The Washington herald., 1915-01-31

more InunueISlOEIIlS' anu nlcDDc We VIII
skassly hey' sought our virtuous couches
this night before a thunderbolt as biz
as a bar'l will go drivin' through her
and leave nuthin' but heap OF splin-
ters to mark the spot where your EN-
porium of education once reared its proud
roof to the blue vaults OF heaven. !
said $40 to. the town board today, but
in order to show my interest in the
that my hand is ever stretched forth to
uphold the prestige Of a nation of free
men. III make the price $SS.''
Hes made a pint. gentlemen-he'E q
whacks on the stove and looks around.
Yes, sir, when he talks about our school
house rearin' it's proud roof to the blue
vaults of heaven he's made pint, and
I'm more favorable to the lightnin' rod
than was. l think this crowd would
like to hear from Enos Williams
I'm with Silas Lapham, says Enos
as he shets up his jackknife and gifts
sartin things dodge, or bust. They want
ed to insure the meetin' house twenty
four years ago, but my advice was to
let her dodge. She's thar yit. I've got
barn thirty years old, and she's never
had a lightnin' rod or been insured-jest
had to dodge or bust all these years
and she's thar yit. Seventeen years ago,
when ! built my house, I put a bell on
the front door. Nobody has rung that
bell to this day. 1t would be the same
if we put a lightnin' rod on the school
house-you wouldn't see a thunderstorm
around here fur the next fifteen years.
I'm all right on the emporium of educa-
ton bizness, and can see that thar
schoolhouss rearin' it's proud roof to
the blue vaults of heaven as plain as II
it wasn't o'clock at night, but 1 don't
see no call to pay out sSS. Let her dodge
or pUst!'
"Thar'd a pint thar! Enos-thar's a
pint" says the deacon as he hits a
cracker bar1 with his cane. Yes. sir,
col In, fhrnrsNv oil
dodgin'. When all the COWS around here
was hevin' the lump-jaw, 4 feller offered
to protect mine aS'in it fur s.. l said d
let her take her chances, and she come
through all right. I observe Moses For
bush among the audience, and, as Moses
built the fence around the schoolhouse,
msbbe he's got sunthin' to say"
II amt ag'in lightnin' rods" says
EN- fur what they are. 1t pears to me,
however. tnat we'd better begin at the
bottom instead of the roof. Thar's about
twenty hogs nestin' under the school
house. and tnsr's about twenty holes in
she floor. | sOrter like the idea of a
new floor and drivin' the hogs out. One
icca Sorter balances the toth-r, and |
cont want to cast my vote either way.
'Ycu haven't made a pint says the
deacon, but no!.oiy expects you to.
take it, howe 'er that you % in fun an
emporium of education, bein' you got the
sob buildin.. the fence and have seven
Yes. I think I do replied Moses. I've
allus felt that il was my duty to uphold
the Magma Charta of liberty, and when II
comes to boostin' the wheels of progress
and civilization I'm good to lift a ton.
1t was then suggested that the lightnin'
rod man might want to say sunthin
more. and he went at 1t and made a
reg'lar Fourth Of July Grafton. He pic
tured George Washington. John Han
cock, Thomas Jefferson and a half a
dozen more goin' to school to learn how
to spell such words as liberty free
dom" and ''bulwarks" He pictured them
the want of rods, and he had tears in
Joab Warmers eyes in less'n five min
its. Then he pictured the happy chill
dren of Jericho crowded into the school
house on a summers day. Among them
was future lawyers, doctors, editors,
statesmen and poets. They was drinkin'
in deep drafts OF education when a black
cloud appeared over Jim Taylor's barn,
mint later a thunderbolt shot out and
struck the scholhOuse, and thar was a
tragedy to Convulse the world. The
town had saved $38 on a lightnin' rod.
but whar' was the schooIhouse, the
schooI-ma'am am and forty-four scholars.
Some was shoutin' and some was wipin'
their eyes when the man sot down, and
after Deacon Spooner had declared it
the strongest pint he ever heard he made
ready to put the question TO a vote. Jest
then in comes Lish Billings, and the
deacon turns to him and says:
'Lish. We are heVin' a meetin' about
that lightnin' rod on the schoolhouse.
AS you painted the buildin' mebbe you'd
like to say sunthin'. Are you fur it OF
ag'in it,
Neither one" answers Lish after
awhile.
Are you standin' neutral?"
Not exactly
Then, how do you make it out?'
Why, the burned old buildin' fell down
about an hour ago of its own self, and
don't reckon thar's any call to waste any
breath about the matterT'
OLD PAP PINKHAM, Postmaster.