[Exeunt omnes, except Clerk of the Winds and Showers.]
Clerk of the Winds and Showers. Curious. That's the fifth time the weather bureau has had it wrong this week. That storm now, in the lake region. It should have passed to the north. There was no word sent to us of "local showers." Think I'll take a dance around the pole myself. (Dances.) It seems to be growing lighter. That shower is not coming here, after all. See, it is passing by to the north. They will come back and have another dance. And they will thank me for my good offices in their behalf. After all, the weather reports are occasionally correct.
[Curtain.]
[TOMMY ON NATURE.]
The blossoms ripple in a sea
About the garden way,
And on that old black apple-tree,
With bluebirds more than gay,
I watch those fragrant flakes of snow
That tremble in the air,
And in the breezes softly blow,
And frolic here and there.
I think that Nature is too slow—
For she that blossom spray
Should turn to apples all aglow,
And do it right away.
R. K. Munkittrick.
[A LITTLE HERO.]
Ruggsy was black, and it would have been a difficult matter to discern him in the dark tunnel of the mine were it not for the little flickering lamp he carried, and his occasional "Go 'long there, Lazybones!" that he addressed to his patient mule. Ruggsy drove a tram-car through the tunnels of a coal mine, and all his little life was wrapped up in the mule, the miners, and the click of their picks. But Ruggsy is a hero, and the way he became one is best told as he describes it:
"You see, boss, it wuz jes like this. De mule an' I wuz er workin' up towards de upper gallery on de steep grade when Ise heerd a rumblin'. Ise knew what dat meant. One of dem trams had slipped de brake, an' wuz er comin' down de grade mighty fast. Tell yer, boss, Ise wuz er scared little nigger. Way down de grade, in de narrow part, der wuz er lot er men widenin' de tunnel, an' Ise knew de car would be on dem befo' dey could get outen de way. Ise hit ol' Lazybones er smash wid de whip, an', he! he! dat wuz funny! He neber felt it dat way befo', yer see. He gib an awmighty kick, an' started pullin' like mad. Yer see, dere wuz a switch 'bout a short bit ahead er me, and er blind sidin' ran offen it. If Ise could get dere befo' de tram got dere, Ise could throw de switch an' send her plum into de wall at de end o' de sidin'. But, boss, I's mos' frightened; dat rumblin' was growin' louder an' louder, and Ise spect dat Ise would be too late. Ise could see it er comin', an' old Lazybones saw it, an' he done gone an' balked, a thing he neber done befo'. Ise jumped off de car an' ran as fast as Ise could to de switch. It wuz stiff, an' Ise tugged at it till de car wuz on me. Ise felt a smash an' Ise knew de switch turned, but somethin' hit me. Say, boss, when Ise come to dey had me up to de surface, an' all de whole crowd er miners wuz up dere too. Dey cheered like dey does 'lection-times. I wuz hurt bad, but Ise been a hero eber sence, an' de foreman gib me a job up here in de engine-room."