A BOB-TAILED FLUSH!"--POLLY'S
RESPONSES--CAN A PARROT GO TO HELL?--THE OLD MAN GETS ANOTHER BLACK
EYE--DUFFY HITS FOR KEEPS!--NOTHING LIKE AN OYSTER FOR A BLACK EYE

PECK'S BAD BOY.

CHAPTER I.

THE BOY WITH A LAME BACK--THE BOY COULDN'T SIT DOWN--A
PRACTICAL JOKE ON THE OLD MAN--A LETTER FROM "DAISY"--
GUARDING THE FOUR CORNERS--THE OLD MAN IS UNUSUALLY
GENEROUS--MA ASKS AWKWARD QUESTIONS--THE BOY TALKED TO WITH
A BED-SLAT--NO ENCOURAGEMENT FOR A BOY!

A young fellow who is pretty smart on general principles, and who is
always in good humor, went into a store the other morning limping and
seemed to be broke up generally. The proprietor asked him if he wouldn't
sit down, and he said he couldn't very well, as his back was lame. He
seemed discouraged, and the proprietor asked him what was the matter.
"Well," says he, as he put his hand on his pistol pocket and groaned,
"There is no encouragement for a boy to have any fun nowadays. If a boy
tries to play an innocent joke he gets kicked all over the house." The
store keeper asked him what had happened to disturb his hilarity. He
said he had played a joke on his father and had been limping ever since.

"You see, I thought the old man was a little spry. You know he is no
spring chicken yourself; and though his eyes are not what they used to
be, yet he can see a pretty girl further than I can. The other day I
wrote a note in a fine hand and addressed it to him, asking him to meet
me on the corner of Wisconsin and Milwaukee streets, at 7:30 on Saturday
evening, and signed the name of 'Daisy' to it. At supper time Pa he was
all shaved up and had his hair plastered over the bald spot, and he got
on some clean cuffs, and said he was going to the Consistory to initiate
some candidates from the country, and he might not be in till late. He
didn't eat much supper, and hurried off with my umbrella. I winked at
Ma but didn't say anything. At 7:30 I went down town and he was standing
there by the post-office corner, in a dark place. I went by him and
said, "Hello, Pa, what are you doing there?" He said he was waiting for
a man. I went down street and pretty soon I went up on the other corner
by Chapman's and he was standing there. You see, he didn't know what
corner "Daisy" was going to be on, and had to cover all four corners.
I saluted him and asked him if he hadn't found his man yet, and he said
no, the man was a little late. It is a mean