The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-03-19
THAT SKINNER BOY.
\ Music Dealer Trusts Him With a
Banjo.

/ sonny. you look TO me IKE an IN
nocent boy
Yes. sir. am was the reply.
Il think you are a boy that can be
trusted" -, -s
II know I am
We'll, man left a banjo here last
Eek to be repaired. It's all ready to
go home, but l have no one to send
with it. If 1 should give 1t into your
| hands and promise you quarter for
taking it to 232 Harrison street, I be-
iieve you would do the errand all
right
Il surely would, sir
Very well You had better go up
| to Ninth street and take the crosstown
car. Here is the banjo in its box, and
when you return you shall have the
quarter
Humpy started off in the highest
SPIRITS He had gone only a block
was saIuted with:
Hello. Hump. What you go:
| "A banjo"
TT hain't yours -
Nope. I'm taking it up on Harri-
| son street for music man.
And he trusted you with a banjo,
| did hep rt an
Yep. He said looked innocent and
honest
We'll. I never. Say, Hump, I don't
want to make you vain. but can you
find anywhere i'll American history
with banjo belonging to some one
else? No, sir. you can't. You are go
ing right up to the top as fast as you
can go, and I predict that they'll have
your picture in the papers in less'n six
months
The boy and the banjo had gone a
block farther when they encountered
a street car conductor off duty and
ner- He had had two or three drinks
to keep the bears off and was feeling
good.
Hello, bub. That's a queer sort of
hatboxl" he said as he reached out
for Humpy.
TT hain't no hatpox; it's a banjo in
there" was the reply
rs that so? Say. now, but used to
Once when I played to a crowd over
a hundred strong men broke down and
wept I'll give you a tune
But you can't. The man told me
not to open the case"
Never mind what the man told you, |
sonny. I'm running this old car this |
trip. I'll have you dancing before 1 !
have played dozen notes of Yankee |
Doodle ;"
Humpy protested and hung on to the |
box. but it would have been wrested |
from him except that a policeman saw |
the squabble from afar and came has |
tening up the street
"Oh, well, he can go on with his old |
BANJO said the conductor as he re-
leased his hold on the box. '.All I |
wanted was to play a few tunes and |
liven UP the old town a bit. but I'll |
go inside and take two more drinks
instead"
The officer told Humpy to hump
himself along. and his command was
obeyed. He reached Ninth street with
out further adventure and boarded a
car. but he was scarcely seated when
a woman beside him looked him over
very sharply and said:
hoy. did the conductor take notice
CT that box when you got on ?'
"Yes'm. He asked me IL 1 had cat
In it, and I told him no."
81 hope you didn't lie to him. I was
on a street car once when a cat got
out of a basket and clawed my face,
and 1 have never got over the scare.
If you are carrying a cat
Its a banjo. ma'am," explained
Humpy.
ct am glad to hear that. and I hope
you haven't lied to me The box may
explode anyhow. and 1 wish you would
gr farther UP the car 1 was on a car
once when a banjo or something else
in a box exploded. AMI had my eye
glas ses Llown off,
Humpy moved to the front of the
car ard cat down besinc a man who
had been nodoing with sleep. The
banjo box happened to hit his knee,
and he aroused and looked around and
demanded to know who had kicked
him. Then his eyes fell upon Humpy
and the box. and he said:
boy. I don't like it at all I be- Il
lieve you are an anarchist and making
ready to blow up this car"
"Banjos don't explode. do they?"
asked Humpy. with a smile.
"a banjo. Ell? And what are vou
doing with a banjo?"
Taking it Up to a man on Harrison
street,
"Umi 1t may be a banjo, and it may
be an Internal machine. In these days
we can't be too careful. A grocer
asked ma to open a can of chicken the
When another fellow tried it, it expIod-
ed and blew his arm off. We will
look at that supposed banjo"
But l was told not to open the
box" protested Humpy.
Makes no difference. sonny. AS a
freeborn American citizen I've got a
right to know whether I'm riding with
dynamite or musical instruments.
Open up"
81 shan't do it. It's a banjo. and
YOU can believe me or not"
The plot thickens," whispered the
man as he assumed knowing look.
And of a sudden he grabbed the box
and threw up the cover Then an old
sh man who had been reading a paper
aid it aside and said:
II don't know why you couldn't have
taken the boys word.
Il trust no one replied the other.
Rockefeller, Rogers and the rest of
is can't tell what minute we must con-
front danger. II seems to be a banjo,
but is it one? Has il got dynamite
concealed in its stomach -? Are we
4 bout TO be greeted with the strains of
old Dan Tucker or are we to be
hurled into eternity without a mo-
nenFs preparation? ?"
You talk like a fool. Give the boy
the box and stop fooling.
"Oh, I talk like a fool, do L? Say.
now you are an older man than I am,
and you are ba1dheaded and bow leg
yed, but you must apologize or there'l1
be a row here