Gilpin observer., 1910-12-15
DOING
SOMETHING

1t was an exceedingly dull day for
small boys. Paul had never before
been quite so thoroughly impressed
with the emptiness of existence as he
was just then. Idling around the cor
ner of the house kicking his heels.
He had reached that sickening point
where there Is nothing to do. When
a grown-up person arrives there he can
throw oE his hat and go to the club or,
If he is woman, she can rush down
town and order things sent home from
the stores. Nothing, however, seems
to have been provided with which a
small boy SO afflicted may murder dull
care. So Paul was suffering horribly
from ennui.
That was Just before Dr. Eskridge
drove up next door in his phaeton and
went into the house.
DR.. Eskbridge still chung grimly to
his trotting horse, in the face of all
the new-fangled motor cars on the
market. Paul surveyed the outfit with
interest. Presently he wandered out
and climbed up into the phaeton and
jounced up and down on the blue
| cushions.
He observed with satisfaction that
ths cushions were new and the finish
on the carriage had just been done
over and was beautifully shiny. Then
he unwound the lines from around the
whip and held them tentatively. The
trotter turned an irritated eye upon
him and shook its head
"Whoa!" said Paul. grandly.
Then he slapped the lines a little
against the trotter's sides and made a
clucking noise. The horse backed
and sidestepped and Paul, in terror,
jerked the lines hard and cried
"Whoa!" loudly. Thereupon the ex-
asperated steed snapped the strap
with which he had been tied and ran
away. It was a thoroughbred horse,
and naturally It made a thoroughbred
job of It.
The horse ran away In an energet-
ic and indecorous fashion that left
nothing to be desired In the hearts OF
those witnessing the spectacle. 1t
strewed beautiful new cushions and
splinters of the lovely fresh varnish
impartially down the street. and broke
the traces and cracked the thills and
tossed Paul against a telephone pole.
Then It hunted up its stable and ran
into that. dragging the remnants of
the phaeton behind it.
This little attempt of filling up
spare time put Paul in bed with a
broken arm and dozen contusions Of
various sorts. After his mother got
over her fright she said that of course
when she had decided to stay in town
all summer for a quiet time to con-
serve her strength for the winter she
hadn't any idea that Paul was go
ing to do anything like this. 1t did
not soothe her to have 1t pointed out
that neither had Paul. When she ex-
planned to DR.. Eskridge, who was
friend Of the family. that Paul was a
child of high spirits. the doctor mere
ly said he was glad to know the rea-
son Paul had acted as he did
1t was while Paul was convalescing
from this experience that he wan
dered down side street with some
other boys and stopped to watch a
perspiring man push an electric
brougham out of sand pile into which
1t had run. The perspiring man finally
suggested that II his watchers would
help he might accomplish something
30 they helped.
Paul. being in front tugging valiant
ly at the wheel. 1t was only in obedi-
ence to o natural law that when the
brougham started with jerk and roll
ed down the sandy incline It rolled
over him. The brougham carried him
home. tagged by a flying scud Of small
boys, and this time he had warped
leg where the wheel had run over It.
That 1t was not broken was due to the
sand on which the leg had rested.
"Aw, gee!" Paul said, from out Of
the dignity shed by a plaster cast, a
hysterical mother. ether smells and a
trained nurse. "It wasn't my fault!
Twas just helpin'!"
After this Paul's mother decided
that the family needed to go away to
get some rest. She particularly de-
sired spot where there would be
nothing to tempt Paul's inclinations to
NEEDLE.
Il would suggest" said Paul's father,
who IL q busy man and therefore busi-
nesslike. that you put Paul in a com.
Portable dry goods Nox and ship him to
nice oasis In the middle Of a large
desert with nothing on It but a palm
tree. still. he would doubtless chop