Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-08

from every generation, or shut un
shop.
Have you furnished your 5boy2'
Then / must furnish two. But / am
not going to wait until it strikes me.
Their raw material is boys-and you
are trying to pay your taxes in boys
instead Of dollars
If it Fell on You.
/ wonder that YOU can sit idly by,
watching this passing panorama. My
God! If it fell on your hearth stone,
and crushed your boy. l am fighting
now.
l read of a fellow in Tennessee who
made his living catching rattle snakes
and selling them to circuses. He
caught one with fourteen rattles and
placed it in a cage with a glass top.
He was chopping wood and his little
boy Jim slipped the cover back, and
the RATHER wiggled out and struck him
in the cheek. and little Jim ran to his
father and said;
The RATHER bit me-.
The father ran and chopped the rat
tier to pieces and then with his jack
knife he cut a piece out of little Jtm's
cheek. and with his lips he sucked at
the wound to draw the poison out.
He Died.
He watched his eyes and they be-
swell three times his normal size. and
his lips became dry and parched, and
then he gasped and died. The father
took Jim up to the side of the rattle
snake which was chopped to mince
meat, and said:
20 God. would not give little Jim
{ for all the rattlers that ever crawled
upon the Blue Ridge mountains"
| would not give one OF those boys
I for all the breweries and distilleries
and grog shops on Gods earth. or for
every dollar of revenue the dirty thing
| has ever got,
| They cannot have those boys.
You have been feedina that thing,
The Murderer's Lame Son.
! Like the other day up in North Da-
! kota a minister sat at his breakfast
table thinking over his sermon, and
| there was a rap on the door. and there
stood little boy about IL years of age
standing on crutch His right leg
! had been taken off above the knee.
| He stood there. and said:
will you go to the Jail and see my
papa, and pray and talk with him.
They are going to hang him because
he murdered mamma. Papa was d
| good man, but whisky did it. He
would not have done it. if it was not
for drink. There are four of us child
/
| by selling newspapers. Would you
come to our house and be there when
! they bring papa llomeo The governor
saws we can have him after they hang
| him.
At the Jail.
! The minister said that he went 10
the jail and saw the man and talked
and prayed with him. The man had
no recollection of having done the
deed He said:
Yes, whisky did it. l don't mind
paying the penalty Of the crime, but
Oh. think that must leave my children
to cruel charity. I think that I will
die before I reach the. scaffold."
The minister went to the little hovel
and about II o'clock the undertaken $
wagon drove up and they carried in
chairs.
The Funeral.
Crouching in the corner were the
three little sisters in rags, and the lit
tie boy hobbled to the coffin and
kissed his fathers cheeks, and wept
! and said: te
Poor papa, whisky did it, He
said to has little sisters, Don't yol
want to come and kiss papa before he
gets cold?r Those little orphans hud-
died around the coffin and shriel1eS
and screamed, and kissed the lips OF
their dead father. and the minister
fell on his knees and the policeman
ran from the room.
He Took His Oath.
With the little group Of orphans. the
i minister raised his hands to God, anG
took an oath that as long as he lived
he would leave nothing undone tc
strike staggering blows against thai
evil that is covering the land with in
fanny and rot and corruption.
| How many men and boys are there
here that will declare themselves the
irrevocable enemies of the saloon? Rise
please.