The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 6, 1898, Page 31

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 189w. 31 BOY St GIRLS PAGE- _ EDITED BY DAVID-HWALKER: PETER AND HIS ELECTION CARDS course it is all right to get all that children average rage therm alking about d oy to see that the people were not run down by bicyclists on the on dewalk, two hundred feet long, which the town boasted; that the milk should be pure; that there should be no germs on the molas candy and icecream; that the rates for horses and carriages to let should be satisfactory and such as should induce immigration from the frost-bitten East; ct, that there should be enough regulations and reg- ulators to furnish honorary jobs for enough persons to ke a brave ap- pearance by the number of their names upon Slowville’s first issue of election cards. Peter Nally, being only 11 years old, was not at the town meeting, but his father was and told him all about it. Hardly had Mr. y stopped talk- ing when little F yly beckoned to his or Josephine to follow around the house to a big tree they frequently met to p. A great idea had suddenl ind Jo- un- ual in his expres d to follow him. I told h at Peter we want to keep all these of- mily- f them, e 1o quietly nd you ever - you will be ; ¢ promised secrecy. “What good will it do?” she asked. “Good!” ejaculated Peter- with theac- cent o word which showed his dis- gust t osephine should not see all his gre > all at once), “Do? Why, don’t you like candy and buggy rides and bi e runs and doesn't ma like fine bonnets and ice cream? And don’t you want to have us all bosses' of something? Bah! a girl can never see a thing first off. When we are all the inspectors we can get all the candy ar cream and' buggy says that her s a policeman, I tell you that ice free, just as Susie Gree sister’s husband, who does in San Fral would be grea! “Wouldn’t that be like Wegging?” asked Josephine timidly, “Begging nothing—perkysites of of- fice, the policeman told Susie, T'll bet that Susie’s father thinks that he will be elected to do all the inspecting and that he will be the Poch-Bah of this town, as Uncle Jim says. But he will not—no, nitty, nit.” “Well,” asked Josephine, who did not see how this was to be brought about, not knowing much about elections or co. e t that when there is an both par say that the time country has at last arrived hey are the ones to do the me to lose,” answered “Get ma to let you go co to visit Cousin Nellie e will do that easy, be- e has offered to pay to San er 'you will come. t to me and say nothing come out right.” a conspirator when 1 mitted to make the 1d her consclous guilt made her flushed that her mother saw something was the matter and that that you are going to e, for yvou look as if on, your face ¢ h a feve ine was permitted to n Nellle. She was act- ructions and she pre- mother to let her take in the house to carry t ._“Like as not,” said Cousin Nellie will have a lot of ngs to send to us and it will be well r Josie to have room in the valise to 2 them.” Nellie's husband is a San o printer and has a large es- t with lot of men working Francisc tabliskh ore Josephine started on her journey to Slowville, Cousin -, the h nd of Cousin Nellie, e her a large package, with instruc. not to open it, but to give it to s thing about it. out her instructions “The scheme is going to be working fine. ‘We are J fm S PUZZLE—GUESS WHAT IS IN THE BARREL. and pa, and you and ma, and oh, it be great I tell you Election day arrived and proved that Peter had guessed the ambition of Squire Green out. The voting was done at two places. At both there were reg- ular election cards on which was the name of the Squire, who appeared to be running for all the offices. Election day was a holiday and all the school chil- dren were at the polls ready to see what election cards they could get. No one had any except Squire Green—or at least none were visible excepting those that he showed. He gave the cards out proudly—they had his picture on them —until they were all gone. This hap- pened early in the morning. The news soon spread through these cards, that the Squire had “bolted the ticket” and that he wanted to fill all the offices himself, There was much indignation among the friends of all the young men who had hoped to be the newly elected will officials. They held a meeting and cl d the door. From some place of concealment Peter crawled out and began to hand to each of the young men an election card which made them all laugh. This was how it read: Read this and hand it back to | Peter after the election, for he is | making a collection of election Eoi | For Inspector of Candy and Icecream—Peter Nally. | For Inspector of Dolls and | Toys—Josephine Nally. | Millinery ~ Inspector — Mrs. [ Nally. | Inspector of everything else— I Peter Nally’s Father. " Vote for us all—Peter Nally. This was something so entirely new that it took with the young men and when they went into the booths and came out to talg to their friends it was a foregone conclusion that Squire Green was a beaten man and that hig scheme had failed. When the ballots were counted that night the vote of the town was found to be unanimous for Peter Nally's ticket with the ex- ception of one ballot which was cast er smiled gaily and time that they were elected sure—me for Squire Green. As the Squire had been seen to vote there was no doubt that he had voted for himself. There was some que: n whether Peter Nally, Josephine Nally and Mrs. Nally had been legally elected; but as there were no salaries for the positions into which they had been voted and as the whole town laughed at the shrewd- ness of Peter—who insisted upon giving full credit to Josephine for the ability she had shown in holding h tongue and keeping her secret—the Nally ticket was duly declared to have been elected. Squire Green was so chagrined that he had nothing to say. There was not as much inspecting to do as Peter had expected, for the people of Slowville were well behaved; neither was there a chance for him and his family to live on the fat of the land, as the phrase goes, without paying anything for any- thing. But the people of the town gave a grand picnic in honor of Peter and he and Josephine had so much candy, cake and ice cream to eat. and ate so much, that they were both sick for a week. The Congressman from that district freely predicts that Peter will be a great politician and is even will- ing to say that he thinks that ‘“‘Peter has a right smart chance to be Presi- dent of the United States some day if he keeps on as smart as he has started.” Josephine and Josephine's father and mother think that he is a great bc if not a great man, and his father says that “the boy is father of the man,” which means that the boy will often show by his actions early in 11”9 what sort of a man he is going to he. Since the election Peter has traded off the Nally family election cards for all sorts of things that he has wanted— a coaster, a top, some marbles, a foot- ball—and he has enough left to get him a jackknife and a soldier cap, besides enough “traders” to gather in all of Squire Green’s election cards. D. H. W. THE BIRTHDAY BOX OF CANDY APPY birthday,” sald papa, as pretty little Del Moore tripped into the dining-room on the morning of her twelfth birth- day. The family, who were al- at the table, greeted her effus- ivel for she was the youngest child and a pet. With a bright nod that jn- cluded “the entire company Del slipped into her place, eying delightedly the tempting pile of presents at her plate. Every one of them had to be opened be- fore she would touch any breakfast, consequently the morning meal was greatly prolonged. “You had better leave the unopened ones until after breakfast,” suggested mamma, as Del leaned back in her chair with a sigh of satisfaction, after look- ing through nearly all. “*No, no, this Is the very last one, and I MUST see what it is,” replied the lit- tle girl, adding, as she caught sight of a smile on her father’s face, “from papa, I know.” As the wrapper came off her face fell. It was only a box of candy! “Don’t you like it?"” asked papa, with a twinkle in his eye. ““Why, it is nothing but cand: re- plied Del, for papa always gave his children something in the shape of jew- elry on their birthdays. It was a sad disappeintment! She had expected something so much handsomer. “Well, well, don’t cry, little girl. Eat your candy and content yourself with your other presents,” said papa, cheer- ily, amused at the disconsolate look on his little daughter’s face. “I think it’s a shame! You always give the others something nice. 3 got a ring, and Helen a bracelet for their birthdays. I don’t think it's fair and I don’t want the old candies. I can get all I want of them every da cried Del, bursting into tears. Papa and the rest of the family looked grave over this show of temper, but said nothing, so Del continued: “I had expected something really pretty from you, papa. Mary,” to the little maid-of-all-work, who stood be- hind Mrs. Moore's chair, “you can take this candy to your little brothers and sisters. I don’t want it.” “Sure, you wouldn’t be givin’ that to me?” said Mary, eying the pretty box lovingly. “Certainly. I don’t want any old candy for my birthday,” replied the little lady. “Del,” said papa, sternly, “this is a plece of folly. But if you repent of it don’t blame me.” “Repent of giving candy away? I guess not,” said Del, and nothing more was sald on the subject for several days, during which time Del carried herself with an injured air and scarcely spoke to her father. On the third morn- ing, as the family were about to seat themselves at the table, Mary came in, saying: “Here, Miss Del, is something I found HE clustering roses, rich and sweet, Threw down their petals at his feet In sign of homage; but one thorn His little sunburned hands have torn. in the box of candy you gave me the other day. We was eatin’ of the candy over to my house last night and I found this in the bottom of the hox. Your papa must 'ave meant it for your btirth- day,” said the maid, holding out to Del a beautiful little gold watch. “What a beauty!” exclaimed the little girl, snatching it up. ‘“You did give me something pretty after all, you dear old papa. You put it there for a surprise, didn’t you? Thank you ever so much. 1t is lovely!” “I did mean it to surprise you,” said papa, gravely, “but when you gave up the box of candy you gave up the watch. Mary should be rewarded for gerl- honesty. So give her the watch, el “Oh, papa!” “Oh, Mr. Moore!" “You are too much spoiled, Del. You have needed a lesson for a long while,” sald papa; and Mary was forced, much against_her will, to take the watch, while Del resolved, way down in her heart, never to give away another present. But when Christmas time came around papa relented and, among numerous other things, Del received a far handsomer watch than the one she had lost “From papa.” THE CLEVER COLT PATSY BY EVA SANDERSON. SAN FELIPE, ATSY is a small light brown colt, about six months old. Perhaps you would like to know how we got her. If so, I will tell you. ‘Well, one day when I got home from school I found my sister Laura in a state of great excitement. We had a neighbor, Mr. Dunne by name, and one of his mares died, leaving a colt not three weeks old. Mr. Dunne brought the colt down to Laura in the morning and told her that he would make her a present of it, pro- vided she would take good care of it and feed it regularly every day. Laura promised, and Mr. Dunne rode away. Laura kept her promise faithfully, and when Mr. Dunne again came to visit us ‘the coit was prancing about quite gayly. Papa told us that when the colt was about three years old if we sold her we would get at least $50 for her, but Laura declared she would never sell her pet. One day when mamma went to the schoolhouse to see the teacher Patsy followed her to the school yard, into it and up to the steps. Of course, all the children wished to go out and see Patsy, and, it being re- cess time, the teacher let them. They had been playing with her a very short time, when she suddenly <N B Wy T el % £f darted through the crowd, making a path through it. Much more could be written about Patsy, but I think that this is enough for once. S MANNERS OF THE GOOFS. BY GELLETT BURGESS, (From St. Nicholas.) The' Goops they lfck their fingers, And the Goops they lick their knives; They spill their broth on the table-cloth; Onh, they lead untidy lives. The Goops they talk while eating, And loud and fast they chew. §0 that is why I am glad that I Am pot a Goop. Are you? ELSIE FRASER FOUND HER STORY & & By MADGE CUNNINGHAM, o o OAKLAND. LSIE Fraser had broken her wheel again. I don’t know how many times she had broken it before, but before there had al- ways been ready money to re- pair it with. This time it would cost $10 to mend it and the money was not forthcoming. 7 Hisie had earned her wheel herself. and now she determined to earn enough money to mend it. She was sure she could do it, but the problem was how. Ten dollars is a good deal to earn when you have to think first how to earn it. She pondered on the subject for some weeks and at last deecided to write a story. There always seem to be topics in plenty when you are reading short stor- ies, but some way when you try to write one the topics all fly away. Elsie tried very hard to thipk of ome. At last she began to write. It seemed very interesting to her as she wrote, but when she read what she had writ- ten it was not satisfactory at all Then she tried another subject and made the story longer, but it proved too tedious. In this way she wrote sev- eral stories, but with each she was dis- satisfied and at last became discour- aged. / One day, soon after Elsie had given up story writing, Dick Fraser, her brother, was missing from home at the usual time after school. He had al- ways been prompt and this was very puzzling. He had never even hinted at running away. Mrs. Fraser, thinking he would come home before dark, wait- ed until it was too late to do anything. Supper time came and went and no H, Bee, you must forgot,” he said, While sunshine crowned his curly head, “When you came singing with your wings To say the roses, too, have stings.”. Dick appeared. Bedtime, still no Dick. Bad news always flies like wildfire, and all the neighbors soon knew of Dick’s disappearance and began to drop in to_show their sympathy. Mr. Fraser did not come home until the last boat left the city and did not arrive until after 1 o’clock. When he reached home ever—-thing was in con- fusion. Mrs. Fraser in hysterics, the bubiy erying, and Elsie tired and wor- ried. The baby stopped crying when she saw her father and Elsie was sent to bed. Mr. Fraser went to the police station, where he found that another boy, Roy Peterson, had also been missed that afternoon and upon inves- tigating that he was one of Dick’s schoolmates. There were no accidents THE-: LITTLE BUMPKINS SAIL FOR CALIFORNIA IN A WI\RSi‘lli> OF THEIR OWN MAKE WH‘CH I_S.MOVED BY COW AND DONKEY FORCE. to any boys recorded so he felt sure they were safe, as both boys were old enough to take care of themselves. After this reassurance he went home and went to bed. At 6 he awoke and went to tell his employer that he would be absent from work that day. Then he went home and got his breakfast. Mrs. Fraser, tired out with her night's watch, showed signs of giving out and Elsie had to do most of the work. Mr. Fra- ser told them that his employer had sald that if nothing was missing the boys would soon reappear. “Leave 'em ayone an’ dey’ll come home, waggin' der tails behine ’em,” lisped the baby, but this wise saying did not reassure any one in thc least that they would. When the hunt began there were dozens of clews. They sprang up in every direction from this, that and the next person—all perfectiy probable, but only a few proved of any value. One boy said that Dick had told him he was going to sea; another that he had seen Dick and Roy lo.ding provisions on to a wagon. All hat day and part of the next night the fathers of the two boys searched in old bharns, among the hills, along the water front—in fact any- where it was possible for them to go. They hunted in almost every place but the right cne. Another night passed fruitlessly. In the morning an old Chinese workman came to the Frasers to shingle the barn. He was very fond of Dick. Mrs. Fraser always spoke to him in ‘pidgin English,” which he used. “Toy,” she sald to him, ‘‘what you think? My boy gone away?” A puzzled look came into his face and a long drawn “awe!" escaped him. “When he go?’ he asked. “He go Thursday, Toy,” Fraser. Toy put on one of his comical stares. Then he sald, “He go Thursday? Thursday, Friday,” counting on his fingers. “Saturday, play. Sunday he come back.” TS e L e & It was after school on Thursday. Dick Fraser was standing on a cor- ner feeling very much at odds with the world in general. He had been kept after school and wasn’t used to it. It took up such a lot of time from play when that happened. He had come out with Roy Peterson, who had the reputation of being the worst boy in the school yard. “Dick,” sald Roy, “I want to go some place.” “Where do you want to go?” said Dick. “I'm going to Stockton to visit my grandfather on his ranch. Want to come, too? We'll have te hurry up if we catch the boat.” Now Dick had no idea how far Stock- ton was and thought he would be at home by evening, and as he had never been there he thought he would like to go. So the two boys started. They caught the quarter past 4 narrow gauge train from Oakland to San Fran- cisco and thence took the steamer to Stockton. B Everything combined to deceive Dick, who had traveled very little, and it was not until nightfall that he began to have secret misgivings as to_the cor- rectness of his calculations. For sup- per the cook gave the boys some sago pudding, which Dick remarked ‘“tasted like indiarubber,” and he thought with regret of his mother’s nice dinners at home and wished he hadn’t come. That night the boys had very little sleep and toward morning the steamer struck a fog bank and ran into the mud several times. By the time they reached Stockton the day was dawning and they were quite unfit for the long walk to the ranch between Lodi and that town. However, they started. After they had walked about a mile Dick said, “Roy, I'm going home on the first boat that leaves here.” “S'posen I won't let you said Roy. “You haven’t got any money.” “No, but T'll get some man to trust me and I'll telephone right back to my father,” said Dick. Now Roy was not nearly as bad a boy as he was made out to be, and he had begun to think that perhaps his mother was worrying about him, so he said: “All right, we'll go back. Per- haps it is too long, anyway.” When they reached Stockton they found that the next boat did not leave until evening, so they had to amuse themselves as best they could. All that day they walked the streets, pick- ing up cigar wrappers, of which both were making a collection, and doing anything they could to occupy their time. That night the boys slept on the cotton bales in the lower deck, and when they awoke they were ig the har- bor of San Francisco once more. ‘When Toy saw Dick coming he called out to Mrs. Fraser at the top of his voice, “He come, he come,” and when Dick came into the back yard he said to him, “You fader got whip dis long inside fer you,” stretching as far as he could reach with his arms. ‘When Dick went in‘~ the house he gave his mother a regular boy’s bear hug and said, “Anyway, I didn’'t run away, and I'm so glad to get back.” When he had related the story of his adventures, Elsie said, “It's the very thing for my story.” “Yes.” said Dick, “that’s one reason 1 went. I thought perhaps I could find something for you to write about.” And Elsie wrote her story and to-day is riding her wheel back and forth to school, and what is more, 1t looks better than it ever did before. said Mrs,