Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-29
The Haunted House
ELI. ! guess the most I was
! ever Afraid was that time I
was in the haunted house

\ with Bony. and ! guess It
waS the most he was ever afraid toe:
Even Hwatty was afraid, guess anu
that shows how bad It was.
was sitting on the edge Of the
+, porch waiting for them. ] was tying
J niece Of salt pork on the bottom OF
my foot to keep from getting the lock-
law. because I had stepped on a rusty
nail, and I thought maybe I had pettes
( scrape some Of the sand out OF the
nail hole before 1 put the pork on, 50
Il would heal quicker, and ] was
scrapinR It out with my barlow knife
that's how happened to be sitting
ON tho edge Of the porch; but Bony's
mother and my inothet were at the
4 other Ind of the porch.
50 theH Bohy's mother saidi
my SON, fhave never struck him with
my hand, nor has his father, We
don't believe in it. we use moral
su That means they Jaw Bony. They
: until he blubbers, the way the teach.
ers Jaw the girls when they get too
s big to paddle, and then Bony's mother
blubbers and makes Bony kiss her
anna nS Ser a oy sna h heep WI % Ten
{ mahdments and not smoke corn SILK
any more. Or whatever 1t is. -.
30 my mother didn't say anything
because when she thinks heed 1t she
s Sals waes s f {ea tm Aay wa Say than b.
would swatty. and so would all the
kidG and so would Bohy, But my
mother didn't say Anything because
sonS mother was Is ga salle aon ana g she
YOU 81 perfectly exasperated you just
have to speak your mind,
So Rony's mother saids 80. "a 49,.
way VI Women say things when they're
being stylish. Eyes, Indeed! the rod
should fule by love. My child shall
never know fear. The normal child
Wen, that's when I almost laughed
out loud. Such smarty. sitting there
and letting on she knew anything
about boys! Say, ! guess sine never 1la"s,
DoS he MSr st have SSys heusf tn sSs
was in heaven, talking about kid an
Boys are always afraid Of some,
thing. Even Swatty used to be afraid
Of that old witch, Mrs. Groogs. we
other boys used to go across the
street from where she lived and
holleri
Lost her needle aud couldn't sew!
Old Mother Groogsy. oh!
lost her nee.dui and couid-dent sew'
Gid Mu-uth-er Gur-rOOg-sy, oh!
-Lss-ost her ne-eedul and ku-uld.dent sew!
and then we'd throw clods at her
shanty until she came out with
stick or broom-mostly 1t was the
cane she used to walk with-and then
we'd all throw clods at her hat once
!. and run. 1t made her pretty mad.
4 But Swatty made her maddest. he
knew q German rhyme he could say
< pretty fast, and he'd say 1t ana she
would get so mad she would shake
all over.
We'll, one day when we were all
sort of teasing her like that. and
Swatty was with us, she came out
with a sword. 1t was a morse SOL 81
big she could hardly lift 1T, but she
could with both hands, and she came
right at us across the street. swing.
inG it around her head. II 1t had
hit US it would haze aSst vs she
I came out she would have the sword,
but we weren't afraid of her when we
were together. 1t was when one OF
us alone had to go anywhere near
4 her shanty. We wouldn't 90 1t. Wed
We'll, she was one Of the things we
were afraid of, but the new street got
her away from there. The new street
went right through where her shanty
was. SO they tore the shanty down.
and after that we weren't afraid of
her any more, because she was gone.
5 So this day-it was Saturday. was
sitting on the porch fixing my foot
when Swatty came over, like he said
ne would. Bony was with him, bat he
4 waited in the alley because he knew
his mother was at my house. got
around the corner Of the house with
out my mother seeing / was limping
4 much, so she didn't call me back, and
/ when we got to the alley Rony was
there all right. with a shovel he had
borrowed out Of their coal bin while
his mother wasn't homD. 1t was to go
ahead and make another room in on
cave with. ! could walk pretty good,
but ] had to walk on the toe end of
one of my feet to keep the heel off
the ground because the nailhole was
in the palm of my foot. We got to
our cave all right.
Our cave was good one; 1t was the
best one ] ever saw anybody make. 1t
was in the clay bank at the side of
SQuaw creek up where there are
no more shanties or geese and
where the creek bed is gravelly IN
stead Of sandy. We found the place
one day~when We were explorers, eX-
ploring the creek to its headwaterS.
only we stopped when we got to this
place and turned pirates and began
digging the cave We didn't do much