Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-05-18
RECKLESS SPORT.
Rock Rolling Feats of Mark
Twain In His Boyhood Days.

Writing on Mark Twain" N Har-
per's Magazine. Albert Bigelow Paine
recounts some of the scrapeS. of the
youthful Sam Clemens. Sam was a
recognized ringleader among his play
mates. and one Of the pranks they
played nearly had a fatal termination.
One Of their Sunday pastimes was
TO climb Holidays hill and roll down
big stones to frighten the people who
were driving TO church. Holidays
hill above the road was steep. A stone.
leaping down and bound across the
road with the deadly swiFtness OF a
twelve inch shell. The boys would get
a stone poised, then wait until they
saw team approaching and. calcu-
lating the distance, would give it
start. Dropping down behind the bush
es, they would watch the dramatic eff
feet upon the churchgoers as the great
missile shot across the road few
yards before them.
This was Homeric sport, but they
carried 1t too far. Stones that had
habit Of getting loose so numerously
on Sundays and so rarely on other
days invited suspicion, and the pat
terollers'-river patrol, a kind Of police
Of those days-were put on the watch.
So the boys found other diversions I'M
til the patterollers did not watch any
more. Then they planned grand
coup that should eclipse anything be-
fore attempted in the stone rolling
line.
"A rock about the size Of an omnibus
was lying up there in a good position
10 go downhill- once started. They de-
cided 1t would be a glorious thing to
see that great bowlder go smashing
down a hundred yards or so in front
of some unSuspecting and peaceful
minded churchgoer. Quarrymen were
getting out rock not far away and left
their picks and shovels over Sundays.
The boys borrowed these and went to
work to UNDERMINE the big stone. 1t
was a heavier job than they had count
ed on, but they worked faithfully Sun
day after Sunday. If their parents
had wanted them TO work like that
they would have thought they were be
ing killed.
Finally one Sunday while they were
digging it suddenly got loose and start
ed down. They were not quite ready
for it. Nobody was coming but an old
colored man in a cart, so it was going
to be wasted. 1t was not quite vast.
ed, however. They had planned for a
| thrilling result, and there was thrill
enough while it lasted. In the first
! place. the stone nearly caught VIII
/ Bowen when il started. John Briggs
had Just that moment quit digging
| and handed VIII the pick. Will was
about to step into the excavation when
1 Sam Clemens. who was already there
/ leaped out with a yell:
/ Look out, boys; she's coming"
"She came. The huge stone kept &c
the ground at first. then, gathering g
wild momentum, it went bounding into
the air About halfway down the hill
it struck a tree several inches thicb
and cut it clean off. This turned Its
course a little, and the negro in the
cart, who heard the noise, saw II come
crashing in his direction and made &
wild effort to whip up his horse. II
was also headed toward a cooper shoI
across the road.
The boys watched 1t with growing
interest. 1t made longer leaps witt
every bound, and whenever it strucl
the fragments and dust would fly
They were certain it would demolisl
the negro and destroy the cooper shop
The shop was empty, it being Sunday
but the rest of the catastrophe would
invite close investigation and results
1t was making mighty leaps now, anC
the negro had managed to get direct!
in its path. They stood holding thei
breath, their mouths open
Then suddenly-they could hardl!
believe their eyes-the bowlder strucl
a projection a distance above the roat
and, with a mighty bound, sailed clea
over the negro and his mule and land
ed in the soft dirt beyond, only frag
ment striking the shop. damaging bu
not wrecking it. Half buried in tn
ground, that bowlder lay there 70
nearly forty years. Then it was blast
ed for milling purposes. 1t was the las
rock the boys ever rolled down. The.
began to suspect that the sport was no
altogether safe.
''Limelight and the center Of tn
stage was a passion Of Sam Clemens
bOyhOod. love of the spectacular tina
never wholly died. 1t seems almost
pity that in those old faroff, barefOo
days he could not have looked dow
the years TO a time when, with tn
world at his feet. venerable Oxfor