The Prescott daily news., 1908-07-03

ever lived
 Although he earned his living by in. venting useful things like automatic blows that would blow a whole field in the night time while the farmer lay in bed asleep, and automatic fish poles that would bait their own hooks and throw out their own lines and pull in their own fish and take them off and bait the hooks over again. still Uncle Dick was ready at minutes notice to drop all that sort of thing and invent something to give boy pleasure.
 Jimmy Broderick knew this and he took great care of Uncle Dick, carrying an umbrella for him when it rained and watching to see that he ate his meals regularly. for like all great inventors. Uncle Dick could not take care of him self very well.
 What would you like for the Fourth of July. Jimmy" asked Uncle Dick about a week before that important day.
 T would like most of all to have a great big sky rocket" said Jimmy. You shall have one," said his uncle, and immediately went into his inven- tory shop, which Is the funny name that he gave to the little room where he invented things.
 The telephone bell rang a good deal that day. On the very next morning a big truck arrived from the city with two big casks on 1t. They were painted red and marked Danger! Powder!" in big letters. There were also huge rolls of thick pasteboard. each sheet big enough to make the whole side of a house, and there were so many of them that the horses could hardly pull them.
 Uncle Dick rubbed his hands and chuckled like anything when he saw the material.
 You shall certainly have a sky rocket" said he to Jimmy. And the best of 1t is that the greater part of the country for hundreds of miles | around will have one. too" l Jimmy was very curious and still more puzzled, but he knew that Uncle Dick did not like to explain his inven- tions beforehand. so he asked no ques- tions, but merely kept his eyes open and did not go out of sight of the in. ventory shop all morning. Before noon a great gang of men ar rived, and under Uncle Dicks orders they began to carry all the material to the pasture, where they deposited it around huge old dead pine tree that | stood smooth and straight reaching into the air fully 80 feet without 8 branch to break 1t except on the very | top, and that was soon gone. too, for Uncle Dick sent men up there and they Topped 1t off so that then the | tree stood sleek and smooth like a | mast.
 Then the sheets of pasteboard were laid on the ground and rolled into a great cylinder 30 feet long and at least ten feet in diameter. AS soon as a sheet was rolled into shape the men tied 1t tightly with yards on yards of rope and then an other sheet was rolled around the first so on until all the pasteboard had been used up, and that was such lot that It took the men all day with the hardest kind of work.
 The next day they opened the casks of powder and began to load 1t in and In. hour after hour. until the last grain was pounded in good and hard. and Jimmy's Uncle Dick said:
 50! There's 800 pounds of powder In there. That ought to make her fly" But how about the stick?" thought Jimmy. He did not say 1t. knowing how easy 1t is to spoil an inventors ideas by interrupting him with friv- olous conversation.
 He was to learn very soon how about the stick, for as soon as the mighty cylinder was all finished. Uncle Dick had a derrick rigged. and up went the big thing until 1t dangled alongside of the dead pine tree near the dizzy top of It.
 Then mighty cables were sent up and the men lashed the loaded paste board cylinder to the tree until it was completely hidden by ropes.
 Now for the fuse" said Uncle Dick. He set the men to work untwisting ropes until they had more than 300 feet all unraveled. Uncle Dick went up the derrick and put the end of the unraveled rope into the bottom part of the rocket. Then he poured kerosene oil all over it and rubbed gunpowder Into it.
 That afternoon Uncle Dick sent out invitations both by mail and by mes senger to places as far away as 200 miles saving.