Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1910-02-11
5yI M. "a JAD. 18js 81 sE..5
tCopyright. 1910. by Associated Literary


Il ss;F#| Press.l TX IH$Saf }sssssS.58s
q The lazy man Of the village off R,l W
eonville was Silas White. He bad
been lazy for many: years. There We're were
several old residents who could re- re-
member that when he aud This wife
moved into the village he was i work
ter and ambitious. Then one. day he
attended a circus and was: kicked IS BY
a giraffe. The circus men gave him q
dollar as damages and sent hint home /
4 doctor examined him and said mol
great harm. had been done. sbut Stlasl
took it into his head that, he had sre-I
ceived severe internal injuries and
that any further labor would take him|
to his grave. .&4. 35' :
One afternoon when Silas had wan
dered down to the bridge over the
river. for the first time in four years.
some hilarious young men seized him
and threw him over the railing. He
did not resist 1t would have been too
much like work. 1t was expected. Of
course, that soon after striking the
water the lazy man would set his legs
and arms in motion and help himself
ashore He did nothing of the sort.
He simply permitted himself to sink
slowly and easily to the bottom. and
he lay there until those who had flung
him in helped him out. ~
Again, one winters evening Silas
was seized at his own gate and car
r1ed mile away and flung into q
snowdrift and told to lie there and
freeze or make bis way homeward.
There was some slight doubt ais to
which course he would adopt. but it
was soon settled. He snugg1ed down
In q drift, and there he was found five
hours later by the conscience stricken
men who had left him. He had been
frost bitten, but he had saved his rep
utation.
A dry goods drummer visiting the
village heard of the case and recon-
mended cure and offered to admins
ter 1t himself. At midnight figure
with horns and hoofs and tail. sup
posed to be good imitation of our old
friend down below. opened the unlock
ed door of the White cottage. and ST.
las and his wife were awakened to
find the intruder in their bedroom.
Mrs. White screamed out in terror.
Silas took long look and asked what
was wanted.
II want your was the answer in an
awful voice.
"What fur?"
Il want you to come with me to the
bottomless pitv'
''Then you'll have to carry me-" re-
piled the champion as he turned over
toward the wall.
It was now realized that nothing
could be done with such a man, and
for years Silas was left to enjoy his
laziness in peace. It was the general
opinion that he would be too lazy to
draw his last breath when the time
came and that his accomplishing wife
would have to do it for him. There
was to come q change. however. One
day after the wife had placed "a chair
for him under an apple tree and left
him to smoke and sleep she noticed q
thunderstorm creeping up In the west.
It was her duty to watch things and
bring Silas in before the storm broke,
but she suddenly decided to make an
experiment. She, would leave him
where he was and see If he would
seek shelter rather than get wet. 1t
wasn't a bit like her to do this, and
she never could make out why the
thought came to her that day.
The black cloud grew larger, and the
0Tr,lnA
flashed. Silas heard things and woke
up. He saw the. coming storm: and he
saw his wife in the back door. He
waited for her, but she did not come.
Lightning did, however. There. were
twenty barns and houses and trees
around for it to strike, but it ignored
all Of them and struck Silas White: It
seemed to scatter him over half an
acre Of ground. It tore off his; clothes
and pulled off his boots. It burned off
his whiskers and bleached his eye
brows. He was gathered up as q man
dead as doornail. but at the end Of
two hours he suddenly sat up: Silas
was little bewildered. but stflI in the
ring.
1aere were Qan q dozen men In the
house when the champion came. to him
self. They were expecting to hear him
ask what had happened
when he jumped of the bed and began
driving them out. In five minutes
be had cleared the house Of mourners.
Then. in spite of the fearful protests 9
of his wife. he seized the az and cut
more frewood than he had lin six
years; before. When he dropped the
* at last it was to pick up hammer
and nails and begin patching up the
hog holes in the fence. Before night
he had weeded the garden and put
new hinge on the gate.
People came to ask Silas how he felt
when struck by the thunderbolt, andi
he answered at the top Of his voice
and rolled out the words so fast that
ne could hardly be understood. Hell
couldn't bear to be still minute. r
That thunderbolt had changed SlasE
White from = cha mniOn Inv man FIJI