The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-20
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Uncle Dicks -Free" Ride.


burdened with the huge clothes hamp-
er, to us.
Glare t'goodness, chil'un' she said
presently, with shake of her head,
'dey ain't no room. Dis III wagoa of
mine amt no pigger'n a minute an
how Ise gwine t'pack dem clos an
two sich bumptious chil'un as yo'alll
on 1T is presactly what can't see no
head no tail of. Some udder, time,
chil'un. when I amt loaded down wifi
desc heah clos yo old Aunt DnahI
gwine take yo' all TO- sho' nuf ride
Maybe it'll be come mex, Tuesday
huh. how yo' LAX thatr
And with kindly smile the old
woman started on her way, dragging
her wagon along behind her.
The mean old thing--l began
Brother Dick.
But Dick I interrupted. 'shel
can't take us--you see now there's
barely room on the wagon for her
basket of clothes. She isn't mean atl
all! Aunt Dinah is the best and kind
est and
Humph! You watch mel shouted
Brother Dick.
And with that he jumped to his feet
and was off up the street before n
could so much as catch my breath.
much less even wonder what he in
tended to do. But soon found out.
For presently. saw him stop run-|
ming as he came near the little wagon|
and walk along beside it on tip-toe.
Then, all of a sudden, he hoped onI
II. seized the basket by its handle and|
lifted 1t of to the ground-but re-
mained on the wagon himself!
1T was all done so quickly--and|
besides, you must remem Der, old Aunt
DinSh was as deaf as a post--that|
she didn't even turn her head, butt
kept straight on.
He turned and waved his hand toI
me and then sat down on the wagon.
could see him laughing and-well.
to be honest---I couldn't help laughing|
little bit myself. But, the next mo-
ment, remembered the basket ell
clothes resting right In the middle oil
the sidewalk--those moe, freshly-iron-
ed clothes that old Aunt Dinah had|
worked so hard over to make spotless,
Why, somebody, another bad boy likeI
Brother Dick, for instance, might comeI
along and upset them; and then how
badly the poor old woman would feeli
80 I Jumped to my feet and ranI
after them. calling out a. I ran Dick /
Dick! Aunt Dinah, Aunt Dinahl' Butt
Diok merely waved his hand at me /
and laughed while Aunt Dinah
couldn't hear me.
Presently came up to the basket /
and was In a quandary. What should
I do2 If / ran after Aunt Dinah to
tell her what Brother Dick had done, |
then something might be done to the
clothes. And II 1 stayed to guard the /
basket then--thsn--the poor old soul
might pull that horrid Brother Dick oil
mine long. long distance up the
street andi-but just then something
happened that decided the question
for me.
Aunt Dinah came to q stop and
turned into the gateway to one of the
houses--yes. indeed to our house! And
as she turned to guide her little wagon
through 1t she saw Brother Dick. II
poor old woman jumped as thoug h
something had hit her and she let out
an awful yell
Brother Dick hoped OF the
wagon, nimble as you please, jump
ed over the fence and ran toward the
house laughing as though his sides
would split. could hear him yelling,
Free ride, Aunt Dinah! Free ride!
Just then Mamma came out of tho
front door. l saw her stop Dick and
talk to him; and Aunt Dinah ran up to
them with her arms threshing about
like windmills in her excitement and
anger.
"Then Mamma took Brother Dick
by the arm and the three of them
came to the front gate and looked
down the street. OF course, Mamma
espied me Immediately and, still holdl
ing Dick by the arm and with Aunt
Dinah trudging along pulling her lit
tie wagon behind her, they came to-
ward me.
And then, Dorothy, what do you
think happened? What do you thinl.
Mamma made Dick do? Why,
she made him pick up the basket OF
clothes, put it on the wagon, take hold +
of the rope and pull the wagon up
to the gate and clear up the walk and
around the house to our kitchen steps.
Now, don't you think that was ex<n1
actly what Brother Dick deserved Z
Suppose poor old Aunt Dinah's bask szt,
had toppled over and all the clothes
she had so carefully washed and IRON
ed been soiled?"