He showed us from high hill where
the different portions of the battle were
fought, and where they caught Napoleon
Bonaparte, and where Butcher came up
and made things hum in the German
language, and then he took us off to his
farm where the most Of the relics were
found, and began to sell things to dad,
until he had filled the hind end Of the
wagon with bullets and grape shot,
sabers and bayonets, old rusty rifles,
and everything dad wanted, and we had
enough to fill museum, and when the
i'ti iiiNi liSu SoOb uuN . IllcAlNy w " NAN
back to Brussels, and got our stuff un-
loaded at the hotel. Say, when we came
| to look it over we found two rusty Colts
| reyolvers, and guns Of modern COnstruc-
| ton, which have been bought on the
| battlefields in all countries. and prop
erly rusted to sell to tourists. | showed
dad that the revolver was unknown at
the time of the battle OF Waterloo, and
that every article he had bought was a
fraud, the sabers having been made in
America, before the war of the rebellion,
and dad was mad, and gave the stuff to
the porter of the hotel, who charged dad
seven dollars for taking it away
Dad kept one three-cornered hat that
the farmer told him Bonaparte lost
when his horse stampeded with him,
and it had drifted under barbed wire
fence, where it had lain until the day
before we visited the battlefield. Say,
that hat is as good as new, and dad says
it is worth all the stuff cost but | would
not be found dead wearing it, cause 1t
is all out of style,
We have seen the king of Belgium,
and actually got the worth of our money
He is an old dandy, and looks like
Philadelphia quaker, only he is not as
pious as a quaker. Dad wrote to the
king and said he was a distinguished
American travelling for his health, and
had niece who had frequently visited
Belgium with an opera company, and
she had spoken of the king, and dad
wanted to talk over matters that might
be OF interest both to Belgium and
to America. Well, the messenger came
back and said dad couldn't get to the
palace minute too quick, and so we
went over, and as we were going
through the park we saw an old man in
citizens clothes, sitting on bench, pat
ting the head Of boar hound, and when
he saw us he said, Come here, Uncle
Sam, and let my dog chew your pants,
Dad thought it must be some lunatic,
and was going to make a sneak and get
out, when the man rose up and we saw
it was the king, and we went UP to him
and sat down on the bench, and he asked
dad If he had come as a relative of the
opera singer, to commence suit against
the king for breach of promise, or to
settle for money consideration, re-
marking that he had always rather pay
cash than to have any fuss made about
these little matters. Dad told him he
had no claim against him for alternating
gnVhN1V'C lffpptiOn for hrpoph ~
: promise. and that all he wanted was tC
, have a little talk with the king anC
find out how king lived and how he
:. had any fun in running the king bust
ness. at his age, and they sat down anC
. began to talk as friendly as two ok
= chums, while the dog played tag witt
. me. We found the king was a regular
: boy, and that instead of his mind beinf
occupied by affairs Of state, or hi
= African concessions with Congo coun
: try, where he owns few million slaves
= who steal ivory for him, and murde
= other tribes, he was enjoying life jus
- as he did when he was a barefooted boy
" fishing for perch at the old mill pond
and when he mentioned his career a
,. a boy, and his enioyments, dad toll
> about his youth, and how he never go
= so much pleasure in after life as he di
', when he had a stone bruise on his hee
u and went off into the woods and cut
. tamarack pole and caught sunfsh til
:, the COWS came home.
" The king frightened up and told da
: Ass. @
u %szan : r. r.
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