Part 1 (1/2)
The Adventures of a Boy Reporter
by Harry Steele Morrison
CHAPTER I
LIVING IN THE COUNTRY--LIFE AT SCHOOL--THE HUT CLUB IS FORMED--THE COMING OF THE CIRCUS
”YES,” said Mrs Dunn to her neighbour, Mrs Sullivan, ”we are expecting great things of Archie, and yet we sometimes hardly knohat to think of the boy He has the s, and there see since determined that he will some day be President, and he expects to enter politics the day he is twenty-one”
”Is that so, indeed,” said Mrs Sullivan ”Well, we can never tell what is going to come of our boys As I says to Dannie to-day, says I, 'Dannie, youof yourself, for you and Jack bees all that I has to depend upon now' But Dannie pays no attention to my entreaties, and somehow it seeettin' worse and worse It's beyond me to control them, anyhow”
”Oh, take heart, Mrs Sullivan,” said Mrs Dunn, ”our boys will all turn out well in the end, and all we can do is to bring them up in the best e know, and trust to them to take care of themselves after they leave home Now Dannie is certainly an industrious lad I hear hi in the back yard, and hethe woodshed the other day He seems made to be a carpenter”
”Yes, I think so myself,” said the Widow Sullivan ”The whole lot of theanised a 'Hut Club' to-day, and never a lick of work have I had out of the on, and when I want a bit of water from the well, or a little wood from the shed, they're never around”
”Yes, but boys will be boys, Mrs Sullivan, and we'd better keep the us soon enough
It seeer; they're all anxious to be off to the city”
”That's true, that's true, Mrs Dunn,” said Mrs Sullivan ”I ed for the rain-water, and whenever you want a bit ofit to you with pleasure
It's a good neighbour you are, Mrs Dunn”
And Mrs Sullivan went slowly around the house and out at the front gate, while good Mrs Dunn returned to her ironing, a few clothes having to be ready for Sunday
While these sters the a hut down near the railway track There were six of theether, the three extra ones, besides Archie Dunn and the Sullivan boys, having come from across the railway to play for the day Two hours before they had soleanised the three ti upon his return to be true to all the rules and regulations of the organisation, which had been written with chalk on the side of the barn The regulations were numerous, but the most important one was that no East Side boys were to be alloithin the club-room when it was built, and that the club's policy should be one of warfare against the East Siders on every occasion when they ainst the East Side was, indeed, responsible for the organisation of the club It was felt necessary to have soether So the club was organised, and now the next thing on the programme was the erection of a hut to serve as a club-house Archie Dunn, who had been elected president, volunteered to get three boards and a haet two boards and soreed to, and when the boys returned fro expeditions it was found that there were an at once Holes were dug in the ground, and some posts planted as supports for the structure, and then the boards were hastily nailed together from post to post In three hours the hut was practically completed, and it remained only to lay a floor until they could hold their firstin the new club-house The floor itself was down by noon, and the club then served a memorable dinner toin the ground outside the door, and a furnace ether with soht sos froed to make several trips to and fro was ready, and the eggs were carefully cooked by Archie, as really a good housekeeper, fro experience in the kitchen with hisin the skillet after the eggs were cooked, and then the feast began The eggs rease, and the potatoes were certainly not done, but the boys all pronounced it the finestthe bitter coffee, and the dirty bread, which had been allowed to fall into the gutter beside the railway track They were eating in their own house, and they had cooked in the open air, ”just like tramps,” Harry Rafe said, and it was little wonder that they enjoyed the novel experience
The only trouble came when the meal was finished No one wanted to wash the dishes, and, finally, it was decided to return them to their respective kitchens just as they were, and to let them be washed with the rest of the dinner dishes at ho an end to Hut Club dinners, for both Mrs Dunn and the Widow Sullivan were determined not to wash any more dirty dishes froed about the hut, and Dan Sullivan brought a lot of things from his sister's playhouse hich to furnish it ht a lot of hay from the loft in his mother's barn, and when a piece of old carpet was spread upon it it made an acceptable couch A piece of old carpet was laid in front of the hut, too, where the boys could sit and watch the trains switching back and forth on the railway, and the tra coffee in cans over by the cattle-pen
Finally, some cattle arrived in the pen to be loaded into cars for the city, and the boys had just decided to go and watch the ine came up the side-track with the most beautiful car they had ever seen, behind it The car was painted in all colours of the rainbow, and in giant letters was printed the ic name of ”The World's Greatest Show”
The boys lost no ti down from the cattle-pen fence, and the car had barely stopped when they were aboard ”Hooray,” shouted Charlie Huffet jobs of passin' bills” And it ith this end in view that they sought the advertising ive them all jobs when the circus caed him with questions of every sort ”Will there be any elephants?” ”Is there goin' to be a parade?” and ”Will there be any trapeze perfored to lock the door to keep them out, and the boys stood about the car until nearly six o'clock, ad as to whether they would be able to work their way into the circus or not, when it finally came Their speculations were interrupted by the appearance on the scene of the Widow Sullivan with a good-sizedthe two Sullivans and Archie Dunn hoiven Mrs Sullivan instructions before she started, so that when Archie complained that he had been whipped by ”that woman next door,” he received no sympathy whatever
And when he went to bed at nine o'clock, he could hardly sleep for thinking of the wonderful things which had happened this day The coreat Hut Club kept hiot up too late for Sunday school the next ly
The next as a hard one at school, and the boys had but little time to devote to the club But after four o'clock in the afternoon they sos which improved their club-house Some very fair chairs were constructed froether to guard against the intrusion of any East Siders or tramps while they were away at school
There was no padlock used, and any one co to enter--until he tried But the boys had fixed a secret cord which, when pulled, shi+fted the bar inside, and every boy orn not to betray the existence of the cord
The day set for the circus caan to be anxious for fear the schools would not close, so that they could attend But the superintendent finally announced that they would; so early on the eventful day the entire club was on the grounds, waiting to get so selected to carry water for the elephant because he was stronger than any of the others But the rest were given so to do, and when the day was over they had all seen the circus, and went to bed happy, to dreareat trip to be taken by the Hut Club on the next Saturday
CHAPTER II