“You’re the man I’ve been lookin’ for,” replied public order. “You come along with me.”
And Mr. Blosberg went along, and the Police Judge fined him $11.95, and when Mr. Blosberg got home he found that a cow had got into his yard during his absence and stepped on that precious sod five times, and put her foot clear through it every time, so that it looked like a patch of moss rolled up in a wad, more than a sod. And then Mr. Blosberg fell on his knees and raised his hands to heaven, and registered a vow that he would never plant another sod if this whole fertile world turned into a Sahara for want of his aid.
THE MISFORTUNES OF LITTLE IKE TEMPLIN
In the midst of his supper one day it occurred to little Ike to resort to the well for a drink of water. In time his mammy grew tired of stopping her work whenever he grew thirsty to hand him down a gourd from the pail which rested on the shelf beyond his reach. Finally she said to him: “Boy, what ails you anyhow? G’long out doors an’ try to be some use to somebody, stid of eatin’ up an’ drinkin’ up ev’yt’ing Mis’s got on her plantash’n.”
Little Ike, thus driven out, stood for a moment by the door and looked at the well, which was a few rods distant. But he turned his back upon it instantly, as if it were too painful to be thus reminded of the source of his most recent disappointment, and began walking in the opposite direction. When he had reached a spot on the line with the end of the kitchen, he filed to the left and again to the left when he had reached the rear side; and pursuing this line until he had gone some distance beyond the well, turned again and came to the latter. Stepping upon a hewn log which lay there to enable young drawers of water to manage the bucket, he was pleased to find this utensil as it was resting upon the ledge, half full of water. Conscious that the time was short, he clambered up to the edge, got upon all fours, grabbed with one hand the rim of the bucket, and with the other hand the well-rope, and, first taking an anxious glance toward the kitchen and a fond one toward the contents of the bucket, plunged in his head. He had hardly taken a few sips when the call of his mother at its accustomed pitch sounded from the kitchen.
And here I find myself under the painful necessity of recording a most terrible scene. I suppose it will never be known precisely how it happened, although no one, as well as I remember, ever suspected little Ike of a deliberate intention to commit the awful crime of suicide. It may have been that he had not known the use of his legs long enough for the present extreme need, and that his knees may have given a tilt to the bucket. At all events down they went together to the bottom, a distance of thirty feet.
The mother, who had seen him at the moment when the descent began, ran, half shrieking to the well, where she was joined by Mrs. Templin a moment after.
“Oh, Mis’s, Mis’s, my po’ ophing chile have fell in de well and broke his naik, and drown hese’f on top o’ that, an’ he my precious baby—an’ de las’ one I got!”
Mrs. Templin said: “I’m sorry for you, Judy. But maybe he has been mercifully saved from drowning. Lean over and look down as I turn the windlass.”
After a few turns, she knew by the feeling that the bucket had risen to the surface of the water, which was some four feet deep.