TELLING THE BOYS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3722, 20 June 1883, Page 4

TELLING THE BOYS.

When you get two or three old follows of sixty togother, they are fond of telling storios about the pranks they pluyed in their youthful days and laughing proudly over their misdeeds. But this is not always a wife tiling to do. Old Judge Bees indulged in this recreation the other night, in the presence of his son, aged fourteen.

The old man told a quantity of tricks he had played upon his father, and chuckled gleefully over them. It roused young Bees , ambition ; and the next night, when the judge went home, he had an awful time of it. There was a pail of water suspended over the front door that tipped as he opened the door and deluged him. He was both surprised and annoyed at that, and walked into the entry with oaths upon his lips, and immediately his feet caught a cord tied across the hall from the banisters to the hat-rack, and it tripped him up and pulled tho hat-rack over on top of him. He was skinucd in several places, and by the time he disentangled himself was awful mad. He started up stairs, and part way up, a cord stretched at the right height caught him suddenly under the chin and threw him backwards down the stairs. Then ho started to crawl up stairs, and part way up discovered a rope lying on the stairs and coming from the top. He pulled it and hurled a barrel down upon himself that bounced him down stairs again. He was nearly delirious with rage as he rose to his feet that time, and utterly unable to understand the cause of all these contrivances bciug in his way. Once more he essayed to go up, and that time succeeded. On reaching the head of the stairs, he thought he heard a snicker, and investigation showed his son peeping from his chamber and laughing. On being taxed by the Judge with fixing the traps, the boy owned up. " What in the name of Heaven have I done that made you doit!'" yelled the Judge aghast at the boy's wickednoss and coolness. " Why, I heard you say you played these pranks on your father." " Yes, and he licked me like blazes for it, just as I'll lick you," roared the infuriated Judge. "You didn't say anything about being licked when you told the stories," cried tho now frightened boy. This was a strong argument, but the Judge wasn't in a frame of mind to appreciate it. The boy's yells were heard in the next ward, and he has resolved, as soon as his raw spots get well, to run away to some place where they'll tell him the whole facts of a case. And the Judge thinks he has learned to be careful what he says before that boy.—Carl Prestzel's Weekly.