The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1909-06-03

Joseph" In the way he said 1t then,
1t meant he was going TO say some
thing not quite commonplace Joseph,
/ 1t was jest sech day as this when
my first wife-when Mary and Twas
walkin home from meetin'-down In
the old neighborhood-whe l mus
tered up courage to ask her If she'd
have me. The brown thrushes was
singin. an the wild roses was In
bloom. l remember, cause she asked
me to gether a bokay Of 'em. I had
no jackknife. an pullin 'em off I
tore my hand on a big prickly briar.
She tied up my scratched hand with
her Handkerchief, an when l felt the
touch Of her soft fingers as she did It,
| up an asst her to let me take her
hand until death should part us. An
she did-until death parted u.s."
A strange light burned dimly In I'm
Gle Joes eyes as he listened-a light
that f1ickered for an instant and died
out, even as tiny flame will some
times shoot up and die out from a
deserted campfire smodering by the
roadside in the darkness.
He, too, In the long ago, had wor-
SHIPPED at the shrine of Mary-but
Billy had never known.
Half an hour later they were at the
old sycamore. whose misshapen trunk
hung far out over the pool of water
where, as boys, they had fished and
bathed on many happy summer day.
I'm glad there's no boys here to-
day." sighed Uncle Billy. at doea
seem awful to me that boys as is
brought up by respectable, God fear
in parents will be so wicked as to fish
an swim on the Sabbath day.
boy nature an boss nature is pur-
ty much alike the world over" sage
ly responded Uncle Joe. 81 don't see
that boys is any wuss than they war
when we was boys. Bill, you know
you've been licked like sixty fer the
same identical tricks. An licked fer
what? Jest cause you was a-havin'
the only downright rale good time
you ever got chance to have. 1
never had any boys of my own, but
I'll tell you right here that if l had
forty boys, an they all wanted to go
swimmin' on Sunday, why they could
go, an what's more, I'd go with EN-"
The audacious wickedness of such a
sentiment fairly took away Uncle Bill
iys breath.
"Why, Joseph, you--you shorely
wouldn't think O. bein' so wickedp
'Wicked nothin' That's jest the
way you used to talk when we was
boys-pardners. 1t was Joseph an
Joseph An you was into as much
devilment as 1 was tool An always |
maxim folks believe at l led you into
1t! Dog my skinl I'm goin' to have
that fish if 1 have to wade in an
chase him out on the bankv'
Uncle Joe had, while talking, taken
q hook and line from his pocket and /
fastened it to an abandoned pole.
Then he managed to catch a grass
hopper. He impaled it to his satisfac-
ton and gave a cast that showed he
had once been a not unscientific angler.
But dexterous as was the cast the
bass refused to rise to the ailuring
hopper. Uncle Billy sat in the shade
and looked on with grave, troubled
face. What would old Brother Nee
cham say If he were to hear of his
deviation from the straight and mar
row path? No doubt at this moment
Brother Meecham was standing up be-
fore the "class' telling his hopes and
fears, his temptations and triumphs.
"What If the Lord should call me
light now an find me here at the river
ishin?'
The agony of the thought made Un-
lie Billy groan aloud.
"Shet up, Bill Fish won't bite If
you make so much noise"
II don't care If they don't! Joe,
you're old enough to know better than
o fish on Sunday" ..
"Wel, stop your clatter or I'll come
Jack there an make you"
Now, it had been Uncle Billy's fail
ng when a boy not to be able to take
dare" He always got the worst Of i.
hysical encounters, but the very next :,
sad forlorn hope, because he was :
oward, a moral coward. =
So little wonder Is 1t that, under the
Id feeling of moral cowardice, he re-
lied:
"Oh, you will, will your Mebby you'd =
Ike to try 1t right now y
"Bill, If you don't shet your old fool .
louth I'll-I'll come up there an make +
GU eat dirtw
you will, viii you" yelled the now =
roperly Infatuated William. "You
ill, will you? I'd like to see you try o
on. Try 1t on right nowp'
Uncle Joe stuck his fish pole in the q
md, spat on his hands and walked up Il
, his bellicose ''pardner." He made
rab for Uncle Billy's collar, but Uncle o
lily slid under his arm, caught him q
side holts." and "under holts' at that !,