July 1. brite and fair. today is the first day of July, and we had my fish fride for brekfast.

July 2. brite and fair. i bougt 5 bunches of snapcrackers and 2 bunches of canon crackers and sum slow mach and put them in a box in my room. tomorow is the nite before fourth. Pewt is going to have a pistol and Beany a canon. father he says if he hears of me fooling with a gun he will lick me and send me to bed for a week. ennyway he dident say ennything about a pistol or a canon.

July 3. gosh i was scart today. this morning i went up to my room to look at my snap crackers. i got the box on the floor and was counting them when i looked out of the window. i saw old Miss Hartnett hanging out sum close on the line, i thougt i cood make her gump and i wanted to try jest one canon cracker to see if they was good ones. well i lit one and pluged it down behind her, and jest as she was reaching up with her mouth full of close pins it went of bang, and she hollered love of God and went rite over backwards. i thougt i shood die and jest then one went of bang rite in the room and then they all begun to go of bang bang bang and i grabed the box up and pluged it out of the window and mother came up jest hipering and the room was full of smoke and i was stamping out the burning paper. well when i got it out she was prety mad with me and made me clean the room and wash the floor and windows. ferst i went out and picked up my snapcrackers. they were all rite but all the canon crackers but 2 had went of. Mother she asked me how they got afire and i said i was fooling with them and they got on fire and i had to plug them out of the window. then she said that was what fritened Miss Hartnett so and i said was she fritened and she said she was so fritened that she fell over backwards and i said is that so. mother dont know i did it on purpose whitch is prety good luck for me, so she only made me keep my snapcrackers in the yard. so i put them in a hole in the apple tree. gosh, you aught to hear Miss Hartnett tell about it.

July 7, 186- brite and fair. i have been in bed 3 days. on the fourth i got bloan up with Pewts canon. i had fired all my snapcrackers but 2 bunches whitch i had saved for nite, so me and Pewt we was fixing the canon, ferst we wood put in sum powder and then we wood put in sum wet paper for a wod and then we wood put in sum grass and then put in the ramrod and pound it down with a rock. then we wood put a fuze of a snap cracker in the tuch hole and lite it and put for the other side of the street and it wood make an auful bang and tern 2 or 3 sumersets. Well we had lots of fun and bimeby i was poaring out sum powder out of the powder horn and all of a suddin they was a flash of litening and the next i knew i was in bed and father and mother and Cele and Keene and docter Perry and aunt Sarah and aunt Clark and Georgie was in the room, and i said what is the matter and mother began to laff and then to cry and Docter Perry he said you had better take her out and let her lie down, but mother she said she wood be all rite and docter he said you needent wurry Missis Shute, you coodent kill this boy with brik. well my eyes smarted and i felt like the room was spinning round but it dident hurt enny. well that nite i coodent go to the band concert but they pushed my bed up to the window and i cood hear it prety good. the next day i had sum buly gelly and oranges and Cele and Keene read to me and in the afternoon Beany came in to see me. Beany he burnt his hand on the fourth and Pewt he burnt of one eyebrow and so we all had a prety good fourth. Yesterday Boog and Puzzy came down and fit for me until mother came up. i am all rite now and tomorow i can go in swiming. it was the babys berthday today. he was just 1 year old. he is a auful fat little baby, when i was sick mother wood let him sit on the bed.

July 8. brite and fair. i went in swimming today. the water was jest as warm as if it came out of the kittle. next monday i am going bull froging with Cawcaw Harding.

July 9. brite and fair, nothing today but church.

July 10. me and Cawcaw had a prety good time today. we cougt 3 dozen bull frogs legs. we got sum old busters. it is auful funny to catch them. they will bite a bare hook, so we swing the hook by them and they gump for it and then they kick and almost tern rong side out trying to get of of the hook. then we grab them by the legs and whak their heads over the side of the bote and their inside comes out and sumtimes lots of hard water snales comes ratling out and sumtimes they has fishes and sumtimes other bull frogs or stripers. then we cut of there legs. me and Cawcaw always kill them ferst. sum fellers cut of there legs ferst, that is prety cruil i think. Cawcaw he thinks so two.

July 11. brite and fair. today i went in swiming up to sandy bottum. Whack and Boog and Puzzy were there and got to pluging green apples. Whack got behind a tree and jest as he peeked out Boog pluged a hard one and took Whack rite in the mouth. then Whack got mad and said he cood lick Boog and Puzzy together, so Boog and Puzzy piched in and had a good fite and punched time out of Whack. While i was waching them fite, sumbody tide gnots in my shert sleavs so tite that i coodent get them out so i had to go home without my shert on. it was prety lucky i had my jaket on.

July 12. Today i went up to Whacks and we et sum green currents with shugar on them and then et sum green apples and then we went in swimming down to sandy bottum. i dont feel very well tonite, i have got a bely ake.

July 13. i have been sick all day, mother made me take a big spoon full of caster oil.