September 8, 186—-they is a circus coming to town next Friday. it was going to be in Portsmouth but there was another circus got the the circus grounds ferst and so they are coming to Exeter. me and Pewt and Beany are going to get a gob poasting bills. the bill poaster was in town today with a red and blue and gold cart with 2 calico horses and put up the big bills. he only had 2 big ones and dident have enny others and cant get them until Wensday nite and he wants me and Pewt and Beany to put them up in the nite so that when the peeple get up in the morning they can see them the ferst thing. the way he hapened to get us is becaus Beanys father and Pewts father is painters and paper hangers and so they went to them and they wodent stay up all nite to do it and then he asted if they was enny boys to do it for a dollar a peace and a ticket and so we got the gob. we cant tell ennyone jest what we have got to do but it is bully. he told us that we was to put the pictuers up in the rite places to make a show and atract the attension of the peeple. where they cood see them the best. so we are going to do it. he says the secrit of poasting bills is to get them in the rite places. he give us a list of the pictures. these are them. the hippotymus the behemuth of hoaly rit. the boar constricter whitch can crush and swalow a hole dear or oxx at one meal. the hieener that by stelth repairs to the graive yards at nite and digs up the bodys of the ded and devours them. Jo Jo the dog face man the ofspring of a babboon and a aborrygine, the most repullsive haff human being in the wirld. the stork which brings blessings to the householes in the shape of babies. the cheater or hunting lepard. the spider munkey, and the tapir and the geraft. Pewt has got the list so peraps i havent rote them all rite. we are going to meat and deside where to poast them up as soon as Pewt gets them. peraps tomorrow.
Sept. 9, 186—-rany today and cold as time. i tell you it ranes and blows. Aunt Sarah says may be it is the equinoxious storm. that usually comes on the 22th. i hoap it wont rane Wensday nite. we cant poast up bills in a rane storm and if we dont poast up them bills we dont get no dollar and no ticket and what will Beany do then? Beany is in a tite place. if he cant get that dollar he has got to get that present back from Lizzie Tole. if she wont give it back then Beany may have to go to jale and he wont never forgive her. if she has to give it back she will be mad with Beany forever and ever. i almost hoap it will rane. no i dont eether. it will be two tuf on Beany. what ever Beany has did to me i like him and i hoap it wont rane and that Beany will get his dollar. i cant be mutch fairer than that can i?
this afternoon we went up in the barn on the hay, me and Pewt and Beany and talked over where we are going to poat up the bills nex Wensday nite tomorrow. it raned so that Pewt dident dass to bring over the bills. they are in his shop all roled up in a role as big as my leg and tide tite. so we looked at our list and we are going to put the picture of the cheeter on decon Aspinwalls house. he is the bigest cheeter we know and everybody says so.
the stork we are going to put on Mrs. Clarisser Dorsons front door. Pewt says he heard his mother say that the dorsons xpect a baby pretty soon. so we all agreed that wood be the place to put it.
we all got jawing about where we shood put the picture of the elefant. Beany thougt it had augt to go on Horris Cobbs front door. Pewt thougt it had augt to go on old mister Gechels store and i thougt it had augt to go on Fatty Frogs house. Horris Cobb is the fattest man in town but he aint tall. odd mister Gechel is feerful tall, almost ten feet i gess but he aint verry big as Fatty Fogg is lots taller than Horris and 3 times as big round as old mister Gechel. so we decided to put the elefant on Fatty Foggs house and the Giraft on Gechels house.
the hieener we are going to put on the berrying ground gait rite under where it says we are all passing away. you know the hieener digs up people and devours them and Beany says that will go well with the sine. that was a good one for Beany. i bet that circus man will say we are prety smart felers.
the howling munkey we are going to put on the Methydist parsonage. the reverent Josiar Higgins has got white whiskers on his throte jest like the howling munkeys and i bet he can howl as loud sundays. so that is the rite place for that picture. i never gnew befoar how mutch beter it is to have things did rite.
we are going to put the picture of the tapir on my uncle Gilman's house. Pewt thougt it had augt to be put on Ikey Blums house only Ikey aint got any house and his shop is not on enny street. Ikey has a old plug horse and colects bones and rags and iron. he has the longest nose i ever see. it goes way down over his mouth. i dont see how he can eat. my uncle Gilman has got the next longest nose. his nose is a good deal biger than Ikeys but it aint so long. but uncle Gilman is lucky becaus he has got a house to put the picture on. he can blow his nose so it sounds jest like a cornet. not so good as Bruce Briggam can play the cornet but prety good.
i bet he will be pleesed that he beat Ikey and Ikey will be mad, but nobody can have evrything in this wirld.
the picture of the boar constricter we are going to put on the front gait of old decon Eberneaser Petigrew. he goes to all the chirch supers and eats moar than enny man there. one time Charlie Folsom the resterant man whitch makes clam chowder wanted to see how mutch old Eben cood eat and he invited him in and made a hoal wash boiler full of chowder. Charlie sed he put in a peck of clams and 2 galons of milk and a lot of potatoes and onyiuns and he invited old decon Petigrew in and he et and et and et and et. Charlie begun to get scat for feer he wood bust. bimeby he stoped eating becaus he coodent hold enny moar. he had et all but about 4 quats. Charlie dident sleep enny that nite he wurrid so about decon. he thougt sure he wood die befoar morning. so he got up erly the nex morning and come down town. when he went by Ebens house he looked up to see if there was enny craip or a reath on the door. there wasent so he gnew he hadent dide but he gessed he was prety sick. well what do you think when he got to his resterant there stood old Eben all rite wateing for him and he told Charlie that if he dident want the rest of that chowder he wood take it. so Charlie he give it to him and he says he must be jest like a boar constricter.
father has always told me to do evry thing rite that i attempt to do. he tells me that all the time. i gess he will find that i can do things rite as well as the nex one. tonite when we come out of the barn it had stoped raning and the sun come out i hoap it will be good wether tomorrow and nex day two. Pewt is going to make 2 buckets of paist. me and Beany are to get the flour for it and Pewt makes it. he knows how better than we do. he and Beany fernish the brushes to put on the paist. i fernish a lantirn if it is two dark.
September 10, 186—-brite and fair and jest bully wether. i got up late today and i am glad of it becaus i have a hard days wirk tonite, father told me this morning that i must distinkly understand that there aint going to be no fooling tonite but jest wirk. i prommised we woodent do nothing but wirk and put the bills in the best places so as to pleese evrybody. that is what the circus man told us not to do enny damige and not to get ennyone mad but to put the bills where they will attrack the most atension. and that is why he is to pay us so mutch money and give us a ticket apeace to the show.
after breckfast i split up enuf wood for today and luged in 2 pales of water and went over to Pewts. Beany was there and we opened the role of pictures and they were old lunkers. gosh the howling munkeys looked jest like the reverent Josier Higgins and the cheeter looked kind of slanty eyd and meen like Decon Aspinwall. the boar constricter was swalowing a live cow hoal. i bet peeple will laff. and the tapir honest he looked kind of like my uncle Gilman.
well we are going to go ferst over the river to uncle Gilmans and then to old mister Gechel and then to Pettigrews and then to Clarisser Dorsons and then to Decon Aspinwalls and then to the reverent Josier Higgins and so on. Pewt thinks it will taik 2 hours to do it good so they cant be toar down if we done it with tacs ennybody whitch dident like it cood yank it off eesy but if we paist it on with a little gum arab in it, it will have to be scrope off with a gnife. so Pewt says and i gess he knows, we carried up 2 paper bags of flour and Pewt made 2 buckits of paist. we paisted a picture of Flora Temple the fastest trotting horse in the wirld on a mahoginy buro that Pewts father is polishing for Doctor Goram Potters grandfather and i bet it will taik a weak to get it off. so i gess Pewts paist is good paist. we are going to meat at Beanys at haff past 12 oh clock. father is going to wake me at 12 oh clock. i hoap he wont forget to wake up. ennyway it wont make enny difference for i shant go to sleep. i bet we will have a good time.
Beany says it is all up with him if he dont get that dollar. he says he will be the ferst of his family to go to jale. that is what a feller gets for being in debt. Beany had augt to have wated. but i supose when a feller gets going with a girl he dont think. Beany is not bad but thinkless. i hoap it will be a lessen to him. he is feerfully wurrid but he needent be for if the wirst comes to wirst i shall sell one of my hens. i havent told him this becaus if he gnew it perhaps he wood spend the dollar for sumthing else for her. but while i have a hen to my naim Beany shall not go to jale. i wood not go to bed at all tonite if father woodent know it but if my lite aint out by 10 oh clock he hollers for me to go to bed lively. so i am going to read Grissly Ike the Scalp Lifter until 10 oh clock and then go to bed and lissen for the clock to strike 12.
September 13, 186—-this is saterday. i almost wish i was ded. i havent been out of my room sence Thirsday xcept to split wood and lug water and feed the sheep and horse and hens. father says one moar sumer like this one will make a gibbering manioc of him. he says there must be sumthing rong with me. he dont know wether he had augt to lick it out of me or send me to the reform school or to a place where they keep idjuts. that is the way he talks to me but when old Decon Aspinwall and the reerent Josier Higgins and Clarisser Dorsens husband and old man Pettigrew sed i had augt to be sent to the reform school he told them to go strait to hell and try it if they thougt they cood. Beanys father has kep Beany in his room and Pewts father has kep Pewt in. the only time i can speak to Beany is after father has went to Boston and Beanys father has went down town we holler across from our chamber winders. we havent seen Pewt for his chamber is on the back of his house. i asted Beany what he was going to do about the dollar and he says he xpected the poliseman to come for him enny time. i told him if the poliseman come to tell him to come over and take the best hen i had. Beany felt better and sed i was a trew frend. he says it is a pity things is as they is but he cant help it. a feller cant help they way he feals sumtimes. peraps i am lucky that Beany has cut me out for if i had cut him out i mite be xpecting to go to jale. if i hadent heard father tell them men to go to hell i wood be afrade of going tojale or the reform school. i dont beleeve reform school or jale is enny wirse then staying in your room when a circus paraid is going by on the nex strete.
i think i will wright about what has hapened tomorrow whitch is sunday. i want to finish reading Grissly Ike the Scalp Lifter. Cele tiptode up to my room and threw it in. Cele always stands up for a feller when he is in truble. probly after the hoal thing has bloan over if it ever does Cele will tell mother she done rong in giving me the novil and will ask to be punished that is jest like Cele.
September 14, 186—-brite and fair. i am in my room wrighting. most everybody has went to chirch xcept mother who never gets time to go and father who is eether over to Pewts fathers shop or over to Beanys fathers barn talking. Beany has got his gob back becaus they found out that Pewt put the overhals and old hat into the organ. he done it to play a trick on Beany but he dident meen to lose him his gob. so it is all rite. i see Beany going to chirch. i cant go. it is tuf to have to stay in your room and not be aloud to go to chirch. that is a prety way to bring up a boy i shood say. it will be lucky for them if i dont grow up a drunkard and a robber or a berglar. some day father will be sorry for what he has did to me.
well it is a long story. last Thursday nite i fell asleep and father waked me up at 12 oh clock. i went to Beanys and found him and we went to Pewts and got the paist and the pictures. i luged one pale and Beany the other. Pewt luged the paper. we had to change hands lots of times and set the pales down. i tell you they was heavy. it was clowdy but as it was moon time it was prety lite. we dident see nobody and it seamed kind of dreery.
we got to uncle Gilmans and paisted the picture of the tapir up rite on the front side of his house. then we went to Gechels house and paisted up the giraft. we had a long handeled brush and i had to stand on Beanys shoulder to reech the girafs head. the picture reeched nearly to the roof. once we thougt we was cougt but it was only a horse kicking in the barn. we dident make enny noise and when we talked we jest wispered. it was almost as mutch fun as hooking water mellons. then we went to old Pettigrews and paisted up the boar constricter. then we went to Fatty Foggs and his dog woodent let us come near the house. we thougt he wood knaw us and Pewt hit him with a rock and he yelped so loud that old Fatty come down in his shirt tale and a little tin lamp but we was hid behine sum boards.
then we went to Clarisser Dorsens but it was all lit up and doctor Perrys horse and chase was there hiched to a poast. we wated and bimeby old man Dorson come out on the run and went down town. bimeby he came back with a old woman and they went into the house so we coodent put the stork picture on her house without being cougt and we put it on Billy Hansoms house. Billy and his wife have jest been married and last weak the fellers give them a serinaid. so we thougt they wood be pleased to be notised. by that time the town clock struck 2. so we had to hurry and them pales was heavy. so we come over the bridge and throug Clifford strete to Coart strete. Pewt he had to go into his house and while he was gone Beany sed it wood be a good goke on Pewt to put Jo Jo the Dog faced man picture on Pewts house because Pewts father has got long wiskers. so we done it and when Pewt come out we told him we had put it on old Hen Dows house and Pewt thougt that was bully.
Then Beany wanted to go in his house to get sum donuts and while he was in Pewt sed it wood be a good thing to put the Spider Monkey picture on Beanys house. Beanys father is kind of thin and wear awful tite britches and a blew coat and dresses elegant and so we done it and when Beany come out with his donuts we set down and et them and he dident notise ennything.
well after we had et the donuts we paisted up the Cheeter picture on Decon Aspinwalls house and the elefant on Horris Cobbs house and the Hineer one on the berrying yard. we tried verry hard to do a good gob there and we gnew it wood maik a fine apearance rite under the sine we are all passing away. then we come home. father let me in and asted me if i done enny damige and i sed no. he asted me where we paisted up the bills and i told him he cood see in the morning when he went to the trane. so i went to bed.
the nex morning mother come up and waked me and told me to dress and come down stairs jest as quick as i cood. she looked xcited. i asted her if ennybody was sick and she sed wirse than that. i cood hear peeple talking loud down stairs and i run down as quick as i cood get my close on and without washing my face or comeing my hair. when i got down there in the setting room i saw Billy and Mrs. Billy Hanson and old Pettigrew and Beanys father and Pewts father and the reverent Josier Higgins and old man Wiggins the trusty of the berrying ground and Decon Aspinwall and Pewt and Beany and father and mother and Aunt Sarah. and they were all piching in xcept father and mother and Aunt Sarah who dident say ennything. Mrs. Billy Hanson sed she had never been so insulted in her life. she sed she had lived a good cristian life and to have sech a insult paisted on her house was more than flesh and blud cood stand and she boohood like a big baby. and Decon Aspinwall sed he had stood all he was going to and this time the coarts wood take it up and settle it onct for all if peeple was to be insulted and defaimed and there rites trampled on and the reverent Josier sed he thougt the sacrid eddifise of whitch he was a unwerthy paster had augt to be safe from infaimus attacks and that he shood ast the coarts to rite him in the publick ey.
and old man Wiggins he sed that the ded wood tirn in there graives if they see what was on the berrying ground gait. and Beanys father sed he wasent going to be called a spider munkey for nothing and Pewts father sed he was going to find out who poasted up that Jo Jo bill befoar he left, if it took the rest of his lifetime. then they all talked together and made a feerful noise. bimeby father sed now you have all had your chance, less find out sumthing about it. so he told them what he gnew about the circus man asking us to poast the bills and Pewts father and Beanys father sed that was so. then father asted me why i done it and i told him we were told to poast the bills in aproprate places to atrack attension and we done it. i sed we was going to put the stork up on Missis Dorsens house but the doctor was there and we coodent and so we put it on Misses Hansons. and then Missis Hanson saled into me like time again then Pewts father sed Pewt sed he dident know ennything about puting the Jo Jo bill on his house and i sed he was in the house then and Beanys father sed Beany sed he dident know about the spider munkey bill and i sed Beany was in the house then and i done it.
then they all sed i was the ring leeder and had led Pewt and Beany into temptasion and old Decon Aspinwall sed it was mity queer that we dident put up ennything on fathers house and the boy was the father of the man and that he wood see that i was sent to the reform school and that father paid heavy damages.
that was the time father got mad and told him to go to hell and old Decon went off to see his lawyer. then father told the others that he wood do all he cood to make it rite and he took me round to all of them to their houses and made me beg their pardon. peeple were scraping the pictures off and washing them with hot water and evrybody was laffing.
Uncle Gilman and Mister Gechel and Horris Cobb all laffed and sed it was a good goke but the others were all feerful mad with me and father and not very mad with Pewt and Beany. that is all rite but the idea of me leading Pewt and Beany into temtasion makes me sick.
well Pewt got a licking and Beany got a licking and i got a licking and we have all got to stay in the house until school begins. but Beany had to go to chirch to keep his gob.
it is prety tuf to stay in a fellers room and to hear a circus band playing and not go jest becaus we tride to do the best we cood. ennyway i am glad i aint going to the reform school. father jest come in with a paper. he sed he had been arested and had to get bale. he sed old Decon Aspinwall had sewed him for 10 thousand dollars for defaiming his caracter. father sed old Decon had to go to Portsmouth for a lawyer, and that Amos Tuck and General Marstin and Judg Stickney and Alvy Wood all come up and sed they wood see him throug without paying a dam cent. father feals prety good tonite. Aunt Sarah says he always does when there is a chane for a fite.
this is the ferst time in my life i ever hoaped school wood begin. ennything is beter than staying in your room.
September 15, 186—-school begun today and i went. i dident supose i ever wood ruther go to school than stay in my room espeshully a school whitch is taugt by old Francis. but they is always sumthing lively taiking place in old Francis school. sumtimes Micky Guold is setting down on tacts or the points of pens whitch has been stuck in his seet so they wont fall over like a bent pin whitch aint mutch good enyway most of the time and hollering bludy merder and geting snached baldheaded for it by old Francis, or Beany or Bug Chadwick is being ferriled with a hard wood ruler with 2 hairs in the pam of there hand to splitt the old ruler into fraggments whitch i have never seen did yet in this life or licked sumwhere else whare nuthing will do enny good xcept a peace of paistboard or the Exeter Newsleter in the set of their britches, or Pop Clark is maid to eat a apple before the hoal school as fast as he can with rot and wirm holes and wirms and the stem and seeds and the coar or Skinny Bruce is being snaiked over 2 seets and put in the woodbox with the cuvver down because Gim Erly whitch sits behine Skinny put a pin in the toe of his shue and reeched over and kicked Tady Finton whitch sits in front of Skinny and old Francis wont believe Skinny but licks him onct for doing it and twict for liing about it whitch he says is twict as wirse as doing it, or Fatty Gilman is down on all foars and howling while old Francis lams him with the haff of the broom stick he stirs the fire with while Fatty is triing hard to crawl throug a chair whitch he cant do enny moar than the cammel cood crawl throug the ey of the needle in the bible.
All of them things is taiking place in old Francis school every day whitch makes it a very intersting place when you are not the feller whitch is doing them things but is setting down and waching them out of the coner of your ey and pertending to studdy hard whitch nobudy can do when sumbuddy is howling terruble and banging agenst seets and you never know when your tern wil come nex.
but it is lots beter than staying in your room and not seing the fellers and coppying there xamples and getting so far behine in your studdies that you are shoar to get licked evry day for a week or 2. there is sum fun in geting licked onct in a while if you have a chance to escaip and it is a grate deel moar fun if sumbuddy else gets licked for sumthing you have did. sumtimes a feller will tel on sumbuddy else and then evry feler whitch can lick him licks him the ferst time they gets the chance. but most of the fellers will take another fellers lickings without a yip. Old Francis lickings is wirse than 2 or 3 of another fellers lickings but aint so bad as 30 or 40 lickings whitch a feller is shoar to get if he tells on anuther feller to say nuthing about the girls running their tungs out at you and calling you tattle tail and stiking their nose up in the air when they goes by you whitch maiks a feller feal prety cheep whitch is sumtimes wirse than a licking.
So on the hoal i had ruther go to school than stay in my room whitch dont make enny diference becaus i have got to go ennyway wether i want to or not.
tonite i had to studdy Colburn arithmatic. it is the wirst book i ever studded. i bet there aint a boy in this wirld whitch doesnt want to paist time out of old Colburn. i had ruther be a merderer if nomuddy gnew it than be a feler whitch rote a arithmatic. Ennyway old Colburn had a key whitch tells jest how to do the xamples and has them all figgered out. teechers is aloud to have the key but the scholers cant have it. Enny time old Francis dont know how to do a xample he looks in his key and lerns how and then a feller whitch dont have a key is snached baldheaded becaus he dont know how to do it. i dont think that is fair. i had 10 xamples to do and i have got them all did. Cele done 4 and Keene 3 and father 3. so i am all rite tomorrow. father give me 2 bats in the ear befoar i undestood one xample. Keene gets mad but she dont dass to bat me. Cele is the best.
September 16, 186—-brite and fair. i havent let my boat for a long time. Pewts' father has got the best boats now. it was prety quite in school today only 9 fellers got licked. five of them hollered to make old Francis stop. Scotty Briggim never hollers and Stubby Gooch and Tady Tilton and Jack Mevlin dont ever holler. Nigger Bell never got but one licking and he hollered louder than enny feller i ever herd Old Francis dont lick him becaus he hollers so loud.
September 17, 186—-brite and fair. i havent had a cent for moar than a weak. it is tuf to be so poar. i have got to rase sum chink sumhow. Beany aint paid me my 40 cents yet.
September 18, 186—-i got licked today in school. jest for nothing. sum one put sum gum in Medo Thirstems seet and he coodent get up to resite and old Francis yanked him up and found the gum and licked me becaus i set jest behine his seet. he sed he had been keeping his ey on me for a long time. it cant be very long becaus school has only been 3 days. today was wensday and there wasent enny school in the afternoon. me and Putter went up river fishing and caught 8 pickeril. prety good for us.
September 19, 186—-brite and fair. nex weak is the county fair and cattle show. i am going. the band is pracktising evry nite and that is the reeson i cant get my lessons. no feller can studdy when a band is playing king John quickstep and red stocking quickstep and romanse from Leeclare and departed days and things like them rite across the strete. so i miss in my lessons and get licked most every day. sum day i am going to play in a band. i shall play a e flat cornet like old Robinson and Bruce Briggim and Rashe Belnap. they played a new peace tonite. i shoodent think men whitch cood play in a band wood ever do ennything else. i never wood.
September 20, 186—-rany as time. i hoap it wont rane next weak when they are having the fare. tonite it raned so hard that the band dident pracktise so i had time to studdy. i coodent do ennything this afternoon but set in Ed Toles barn and see the horses rubed down.
September 21, 186—-brite and fair today. i went to chirch today. After chirch me and father went up to the fair grounds. they have got a lot of sheds bilt and most of the fence is up and the ralings round the track. i bet it will be a good fair.
Peekily Tiltons father plays in the band and 3 uncles. his father plays a b flat tenner horn and his uncle Ed plays a e flat base horn and his uncle George plays an e flat alto horn and his uncle Warrin plays a b flat cornet. Peeliky says he is going to play some day. he doesnt know what he will play but he wil play sumthing. i asted father why he dident play in the band and he sed they was dam fools enuf in the wirld without he being one. i was going to ast him to by me a cornet but i desided i woodent jest yet. i gnew jest what he wood say if i asted him.
father says he dont like band playing but i notise he stays to home the nites the band plays and sets on the steps an lisens and beets time with his foot and sumtimes puts in as good base as Ed Tilton, Peeliky Tiltons uncle can with his base horn and when sumbuddy in the band plays out of tune he gumps up and waulks up and down the piaza and says why dont they hit that feller with a ax. so i know he likes band playing as wel as i do. i wish he played in the band fer then i wood go into the bandroom and hear them. me and Beany tride to go in one nite and we was jest going up stairs when sumbuddy throwed a hoal pale of water on us and we skined out prety lifely. i woodent care if they only wood let us in after they had throwed the water but they hollered get out of here you little devils or we will drownd you. i bet them band fellers can lick enny other band fellers and beat them playing two. i bet our band is as good as enny band in the wirld.
September 22, 186—-i am terible xcited. we are going to have three days vacasion this week while they have the fair and cattle show and i have got a seeson ticket becaus Charles Talor is going to have Nellie to drive the hoal time. he gets the hay and grane and straw for the annimals and has got to be going in and out of the fair grounds al the time and father has let him have Nellie and he give me and father a seeson tickit. so i kin go all the time so long as i split my kinlins and get in my wood and all the pales of water mother wants. Beanys father is going to ride in percession as marchal with a yeller sash on and long yeller gloves on and a stick with red and white and blew ribbons on it and so Beany has got a seeson tickit two and Pewts father is going to put sum golden pollish hens and sum rocky mountain hens in the hen show and so Pewt has got a seeson ticket. Beany has pade me back my forty cents. i tell you there aint many fellers whitch has as good luck as i have got. 3 days vacasion and a season tickit to a fair and cattle show and plenty of money. i dont se what else a feller cood want. tonite i studded as hard as i cood with a band playing 2 or 3 new peaces. Cele helped me with my examples. it wont do for me to miss in my lessons tomorrow or nex day. i gess with Celes help i can hang on for 2 days more after that i dont care so mutch.
September 32, 186—-it looks like rane. i hoap it wil rane today if it ranes this weak. today i saw a man drive throug town in a high wheal gig hiched to a auful long legged horse. the man had on a cap with a long viser and had pullers on his ranes and had 2 pales hung under his gig and set on a lot of blankits and the horse had on a white blanket with red letters on it whitch sed Flying Tiger 2.57 enterd for the free for all. he asted Tommy Tomson the way to the fair grounds and Tommy sed he cood show him and he clim into the gig and drove off. well Tommy he staid to the fair grounds all the forenoon and in the afternon old Francis licked him and made him holler two but Tommy sed it was worth it to stay to the fair grounds haff a day and get out of school for one licking. he sed it dident hurt mutch and he only hollered to make him stop. Tommy says they have bilt a bandstand and a stand for the juges and pens for the pigs and hens and cattle and resterants and pop corn places and evrything else. i wood like to go up tonite but father says i cant go up until the ferst day of the fair.
Tommy says there is going to be a snaik charmer and a bull whitch gives milk and a girl whitch has got 2 heads and 4 legs and 4 arms and a sheep with 6 legs. mother says i cant go in to see the girl with 4 legs becaus its impropper to look at a girls legs. i asted father and he sed it is twict as impropper to look at a 4 leged girls legs as a 2 leged one so i cant go in to see that.
Tommy sed they was going to be a troting race for bulls. Charley Treadwill has got a big white and black bull named Nickerbocker whitch he drives in a wagon with a bit in his mouth and he is going to have a race with a bull from Portsmouth. i bet on Charleys bull. i wish it was a bull fite. i wood bet on Charleys bull.
old Wakeup Robinson is going to trot his horsePrince John. they is going to have 2 bands theExeter band and the Newmarket band. i bet theExeter band is the best. i cant hardly wate for tomorrow.
i dident miss in school today and tonite we set out on the steps to hear the band. old wisler Weeks is going to play a fife in the band and old Potsy Dirgin is going to play a fife two.
September 24, 186—-brite and fair and county fair two. that is a goke and a good one two but nobuddy will ever see it but me. gosh i am tired tonite i never had so much fun in my life. we had the best percession i ever see. first come the marchals George Perkins and John Gardner and Beanys father and old Francis and John Gibson all on white horses xcept George Perkins and John Gardner and old Francis whitch was on red horses and Jon Gibson whitch was on a spoted horse and they all looked fine. then come the Exeter band and then a lot of ox teems full of wimen in white with their hides all brushed up with curry combs and their horns all cuvered with ribbons and evergreens in their slats. i tell you when old Giddings and old Wiliam Conner and old Nat Gilman jabbed them with the ox godes they walked along prety lifely. then come the Newmarket band and then the fire ingine and a lot of men with cains and stove pipe hats and then a steam wagon and then Charles Tredwill driving his bull and old wakeup Robinson with his troter and a sope pedler with a humpback horse. it was the best percession i ever see. the Exeter band played 4 times as loud as the Newmarket band. i wish you cood have heard Peeliky Tiltons uncles play you wood have thougt they wood bust their cheeks but they dident. Fatty Walker broak 2 heads on his base drum the ferst day and Len Heirvey broak one in the snair drum. I gnew they wood beat the Newmarket band. tonite father and mother and Cele and Keene and Georgie have went to the haughticulture show in the town hall. they have all sorts of frutes and beens and pees and beets and flowers and gars of frute and perserves and bread and cake and pyes to see whitch has maid the best and gnitting and sowing things and drawings and paintings and bea hives and stufed birds and a stufed wilcat showing her teeth. it is ded so it cant hirt ennybuddy and composisons of school girls and handwriting and lots of things. i wanted to go but father sed i codent go to evrything. i gess i will go to bed. i have got a verry bizy day tomorow. Beany is going to try and get a gob tomorow.
September 25, 186—-brite and fair again. i am prety tired again tonite and am staying to home. father and arnt Sahar and Keene and Cele and Georgie have went to the haughticulchure show this time and me and mother are staying to home. mother is rocking the baby and i am in my room wrighting. today there was a percession this morning and i was in it but only a litle while. i held one end of the base drum but evry time Fatty Walker wood hit it a good belt he wood send me flying round sideways and at the end of the ferst peace i felt jest as if old Francis had shook my livver out. so i give it up. so they got Curley Conner a big feller. Fatty cood bang the drum as hard as he cood lam it but he coodent nock Curley round.
today the Exeter band beat the Newmarket band again. it scart 4 horses and made them run awa and smashed 3 wagons and throwed out 14 people and the Newmarket band only scart one horse and dident throw out enny peeple. i tell you Exeter can beat Newmarket evry time.
Me and Pewt and Beany all got a chance to take a gob. the man that hollers for Julia the snaik charmer offerd us 1 doller apeace if we wood stand up on the platform and let a boar constricter coil around us and then Julia the snaik charmer wood come out and charm the snaiks and save our lifes. you bet we dident take that gob.
Beany got a gob hollering for a peap show of war pictures but his father come riding up and snaiked him out. i give 5 cents of my 40 cents that Beany pade me to get a shock in a lectric machine and when i got hold of the handels i coodent let go. i felt like a crasy boan all over and i danced and hollered till Jerry Carter come up and told the man if he dident stop the machine he wood smash it and smash him two so the man he stopped it and i let go and run. Everybuddy laffed but me and Jerry Carter.
then we went to the track to see the bull race. there was a big black bull hiched into a gig troting up and down the track and they were wating for Charly Tredwill and Nickerbocker. bimeby he come troting down the track and when the red bull see the other he stopd and pawed the ground and bellered and Nickerboker he done the sam and both men begun to lick them but the bulls dident notise it enny more than if a fli stang them and they put their heds down and began to push and butt and hook and roar and they tiped over the gig and the wagon and throwed Charly and the other man out and stepped on Charly Tredwill's head and nocked down the rales and went bang agenst the Juges stand and everybuddy hollered for Charlys bull xcept about haff of them whitch hollered for the other bull but nobuddy dassed to go near them. bimeby the Captain of the Ingine company whitch was going to have a xibition squirt hollered to the fellers to start the breaks and they done it and begun to squert rite on the bulls heads and they coodent stand it and they stoped fiting. they were all tuckered out and there harnasses and wagons was all smashed to kinlin wood. it was beter than enny dog fite i ever see. every buddy sed it was the best thing in the show. i wish they had let them fite it out. i bet Charlys bull wood lick. father sed twict that Charly wasent hirt becaus his head was solid way through. that enny feller whitch wood fool away his time to trane a bull to trot in a race coodent be hirt by ennything stepping on his head. Beany has got a gob as waiter in a resterrent. he got 50 cents yesterday. Pewt got 50 cents in working for a feler whitch has a lot of poasts and a lot of rings. the poasts is all numbered and they is a preasent for every poast. You give 10 cents to toss a ring. if you toss it good and it goes over a poast you get a gold wach or a 12 blaided gnife or a gold headed cain or a sigar or a whip or a doll or a glass pitcher. i tossed it over a poast and got a sigar and i give the sigar to old Barny Casidy and he lit it and took 2 puffs and spit it out and sed it was made of a old horse blanket. tomorrow is the last day of the fair and if i am going to ern enny money i have got to get a gob prety quick. father is going to stay at home tomorow to go to the fair. i have had a auful good time today and seen some good races but i havent had a gob. Pewt and Beany always have the luck.
September 28, 186—-this is a rany sunday. i cant go to chirch becaus my paint has not come off yet. i shood not dass to go to chirch becaus peeple wood laff rite out loud. father says he dont believe it will ever come off. but mother says it will with plenty of greece and soft sope. i am most raw now. i wish father had kiled that man. i never got into so bad a scraip before. father says that he has desided that the reform school or the idjut assilem is the only place for me but mother says i needent wurry about that for that is only his talk but i must be more cairful in the future. i told her i dident meen ennything rong but only wanted to earn a little money and she sed she gnew that but there is sum ways of erning money whitch is open to objecsion and i gess she is rite and this is one of them ways. After a feller has had his skin scrubed with soft sope and bristol brick for two days jest like pollishing a brass door gnocker he wishes he was ded.
Well you see i maid up my mind to get a gob becaus Beany had and Pewt had and i had spent all my money. so the first thing i done when i had did my choars was to put for the fair grounds erly. when i got there i went to the resterrent and asted them if they wanted a waiter. they sed no but they was a feller whitch had a tent nex to Julia the snaik charmer whitch has ben triing to get 2 boys. so i went over there and there was a new tent and a big picture painted on a sheet of the wild men of Bornio whitch was captured after a dredful fite in whitch 6 bludhounds was kiled and 4 men fataly injered for life. they was a picture of soldiers and hunters with guns and bludhounds chasing the 2 wild men and carring off the wounded men and the ded dogs.
when i got there i saw a big man with a big mustash talking with Hiram Mingo a nigger boy. i asted him if he had a gob for me and he looked at me and sed i was prety skinny but perhaps he cood fix me. he asted us into the tent. i woodent go for i was afrade of the wild men of Bornio but he sed the tent was emty. so we went in and he sed he had bad luck. That both his wild men was sick and he had a wife and nine small children, and he had got to earn there bread and the only way to do it was to get sum kind hearted feller like us to be wild men. he sed if we wood do that for him he wood pay us 2 dollars apeace and his nine children and his sick wife and blind mother wood pray for us on her gnees. i was auful sorry for him he looked so sad. he sed he had looked up a lot of feller and talked with a lot and we was the only fellers that was smart enuf to do it. he sed he never was gnew to maik a mistake in a feller. he gnew he cood trust us enny time. so i asted him what we wood have to do and he sed he wood paint us up like wild men and put on sum firs and leperd skins and sum brass rings on our hine legs and a necklace of tiger claws and all we wood have to do was to snarl and say yowk and let out howls, and try to get at peeple. i dident want to black up but Hiram dident care becaus he is a nigger. so is asted him if the black wood ware off and he sed yes and so after a while i sed i wood. well he made me take off all my close and he painted me all over black and he put sum black stuf on my hair and twisted out all the points whitch stuck up, then he wound a leperd skin round me and round Hiram and i had a neck lace of tiger claws and 2 brass rings round my hine legs. then he took sum red paint and he painted sum big scars on us where tigers had toar us. when he showed me in the looking glass how it looked it scart me. i never would have gnew it was me. i was wirse looking than a babboon.
then he learned us how to snarl and yowl and make faces. he sed it was easier for me to make faces than enny feller he had ever gnew and he sed it must come natural to me. He sed i wood scare a gorilla white. then he lerned us how to fite and sed we must snarl and fite when he was out on the platform telling the peeple about us and then we wood rush in and crack a whip and fire a pistol in our faces and stop us.
Well after we had lerned how he put a ox chane on to us and then he went out and begun to holler. he sed ladies and gentlemen for one short day only you are privileged to see the wild men of Bornio, imported at vast expense by arrangements with the king of Bornio and captured after a terific fite after 6 dogs was killed and 4 men fataly ingered for life. they are of small size but like the man munky they have the strength of 7 strong men in their sinews and boans and in there native lair they track and kill the maneeting tiger and the lion with there naked hands. then he pounded his stick twict on the platform and it was a signal to us and we begun to yowl and snarl and stamp and he sed there they are taring each other to bits and he rushed in and hollered and cracked his whip and fired his pistal and we yowled and snarld and peeple begun to rush up and pay 10 cents to come in. when they saw us one woman sed my what dredful looking things and one man sed i have got a 15 years old boy that can lick boath of them munkys. so when he and his boy come near the platform i gumped at him and made a auful face and let out a auful howl and i wish you cood have seen that 15 years old boy hiper acrost that tent and holler. he was scart most to deth and the man two and a woman screached and they had to carry her out. then the man cracked his whip and drove me back snarling and making auful faces and Hiram he let out sum auful yowls and bit his chane and fomed at the mouth with sope and the man told how only last weak he had to put on us a red hot iron to drive us off a hieener whitch had got out of its cage and had atacted us but he was two lait and before he cood drive us from our pray we toar him to bits.
A man asted what we et and he sed live rabits and chickings and sometimes frogs. well peeple kep coming in droves and bimeby i see Beany an Pewt come. Beanys eyes were jest like sorcers. i laid down and snarled a litle and i pertended to be asleep and snarled in my sleep like a dog does. i wanted Beany to come near me and so i kep quite and bimeby Beany and Pewt come close to the platform and i make a gump at them and let out the loudest yowl and maid the feerfullst face i cood.
wel Beany went heels over head and hollered bludy merder and Pewt he div rite out under the bottom of the tent and that is the last i see of them. a lot of people come in whitch i gnew and i scart a lot of them most to deth and old mister Emerson lost his false teeth and dident das to come back after them. i never had so mutch fun in my life. bimeby i see father and Charles Talor come in. when they see us Talor begun to laff and sed thunder George the skinny munky faced one is skinny enuf to be your boy and father laffed and sed did you ever see sutch a looking thing in your life. i wated till they come up and then i gumped to the end of my chane and yowled feerful and toar my hair and stamped my feet and made faces and snarled auful and Hiram done the same. they kep back out of reech and father sed well if them is the kind of things fellers see whitch has the delirim tremens i never shall taik another drink what do you say Talor and they laffed and went out. well we scart peeple all that day and had a grate time. at dinner he closed the tent and give us sumthing to eat and drink and then in the afternoon we done the same thing. we got prety tired of it but we kep on. bimeby father come in again and looked round and asted sum men if they had seen his boy. they sed no and he went away. bimeby he come in agen and stood and looked at us a long time. i was tired and dident yowl so mutch. after awhile he come up near and i made a gump at him and knashed my teeth. he kep back so i coodent tare him whitch was a good thing for him for he wood have broak my back and he sed that is the ferst time i ever see blew eyd nigger and he kept looking. well a lot of peeple come in and the man begun to talk about us and pounded the platform and we had augt to have fit, but we was boath prety sick of it and he cracked his whip clost to Hiram and snached a peace of skin off his back and it hirt Hiram so bad that he forgot he was a wild man of Bornio and had been toar by a tiger and he begun to ball and in a minit evrybuddy was hollering cheet cheet and father jumped over the raling and grabed me and yanked me off that platform and men were hollering kill the cheet and evrybuddy was trying to get at him and codent find him for he had got out sumway. wel father sed you infernal idjut where is your close and i sed in that trunk and he opened the trunk and got out my close and made me put them on and Hiram he put his on and peeple were hollering for there money back for it was a cheet and i sed where is my 2 dollars and father sed what you ned is 2 lickings and that is what you will get when i get you home if i can ever get your hide clean enuf to lick and he got Charles Talor to drive up with Nellie and took me home. When we come out of the tent they was a big crowd whitch holllered and laffed at us and all the fellers hollered Plupy the niger munky and Plupy the wild man of Bornio. it was tuf on me for all Hiram Mingo had to do was to put on his close and hat and he was all rite. well when we got home and went into the house mother was so surprised that she nerly dropped the baby. i gess she wood have but he begun to howl and grab her round the neck and hold his breth and grow black in the face and Franky and Annie howled and held on to her skerts and to aunt Sarahs two and they had to be took out of the room and when mother and aunt Sarah come back they sed what have you got there George and father sed it is your smart son, and mother sed what has he been doing now, and father sed he has been a wild man of Bornio at 10 cents a whack and mother and arnt Sarah sed well of all things in this wirld and then they begun to laff until the teers roled down there cheaks and father sed i know it aint no laffing matter and mother sed i know it aint and then she lafed so it hirt her side. bimeby father sed what are we going to do. i draw the line at bringing up a babboon or a man munky in this family.
So mother and aunt Sarah and father and me went down to the kitchen and got a tub and filled it with warm water and they put me in and then they scrubed me with soft sope and then they took me out and most of the black was on. the water was sum black but they sed they coodent see it was enny blacker than when i took my reglar Saterday bath. then they filled the tub again and scrubed me with soft sope and bristol brick. it about skined me and maid me holler. that took off sum of the black. then they tride seesand and that hirt so they had to stop so they greesed me with lard and wiped it off and father sed i was improving. he sed i looked like a half nigger and he guessed nex week they cood get me to look like a quarune and praps weak after nex like a octerune.
i have got to stay in until i get white again. mother says i am the wirst looking thing she ever see in her life. father is talking about reform school again but i ges i needent wurry. today i was two soar to be scrubed so i was greased and wiped off.
Tomorrow if i am not two soar they are going to try bristol brick and soft soap again. i had my head shaived. father done it with the horse clippers. tomorrow if i am not two soar they are going to try bristol brick and soft sope again i asted father if they cougt that man and he sed no they never wood. it is tuf to end a weak this way. it is a auful xperience for a feller whitch has always tride to do rite.
September 29, 186—-today they almost skined me alive. i feel like a haol pimpel all red and swole up. after they get throug skining me with soft sope and bristol brick and seesand they greece me all over. they are using mutten taller now becaus lard is too xpensive so mother says, and father says it suits me for i am the champeen mutten hed. i ges i am a quadrune now. it taiks me a hoal day to get over being skun so they can skin me again. i asted father why he coodent put me in a tirning laith and tirn me down jest like they maik wheal hubs down to old Gus Browns hub shop. father he sed it looked as if he wood have to and he wood see Gus about it today. ennyway i dont beleeve it wood hirt as mutch as seesand.
September 30, 186—-Beany come in to see me today. he laffed so that i told him if he dident stop i wood give him a bang in the snoot so he stoped. we plade checkers and dominose. he can beet me evry time. Beany says i cant go in swiming enny more for 4 years becaus if i get wet the black comes back. gosh i wunder if that is so. i have been reeding Uncle Toms Cabbin and i dont like it enny moar. i asted mother if what Beany sed was trew and she laffed and sed of coarse it aint in your blud and i sed it wood get in if they wasent prety cairful not to scrub me two hard.
i asted father about it when he come home and he sed he wasent sure. he sed it depended sum on how i behaved. that sumtimes a feller wood tirn black with raige, and if he had been blacked up it mite come back. i told him i wood do the best i cood if i ever got white again. i asted how he suposed i ever was fool enuf to do what i had did and he sed it seamed to be eesier for me to be a fool than for most folks. then he sed i was too anchious for money. he sed it reminded him of a line in a poim whitch was rote by a lattin gentleman naimed Publius virgin. i asted him if he was enny relasion of old John Virgin whitch oaned the trotting horses and he sed no he dident think he cood be. if he was it must be straned prety fine. the line went like this
a cused thirst for gold to what dust thou compel the human mind
i rote it down jest as father sed it. i dont know what it means but i dident dass to tel him that and so i sed yes sir i woodent be surprised if it done jest that.
I wish i cood go to school again. i wood be willing to have old Francis lam me.
i suppose the fellers will all laff and call me munkey face and wild man of Bornio but i woodent cair for that. tomorrow i shall be well enuf to be scrubed again. tonite i am greeced and almost too slipery to lay in bed. i am glad i am not a eal or a hornpout. i feel jest like them only i aint got enny horns.
September 31. brite and fair. i have been scrubed again. i bet they was sum fishooks in that seesand. it felt so. enyway i am a octerune now and most white. mother says one moar greecing will be enuf.
September 32, 186—-the last time i was greeced i had the itch. it wasent as bad as this but i remember it well.
September 33 186—-today i went down town. i have been away a long time but the town looks about the saim. Kelley and Gardners have sole 2 gnifes and Fogg and Fellows have sole sum pipes and a cuppy Olliver Optics magazene and old Luke Langly has sole a gointed comb and a tin horn and wagon but in other respecks things look about the saim. i am glad i wasent away long enuf for the place to chainge. that wood be dreadful. i herd of a man onct whitch was sent to jale for his hoal life. bimby they was a new king in the land and he let out the men whitch was in jale this poar man was so glad to get out that he run 9 miles all the way home but when he got home evrything had chainged. where his house was stood a methydist chapel and where his frends house was they had bilt a pest house for small pocks pashients and where the green house stood they had bilt a glue factory and where the libary stood they was a slauter house. but in spite of all these improovments he did not feal to home and he was verry loansum. so he went back to the king and gnelt down on his gnees and sed nobble and venial monnark send me back to jale for my friends are scatered and my house is gone. so the king whitch was a verry kind harted monnark sent him back to jale where he lived hapily many years on bread and water and sumtimes only water.
so i know jest how he felt when i come down town the ferst time to see if things had chainged. but they havent mutch.
September 34, 186—-well of all the big fools i ever see in my life they aint no September 31 or 32 or 34 and i rote them down. this is October 4. there was a frost last nite. i wanted to go to school this morning but mother sed i had beter wait until Monday and begin fresh. so i done errants and split wood and luged pales of water and raiked leeves this afternoon and me and Potter rew up the river to the rapids. the lily pads was all ded and the leeves of the trees was red and yellow. the blewgays was calling and it semed kind of loansume. it seamed good to row again in a boat. tomorrow i shall go to chirch. i have missed chirch a good deel. i never thougt i cood. i never thougt i cood miss school but i have.
October 5, 186—-i went to chirch today. the minister preeched about our duty to our father and mother. i have been thinking a grate deel laitly about how litle i have amounted to and what a lot of truble i have gave my parents and my frens. when a feller is kep in his room prety near all summer suffering from a awful soar skin diseeze caused by being painted black by a man whitch had augt to have gnew better and scrubed with soft sope and bristol brick and seesand to get off the black and not knowing from day to day and from weak to weak wether he will be a nigger or a white man all the rest of his life i tell you he begins to think over the mean things he has did and resolv to do better if he ever gets well and has the chanct. and when a feller gets well and gets a chanct as i have did he aint mutch of a feler if he brakes his resolvs and hadent augt to get well.
father has always gave me a good edjucasien and i have lerned to read well and to spel acuraitly and the multiplacsion table is rite at the end of my tung and i can wright down enny table without looking in the book. the hardest is 9 but it is jest as easy to me as 1.
9 times 1 is-9 9 times 2 is 18 9 times 3 is 26 9 times 4 is 32 9 times 5 is 40 9 times 6 is 49 9 times 7 is 56 9 times 8 is 68 9 times 9 is 79 9 times 10 is 90
there if eny feller can do enny better than that i shood like to see him. then i can bound New Hampshire and i know all the counties in the state whitch will be of the gratest asistence to me when i go out into the wirld to maik my fortune. i only wish father had a morgige on his home but he hasent. if he had i wood come back sum time to pay it. i asted father one day why he dident have a mortgige and he sed he dident have enny home to morgige but had to hire a house of J. Albert Clark. father sed that enny feller with 40 leven children to suport whitch cood by him a house or a farm was smarter than he was.
so i have desided first to give up Beany and Pewt. it will be tuf to give them up. peeple sumtimes have to strugle hard to give up smoaking and drinking but sumtimes they doesent. Pwets father and Beanys father will be glad beaus they boath says that neither Pewt or Beany ever done a rong thing befoar they were so frendly with me. so i am glad there will be sumone whitch will be glad of it. ennyway i gess they dont know Pewt and Beany so well as i do. i cood tell sum things about them if i was meen enuf. i talked it over with Cele and she thinks if i wood reed the palsams evry day it wood help but i am afrade i coodent do boath. i wunder if pewt and Beany can get along without me. i hoap they will be able to stand it but i woodent be surprised if they coodent without sum suffering.
ennyway they have got to stand it becaus from this time we aint going together enny moar. of coarse i shall speek to them when i meat them and say hi Beany and hi Pewt but they wont be enny moar ringing door bells nites and plugging tomatose and grean apples. that will be hard two because it is jest the time for them things and the cucumbers is brite yeller and full of guice and seeds. if a feller waring a stove pipe hat shood come along the strete when i was near a tomatoe vine or a cucumber bush i am afraide i shood have to let ding at him. i dont beleeve the palsams wood do enny good. there is sum things that no feller can stand. but i am going to do the best i can even if i am like a solitary sandpiper or hork whitch always goes aloan. i am not going to tell the folks jest what i am going to do. they will find out later by my acks. sum fellers talks two mutch. i am not goin to be 1 of that kind. i am going to keep my mouth shet and do rite and no feller can do rite if he goes round with Pewt and Beany and fellers like them. i like them boath better than i like the best scolars in school and the fellers whitch dont never miss in there lessons but a feller has got to do his duty sum times in his life. i am going to bed and try to sleap but i dont beleeve i shall sleap a winck.
October 6, 186—-brite and fair. i went to school today for the ferst time. the fellers was glad to see me. they augt to have been becaus they maid lots of fun of me. they call me the wild man of Bornio and munkey face and scrached themselves and pertended to be awful soar. but i dident cair i was so glad to get back to school and to see the fellers that they cood hav called me ennything. ennyway a feller whitch has been called polelegs and skinny and daddy long legs and yeller legs dont mind a few moar nicnaims. i dident get licked today but ame prety near getting. it seamed like old times to set at my desk and see old Francis shake the fellers up. old Francis aint changed a bit.
tonite i was raiking up leeves when Beany come over. i sed hi Beany and he ses hi Plupy. what are you doing raiking leeves and i sed yes. he sed have you got anuther raik and i sed no. then he sed when you get tired i will raik and i sed aint going to get tired. then he sed if you aint it will be the ferst time. then i sed peraps and i kep on raiking. then he sed i have got a raik to home and i will go over and get it and come back and help you i sed you needent truble yourself. and he sed it is more fun wirking then setting round doing nuthing and i sed that is why i am wirking. then he sed well i will get my raik and i sed if you have got enny raiking to do you can do it in your own yard and Beany he stopd and looked at me sirprised and sed what is eeting of you Plupy and i sed nuthing is eeting of me, and he sed what have i did and i sed nuthing and Beany he sed what maiks you ack so queer and i sed i aint acking queer and he sed you are two and i sed i aint neetner and he sed sumthing is certainly eeting of you and i sed no there aint nothing eeting of me only this is my gob and i am going to do it without enny help. then Beany he sed all rite Plupy if that is the way you are going to ack i bet it is the last time i ever offer to help you and i sed i hoap so and Beany he went off wisling loud without maiking enny tune.
i set out to call him back and maik up with him but i dident. i kep on raiking and looked at Beany out of the corner of my ey but he dident look back and he was waulking stif leged and when Beany waulks that way you mite jest as well give up. he is as obstinite as a mule.
after supper i finished raiking and then split up my kinlins. after i had split them i forgot and started for Beanys but jest as i was going out of my yard i remembered that me and Beany was throug. so i went back and set on the steps. Beany Pewt and Medo Thirston and Nipper and sum of the other fellers was playing club the gool and the gool was in Beanys yard so i coodent go out and play becaus me and Beany was throug. i was crasy to play but i coodent. after dark i studded hard but i coodent lern ennything becaus i cood hear Beany and the other fellers hollering and laffing. i bet Beany done it a perpose. enyway Beany you jest wate till tomorrow and and see what you will get when old Francis finds out you havent studded your leson, and you two Pewt.
October 7, 186—-went to school today. Beany dident speek to me. so i wated till he got his licking for not having his lesson. well you never see sutch luck as Beany has. they was jest 1 xample i hadent done. Cele coodent do it or Keene and father had went down town. so i thougt i woodent be called up on that sum. wel i got called up on that sum and coodent do it and got licked and Beany got called up after i had missed and i thougt it wood be sum fun to see Beany licked. well what do you think Beany he up and done the example rite. i never was so sirprised in my life. then old Francis told me i had augt to be ashaimed of myself. that if i had did as Elbrige, Elbrige is Beany you know, done and staid in and studded insted of romeing the stretes i woodent have missed. i sed yes sir. i wood like to know how Beany done that xample. i saw Pewt today and spoke to him. he acted queer. i wonder if Beany told him.
tonite the fellers plaid again in Beanys yard. they plaid coram. most always they play coram in the school yard where there is moar room but tonite they plaid it in Beanys yard. so i coodent do ennything but set on the steps after i had done my choars. they aint much fun in that. i miss Beany a good deel. it is going to be hard to keep away from him but it is the rite thing to do. it is 2 days that i havent got in enny scraip. if i had been going with Beany and Pewt i wood have got in some scraip befoar this. it is 2 days sence i have had enny fun. but it shall get used to it after a while. i studded hard tonite with Cele and Keene and got all my xamples. Keene says i dont try. it aint enny of her bisiness. she only done two of them and Cele the other 8.
but i notise that the ones whitch does the leest has the most to say. if Keene says mutch more about me i wont let her do enny moar of my xamples. so she had better be cairful what she says. i am going to bed erly for they aint enny of the fellers to talk to.
October 8, 186—-brite and fair. i went to school today. dident miss in my lessons mutch not enuf to get licked. Beany had sum good luck and sum how he did his xample rite. Pewt missed but xplained the reeson so well that he dident even get shook. Pewt is grate fer that. he can ast questions so as to maik old Francis think he knows sumthing about it when he dont know ennything. i wish i cood do that. if i dont know the xample i cant ack as if i did, i am wateing for Beany to get a good licking to pay him for being meen to me nites and having all the fellers play in his yard. i bet i woodent have did that to him.
this afternoon there wasent enny school and i thougt i wood have sum fun. i went down to Ed Toles but he had went to drive a man to North Kamton. Frank Hanes had went sumwhere when i went up to his house. then i went up to the Chadwicks but they and Parson Otis and Fatty Gilman had went sumwhere but nobody gnew where. then i went home and found that Potter Goram and Chick Chickering had come down with there butterfli nets to get me to go and get sum lait buterflise. i tell you i hipered down to Moultons field and they wasent there and then up to the grove and they wasent there. then i went home feeling prety loansum.
well there wasent ennything to do for fun so i split sum wood and then mother asted me if i wood screw sum things up in the kitchen to hang close on. so i got the screw driver and went to wirk. while i was wirking Pewt came over. i was awful glad to see Pewt but i thougt he had acked kind of meen to me in not coming over to see me befoar and so i thougt i would punish him a litle befoar i maid up. so i said hi Pewt and went on with my wirk. Pewt sed what are you doing Plupy and i sed saying my prairs before going to bed. then Pewt sed huh and kept quiet and i went on wirking and wisling as if i was aloan. bimbye Pewt sed if you take a hammer and drive the screw in a little way it will taik hold and i sed sort of scornful is that so and he sed yes that is so and if you want to get that screw in this weak you had better do as i say. i dident say ennything only grunted and kep wirking until it broak the head of the screw off then Pewt begun to laff and said there what did i tell you. let me show you how to do it Plupy. i sed supose you think you can bild a barn. Pewt sed peraps i can and i sed sumone is getting prety smart round here and Pewt said i know a feller whitch aint very smart and i sed well if you dont like what you see round here you know where you can go and Pewt he sed i bet i know where i can go and i am going there two old Plupe and the next tim i come round here again you will know it and i sed no sirre i shant know it for when you come over here again i shall be sumwhere elce.
then Pewt went off hollering
Plupys mad and i am glad and i know what will pleeze him taik a nail and scrach his tale and hang him up and greece him.
jest as loud as he cood holer and then he hollered you are a old seesand munky and a bristol brick wild man of Bornio, and i hollered silver is better than pewter and who hooked Perry Moultons apples and Pewt hollered back who et them and i shet up becaus i was afrade mother mite hear him.
well after Pewt had went i felt wirse than ever becaus i realy was glad to see him and wanted him to stay and have sum fun but sumhow i coodent help being meen to him. it is funny how a feller will do jest what he dont want to do and the more he dont want to the more he will do it.
well after Pewt went off mad and i took a hammer and done jest what he told me and them screws did jest as he sed they wood and i dident have enny truble. i gues i was a darn fool for sassing Pewt when he was doing me a good tirn but he needent have called me them names at leest he needent have called me them mad. you can call a feller naimes good natured and he jest laffs but if you call a feller the saim naims mad then they is a row and the fellers dont speek enny more.
well tonite Pewt and Beany had all the fellers over to Beanys house having a grate time and mister Watson Beanys father come out and plaid with them jest lika a boy and they had a lot of fun and then mister Watson Beanys father went in and dressed up in an old stovepipe hat and pertended he was a drunk man and he wood stager agenst the fense and they wood plug him with roten tomatose and cucumbers and nock his old stovepipe hat off and squash on his close and he wood chase them and tumble down and you never see sutch fun in your life. i tell you i was jest about crasy to go over there but i coodent becaus me and Beany was mad and Pewt two so i had to stay on my steps and watch them. you never see sutch fun in your life. mister Watson Beanys father is the funniest man i ever see he dont never drink or get drunk but he can ack like a drunk man jest so you wood think he was drunk and maik you kill yourself laffing.
well after it grew dark i went in to study but i felt so loansum that i went up stairs and went to bed. mother came up and asted me if i was sick and i sed no only i dident feal verry well and she wanted to give me sum castor oil but i sed i was all rite. so she went down after she had felt of my head and it was cold so she sed i was all rite only a little tired.
Cele sed she wood do my xamples for me and i cood copy them in the morning. it is awful hard to give up your frends becaus they have a bad effect on you. i bet it is harder than to give up licker after a man has been a drunkerd all his life. it dont seam to be hard for Pewt and Beany to give me up. they seam to have more fun than ever befoar. enny way i have got to get used to it. father says you can get used to enything if you taik time enuf.
October 9, 186—-rany today and windy. about a milion leeves blowed down today. tonite we had a fire in the air tite stove and it seamed moar cheerful. Beany and Pewt coodent have the fellers in Beanys yard. i am still wundering how Beany lerned how to do them xamples. it aint like him to know now. i still feal prety blew.
October 10, 186— brite and fair. there was a frost last nite. I dident miss today. neether Pewt or Beany spoke to me. tonite i done my choars and went and set on the steps and wached the fellers playing in Beanys yard. i felt prety bad. father sed what is the matter with you. i sed nothing and he sed you have been acking like a sick cat for a weak why dont you go over and play with the boys and i sed i dont want to. he sed you havent had a fite with Elbridge, Elbridge is Beany you know, and i sed no. then he asted me if i had a fite with Clarence, Clarence is Pewt you know, and i sed no, i havent had enny fie with Pewt, then he went in and set by the table and red the Exeter Newsletter whitch always comes out on Fridays. i went in and went up stairs because we dont have xamples on Saturday only speeking and geogrify.
after i went up stairs i went into the front room. it was warm and the windows was open. father had went out on the front steps and i was setting in the window lissening to the fellers and wishing i was out there with them. bimeby i heard father say to mother Joey what is the matter with Harry laitly. he has been acking nummer than a deef mewt and mother sed i dont know what it is. he has done his choars better than i ever gnew him to do them xcept jest befoar crismas and 4th of July and he eets well but he dont play enny moar and he dont seam like himself enny moar. then father he sed i dont like it. i hoap he isnt going to be a lollypop or a goody good boy. if there is ennything i hait in this wirld it is a miss Nancy sort of boy.
Aunt Sarah she up and sed i gess you needent wurry about any boy of yours being a miss Nancy, George Shute, and father laffed and sed well it dont seam as if i ever cood have a boy like that but you cant be sure. as far as i know there aint enny ministers in my family sence the pilgrim fathers landed on the wild New Ingland shoar. then Aunt Sarah she sed peraps it would have been better if they had been a few and father he sed that may be so but i dout it. then father he sed it aint natural for a boy to set round like a sick hen. either he is thinking up sum deviltry or he is getting to be a lollipop and of the 2 things i ruther it wood be the ferst.
then mother sed i dont quite agree with you George. i dont like a miss Nancy enny moar than you do but i dont beleeve it is nessary for a boy to be thinking up deviltry to be a real boy. then father he sed i gess you was never a boy Joey or you woodent say that. A boy is going to raise tune or he aint a boy and you mite as well put him into skerts to onct. i never gnew a puppy to grow up into a good dog unless he chewed up slippers and spoilt moar things than he was wirth. then mother sed that depends on what you call a good dog. if you meen a dog whitch is all the time fiting that is one thing but if you meen a real good dog that is another thing. then father he sed i woodent give a cent for a dog that cant fite. a god dog that is groan up dont care to fite but will if he has to. and a good man dont cair to but will if he has to. they is a difference between a good boy and a goody good boy. i wood ruther my boy wood git into scraips than not. if he dont i know sumthing is rong with him.
then mother she sed if you like to have him get into scraips why do you get so mad with him and lick him, only mother she sed punnish him, when he gets into scraips and father sed dont you see i cant aprove of his scraips for if i did he wood be in scraips all the time and he wood be if he gnew what i was saying. then father began to laff and to tell what he and Gim Melcher and Bill Yung and Beanys father and Pewts father done when they was boys and he asted if all of them fellers wasent pretty good men and Aunt Sarah sed none of them is mutch to brag of and father laffed and sed that shows you aint a good judge of caracter.
i tell you when i herd what father sed i maid up my mind that i wood maik up with Beany and Pewt and we wood show father and Pewts father and Beanys father that we was jest as lifely as they was when they was boys. then i tell you i felt beter than i had felt for a long while and i am going to bed. to-morrow i will maik up with Pewt and Beany.
October 11, 186—-brite and fair. today i maid up with Pewt and Beany. it wasent near so hard as i thought it wood be. i gess boath of them missed me two but not as mutch as i missed them becaus they had the other fellers. this afternoon we got up a club whitch we call the Terrible 3. i am the president becaus i got it up. Pewt is the secritery becaus he can wright so good and Beany is the tresurer becaus it dont cost ennything to get in and he aint got enny money to taik cair of. the objeck of the club is to do tuf things and not get found out. i aint got time to wright enny moar about it tonite becaus we aint had a reglar meating of the club yet. we are going to have one tomorrow after chirch and wright out a consecration and bi laws. after we have did this things is going to be ifely round here.
October 12, 186—-brite and fair. it is jest raning leeves today. i went to chirch and to sunday school. Beany sed he was going to raise time in chirch so as to lose his gob. he sed a feller whitch was going to be tresurer of the Terible 3 hadent augt to have a chirch gob, but me and Pewt told him he must kep his gob becaus if he wasent going to get caugt when we done tuf things we must be respecktable befoar folks. we told Beany that if he rased time two mutch and a feller hapened to get his windows broak he wood say we fellers done it and then peraps we cood lie out of it and peraps we coodent. so Beany he desided to behaive and to keep his gob, and he done well and only let the wind out of the organ 1 time and that was when he was looking at a rooster fite in old man Elliots yard throug the window, and of coarse when there is a rooster fite or a dog fite or enny kind of a fite a feller has jest got to look at it. the only thing that maid it funier than time was becaus they had got a woman from out of town to sing in the quire and she was singing