Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1905-06-29

10 hold his hand all the way up, but
she said she was no nurse In Q home
for the aged. and she said she would
cuff dad II he didn't let 80 OF her. I
told her she better not get dad mad n
she knew what was good for her. for he
was q regular Bluebeard. and wouldn't
take no slack from no Chicago female,
cause he had buried nine wives al
ready. So she held his hand. and l
guess she thinks she will be my step
mother, but I bet she don't.
Well. after We got almost to the top
the car stopped. and we had to walk
the rest OF the way, several hundred
feet, and we had to have a pusher and
a putter for dad. q dago to go ahead
and pull him up, and another to put
his shoulder against dads pants and
shove. Gee, but II was a picture to
see dad "go up old baldhead," with
the dagoes perspiring and swearing at
dad for being SO heavy. and the Chi
cago woman laughing, and me pushing
her up.
One thing that scared dad was that
every little way there was q shrine.
where the guides left dad lying on the
ground, blocked with piece OF cold
lava, so he wouldn't roll down, like you
would block q wagon wheel, and they
would go to the shrine and kneel and
say some prayers.
Dad was afraid they were going to
charge the prayers in the bill for push
ing him up, but told dad that these
people expected every time they went
up to the top that 1t would be their
last trip, as they knew that some day
the volcano would open in a new place
and swallow them whole, with all the
tourists. Then he gave them a dollar
apiece to pray for him, and wanted to
go back down the mountain and let
Vesuvius run its own fireworks, but the
Chicago lady told dad to brace up and
she would protect him, and so the
guides gave few more pushes, and we
were on top Of the volcano, and dad
collapsed and had to be brought to
with smelling salts and whisky that
the woman carried in her pistol pocket.
Gee, but 1t was worth all the trou-
BILE to get up the mountain, to see the
sight that opened up. The hole in the
mountain filed with boiling stun was
worth the price of admission, and the
roaring of the boiling stun, and the
explosions way down cellar, and the
flying stones, the smoke going into the
air for a mile. like the burning Of an
oil we'll, the red-hot lava finding crew
ices to leak through, and flowing down
the side Of the mountain in streams
like hot maple strip, made a scene
that caused us to take of our hats and
thank the good Lord that the thing
hadn't overlooked enough to hurt us.
But could see dad was scared, cause
when I wanted him to go around the
edge of the crater with me, and see
the hell-roaring free show from other
points of view, and see where the hot
ashes years ago rolled down and COW
cred Pompeii and Herculaneum. he
DHlkeu anu Sdiu uc Hdu SScu o!i hS
wanted to, and IL he could stay alive
until the next car went down the noun
tain, they could all have his interest
in Vesuvius, and be darned to them,
but he said If I wanted to go around
looking for trouble, he would stay
there under a big rock, with the Chi
cago lady, and wait for me to come
back. She said she knew dad was all
tired out, and needed rest, and she
would stay with him, and keep him
cheered up; so left them and went oil
with one of the dagoes, to slide down
hill on some flowing lava, and pick up
specimens.
Well, sir, I wish I could get along
some way without telling the rest OF
this sad story, but If l am going to
be historian I have got to tell the
whole blame thing.
When I left dad and the Chicago
woman she had produced lunch from
somewhere about her person, and a
small bottle. and they were eating and
drinking. and dad was laughing more
natural than l had seen him laugh
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