n
reading about the comet, which is visible at four o'clock in the
morning, and I heard Pa tell the hired girl to wake him and Ma up when
she got up to set the pancakes and go to early mass so they could, see
the comet. The hired girl is a Cathlick, and she don't make no fuss
about it, but she has got more good, square relidgin than a dozen like
Pa. It makes a good deal of difference how relidgin affects different
people, don't it. Now Pa's relidgin makes him wild, and he wants to kick
my pants, and pull my hair, but the hired girl's relidgin makes her want
to hug me, if I am abused, and she puts anarchy on my bruises, and gives
me pie. Pa wouldn't get up at four o'clock in the morning to go to early
mass, unless he could take a fish pole along and some angel worms. The
hired girl prays when no one sees her but God, but Pa wants to get a
church full of sisterin', and pray loud, as though he was an auctioneer
selling tin razors. Say, it beats all what a difference liver medicine
has on two people, too. Now that hickory nut day, when me and my chum
got full of Pa's liver medicine, I felt so good natured I gave my
hickory nuts away to the children, and wanted to give my coat and pants
to a poor tramp, but my chum, who ain't no bigger'n me, got on his ear
and wanted to kick the socks off a little girl who was going home from
school. It's queer, ain't it. Well, about the cornet. When I heard Pa
tell the hired girl to wake him and Ma up, I told her to' wake me up
about half an hour before she waked Pa up, and then I got my chum to
stay with me, and we made a comet to play on Pa, you see my room is
right over Pa's room, and I got two lengths of stove pipe and covered
them all over with phosphorus, so they looked just as bright at as a
comet. Then we got two Roman candles and a big sky rocket, and we were
going to touch off the Roman candles and the sky rocket just as Pa and
Ma got to looking at the comet. I didn't know that a sky rocket would
kick back, did you? Well, you'd a dide to see that comet. We tied a
piece of white rubber garden hose to the stove pipe for a tail and went
to bed, and when the girl woke us up we laid for Pa and Ma. Pretty soon
we heard Pa's window open, and I looked out, and Pa and Ma had their
heads and half their bodies out of the window. They had their night
shirts on and looked just like the pictures of Millerites waiting for
the world to come to an end. Pa looked up and seed the stove pipe and he
sa