May 5. Ed Adams give us a nut and we fixed the wheal. we had a ride tonite. i tell you lady Clara can go. we beat Gim Lovering tonite. he dident know who we was becaus it was two dark but we knowed him. we beat him and then we waited for him to come up and then we beat him agen. we did that 3 times, and Gim he was mad.

May 6. my hens dont lay enny now. i gess i dont give them enuf to eat. it is prety hard to keep a horse and hens two. we dident drive tonite becaus it raned. it was brite and fair yesterday.

May 7. today was sunday and we coodent drive lady Clara. tomorrow nite we are going to lay for old man Churchil with his troter. i bet we can beat him.

May 8. i have missed in my lesons most every day, and so has Fatty and Beany. today i swaped a hen for a buchel of meal for lady Clara. we drove her tonite but we dident find ennyone to race.

May 9. brite and fair. if Beany dont shell out more meal he wont drive lady Clara agen.

May 10. Beany got a peck of meal today at old Si Smiths. he charged it to his father.

May 11. we had a buly ride tonite we raced 4 fellers and beat them.

May 12. brite and fair. tonite we coodent get lady Clara up. we are going to try agen tomorrow and drive her in the day time.

May 13. rany agen. we got lady Clara up this morning. Beany and Fatty pulled in front and i licked behind. this afternoon one of our wheals broak down. Ed Adams give us a nother wheal. it went on all rite only it isent as big as the other wheals and it makes the wagon go one sided a little. we had a good ride today. we have to be pretty careful in tirning around a corner becaus the wagon is one sided.

May 14. today was sunday. father told me if i smelt so of the barn he woodent let me go up to Fattys agen. i bet he wood be mad if he knowed i oned a horse.

May 15. there was a fite in school today. i dont care mutch about fites now. i had ruther race horses. tonite we raced with a big white horse and beat him esy. we all had to pull on the ranes to stop lady Clara.

May 16. brite and fair. Beany is behind 5 feeds and me and Fatty had to make it up. last nite lady Clara lost a shue. so this morning before school we walked every where we drove last nite and Beany found the shue way down to long meter Dows on Hamton road. Beany he said if we wood call it square about the feeds he wood get Gim Elerson to nale on the shue. so we did and Beany got Gim to nale on the shue. Beany he raked up Gims front yard to pay him. Beany is a prety good feller. Fatty had company to his house and we dident go to ride tonite. it was two bad.

May 17. rany as time. we coodent go to ride today. it always ranes jest when a feller wants to do some thing.

May 18. it raned all yesterday and last nite and today. i bet it will rane a week. we are having prety tuf luck.

May 19. at last it has stoped raning. i thaught i never shood wright brite and fair agen. we had a buly ride tonite after we had tide up the bridle with sum rope. lady Clara fell down and we had to unharnes her and get her up. she broak the bridle and skined her gnees and we put on sum wheal greese. Beany was standing up driving when she fell down and it draged him rite over the dasher and on top of lady Clara. tomorow they is going to be a ministers meeting in the upper church and there aint enny school tomorow. so we are going to drive all day. after school we washed the harness and got a load of sawdust at the hub mill, and curred lady Clara. we have got most all the hay we can reech. when we cant reech enny more i dont know where we can get enny more unless Fatty can get sum.

May 21. Brite and fair. i had a feerful day yesterday. i feel so bad i cant hardly wright ennything. but i will try to wright it all down. in the morning me and Beany and Fatty we hiched up lady Clara and drove round town. sum of the fellers holered at us but we dident care. they was lots of ministers in town. they was mostly long tailers with white necktis. so in the afternoon we hiched up agen and drove up to the depot. old woodbridge Odlin was there wating for the 2 oh clock trane. he had a baruch with a driver and his new span of black horses with cliped tails. and he had on his long tailed black coat and a shiny bever hat. well we dident wate for the trane but we drove through Winter street and out to Front street. when we came to Lincoln street old Woodbridge Odlin came along with his baruch filled with old ministers with bever hats and specks and white necktis, and the driver hit the horses and away they went lickity larup. well Beany he was driving and he leened over and hit lady Clara a paist with the whip and she went after them like chane litening, and we all began to yell and the black horses went faster. well they was 2 rods ahead and when we got to Whackers house we was most up to there hind wheel, and when we got to doctor Gorams office we was jest even. the old ministers was bouncing around and holding on to the sides, and old Woodbridge had lost his hat and was standing up yelling sumthing at the driver, and his whiskers were blowing way behind him. it makes me most die to think of him but i dont feel mutch like laffin. well when we got to Elliott street we were ahead of them and then the driver began to pull up his horses becaus all the people was yelling and waving there hats like time. well lady Clara was breething so she sounded like a big sawmill saw, and when we tride to stop her she woodent stop so we all tride together but we coodent pull her in a mite she had her tail sticking rite up in the air and the more we pulled the faster she went, when we went thru the square Fatty holered to run her over string brige and up factory hill so we cood stop her, and we pulled as hard as we cood but when she came to the corner she tirned around into Water street and over went the wagon and we came out jest fluking. well we want hurt mutch and we run after her as fast as we cood. we found pieces of the wagon and harnes all over the street and when we got to the barn she was there all rite. lots of people came to see about it, but when they found that nobody was hurt they went away. they wasent ennything of the harnes left but the bridle and the wagon was everywhere along the street. Well when father came home somebody had told him about it and he made me tell him all about it, where we got her and how we fed her and everything, and when i told him about the hay i thought he was going to lick time out of me he was so mad, and he said he never knowed i cood steal, and i said i only hooked it and he said what is the diference and i said stealing is taking sumthing that you know belongs to sumbody else, and hooking is taking sumthing that belongs to you and sumbody else wont let you have. i suposed everybody knowed that. well he dident lick me, but after super he got mister Watson, Beanys father and we all went over to see lady Clara and what do you think, when we got there she was ded. i gess she had broak something inside of her. i tell you me and Beany felt prety bad and Fatty did when we told him. well then father and mister Watson Beanys father told us to go home and go to bed and so we went. so tonite i herd father telling mother about it and he said he give old Jethrow a dresing down that wood tech him not to cheet a boy agen. he said if Jethrow hadent been a old man he wood have nocked his head of.

May 22. brite and fair. i shal never own a horse agen.

May 23, 186- brite and fair. my hens are laying buly now. i gess they dident have very good cair when me and Beany and Fatty was keeping Lady Clara. i tell you a feller witch keeps a horse cant pay mutch atention to ennything else.

May 24. brite and fair. tonite me and father went down to old man Collins. he wants to sell father his cow. he says she gives 20 quats of milk a day. father says the milk we get of the milk man is all chork and water.

May 25. rany as time. father ofered 30 dolars for old man Collins cow. he wants 35 dolars. she has got auful long horns. old man Collins said she had auful big milk vanes. father said they was varrycose vanes and she want wirth 30 dolars but he wood give it to help out a old man. old man Collins he said if she kep on giving milk the way she was a giving it they wood have to milk her in a tub. then father he said he gessed she give so mutch milk that it want good for ennything and old man Collins he said you cood take the creem up by one corner and lift it out like a old pair of linen britches. they dident trade tonite.

May 26. brite and fair. tonite me and father went down to old man Collins agen. father said he was going to trade for that cow only i must shet up and not say ennything. he said you jest wach me and you will lern sumthing about trading. so i wached him. well we went down and father said well mister Collins how do you feel about trading tonite. and old man Collins he said, i gess you are two late George fer i have sold her to a man in Hamton Falls. and father said what did you get for her and old man Collins he said i told him he cood have her for 35 dolars and he ofered me 33 dolars and 50 cents and i said the first man whitch ofers me 35 dolars gets her, and i gess he will be up tomorow morning. then father he said have you made the trade and old man Collins he said he hadent made enny trade but he had kind of let the man understand he cood have her for 35 dolars. then father he said he wood give 35 dolars and old man Collins he said he dident know about selling her xcept to the Hamton Falls man but if father wood give him 37 dolars he cood give the Hamton Falls man 2 dolars if he came up and was disapointed. so father he give old man Collins 37 dolars and we got a roap and tide it round her horns and led her home. when we got home we tried to get her in the barn, father he went ahead and she folowed him in and all of a suddin she backed out lively and father came out jest fluking, holding on to the roap and taking feerful long stradles. he looked so mad that i dident dass to laff. well father held on like a good feller and bimeby she stoped. then father said so so and held out sum meal in a pail and got her in the barn and tide her to a post. then he give her sum hay and we went in and he told mother she had beter make sum araingments to sell sum milk for we was going to have 20 quats every day. then mother she said if the cow gives milk like my hens lade egs they woodent be mutch milk to sell, and father said you jest wait til morning. then we went down to old Gechels store and father he bougt the bigest milk pail he cood find.

May 27. brite and fair. this morning me and father got up erly and we went out to feed the cow and i piched down the hay and father he set down and begun to milk her, he brougt out the big pail and a little one to use after he had filled the big one. well the ferst thing he did was to aim a streem rite in my eye. then he milked in the pail and it made a funy sound, well he kep milking and bimeby it stoped coming, and he squeazed away as hard as he cood and he coodent get a drop and bimeby he give up and said he gessed it was becaus she was in a new place and was loansum. when we went into the house and straned it thrugh a siv they wasent quite 2 quats. mother she laffed and asked what he had done with the other 8 quats and father he said you wait til tonite. then he et his brekfast and went to boston and i et mine and drove the old cow to pasture. i found a robins nest in a pine tree and took one eg. it is all rite to take one becaus the old bird cant count.

May 28, 186- brite and fair. last nite after super father milked the old cow again. he only got 2 quats and a half. he was prety mad and he said he wood get even with old man Collins sum day. tonite he met old man Collins and he asked father if she milked esy and father said yes and he asked father how mutch she give and father said she give more than he wanted. that want a lie for father dont like milk. i bet father will get even with him sum day. nothing else today but church.

May 29. brite and fair. i have to go to pasture 2 times every day. i like to go in the woods but i dont like to have to go. today i found a nest in the barn with 15 hens egs. i gess mother wont say mutch about my hens now.

May 30. Rany. Beany has gone to Bideford to see Tom Cleves. i hope Tom will come with him when Beany comes home. i went up to Whacker Chadwicks tonite. Beany has been sick he et two mutch pork.

May 31. today it was hot and we had a thunder shower. it raned when i was driving the old cow from pasture and i made her run from old Nat Gordons way home. Sam Dire said she wood give bludy milk, so when father milked her i wached and it want a bit red. so i gess she is all rite.

June 1. brite and fair. today we had a great time at brekfast. father was home becaus sumtimes he gets tired. we had boiled egs for brekfast and mother she boiled the egs i found in the nest. well we set down to the table and father he helped us to egs and bisket and he took up a eg and held it over his glass and hit it a paist with his spoon and it went off jest like a pop pistol and father he said thunder Joey the infernal thing is roten and we all held our nose and ran away from the table and you never smelt such a auful smel. well mother she made me take the egs all out behine the barn and throw them away and i did and when i got there i had sum fun pluging them at J. Albert Clarks big apple tree and i hit it most every time and every time i hit it the eg popped like a pistol. then i went in to brekfast and mother was burning some coffy in a duspan to take away the smel of the roten eg. well while we was eating brekfast J. Albert Clark he came in and said i had beter come out and clean of his apple tree and burn a rag and father made me take a pail of hot water and clean it of. J. Albert needent have been so fusy for it wood have all dride in a little while.

June 2. brite and fair. i wish that old cow was ded. Beany hasent got back yet.

June 3. brite and fair. i am in bed. i aint sick only i havent got enny close to wair. tonite after father had milked the old cow i thougt i wood try it. so i got a tin diper and went out and set down and began to squeaze and she kicked me rite thrugh the barn door and rite into the manure pile. when i got up i was all covered and Aunt Clark was in her back garden and she saw me and asked me if i was hurt and i said i wasent and she said for mersy sakes dont come near me but go round to the pump. well i went round to the pump and mother and Aunt Sarah and Aunt Clark pumped on me and threw pails of water on me and scraped me with peaces of shingle, and when they had got me prety clean mother made me go in the barn and take of my close and then she put me in a tub in the kichen and washed me in warm water and soped my head and then sent me to bed. i have got to wair my best close tomorow and i cant go out of the yard. i wish that old cow was ded. father said it sirved me jest rite.

June 4. Brite and fair. Beany has got back. tonite he came over and told me about the fun he had at Bideford. we was going to ring doorbells tonite but i had to stay in the yard and it was sunday two.

June 5. Brite and fair. today Scotty Brigam let me take his bugle and i lerned to make 2 notes. my mouth was all sweled up and my face aked. it aint so esy as a tin whissle but i can make more noise on it. i gess i shall never get that cornet.

June 6, 186- i have to pay all the money i can ern to get corn for my hens.

June 7. Brite and fair in the morning and clowdy but no rane in the afternoon. tonite me and Beany rung doorbells. we dident get cougt but we came prety near it.

June 8. Rany. Tonite the old cow kicked father and nocked him rite of the stool and spilt about a quat of milk all over him. buly. i wanted to tell him it sirved him rite but i dident dass to.

June 9. Clowdy but no rane. father has sold the old cow to Eben Garland the bucher. buly. Aunt Sarah asked mother what she gessed he wood have next and mother she said she gessed he wood by a gristly bear for he had bougt most everything but that. he says he gesses he will have sum sheap for they cant bite or kick and dont eat mutch.

June 10. brite and fair. the baby had the croop last nite. the minit he coffed croopy father and mother jumped out of bed and father he fell over a chair and that waked us all up. then he tride to lite a lamp and he coodent find the maches and he swoar round feerful. well mother she lit the lamp and they all went tearing round and they got sum hot water and made the baby eat some eg and sugar and put hot close on his neck and prety soon he was all rite. then they give me the rest of the eg and sugar. then we all went to bed and i lay and laffed to think of father tumbling over the chair and swaring. Ennyway the baby is all rite.

June 11. i hate to go to church. we have all got to be vaxinated. sum peeple in the next town have got the small pocks. Beany has been and Pewt two. Beany says the doctor takes a nife and cuts a hole in your arm and then puts on a big scab whitch has come of somebodys arm whitch has been vaxinated, and that stops the blud. but he says that if the scab dont fit you bleed to deth. so i asked father about it tonite and he said that Beany lied about it, but he says if you are vaxinated with the scab of a redheaded person your hair will turn red, and if he has warts or frekles you will have warts two and frekles. father said once when he was a boy he knew a feller whitch was vaxinated with a scab of a cock-eyed man and bimeby the feller began to squint and he kep on squinting wirse and wirse and bimeby he was cock-eyed two. and father he said he knew another feller whitch had a wooden leg and he sent his scab to another feller to be vaxinated and that feller began to limp and he always walked stifleged. i gess father was fooling. ennyway i hope i shant be vaxinated with Skinny Bruces scab, becaus he is redheaded. father he said he was going to get a scab of Horis Cobb for me and perhaps i wood have a little fat on me and not be so spindel shanked. i wish i cood get a scab of Gim Erly or Tady Finton and i cood lick time out of Pewt.

June 12. brite and fair. Beany has a auful sore arm. he dont dass to rassle or fite or do ennything.

June 13. brite and fair. Pewt has got one two. tomorrow nite the doctor is coming.

June 15. brite and fair. last nite after super the doctor come and he went into the parlor and father and mother and Cele and Keene and me and Georgie and Annie and Frank and the baby was all in the setting room. well ferst father went in and he was only in there a few minits and he dident holler enny and then he come out laffing, and i asked him whose scab he had and he said he dident know but it must have been from sum minister becaus he had been thanking the lord it was all over. then mother she went in and father told her he had got the scab of old Mike Casey for her. mother is english and she dont like the irish and father said it to plage her. well she went in and then Aunt Sarah went in and Keene and Cele and they dident holler eether. then my tern came and i went in and it dident hurt a bit only sort of smarted tickly like. i asked the doctor whose scab i had and he said Bruce Brigams. buly. Bruce Brigam is the best cornet player in town. i bet i can play like time if i ever get a cornet. then the rest of them went in and none of them hollered xcept the baby and he always hollers when ennything is the matter. father told Cele that he got old Nigger Tashs scab for her and he gessed she wood begin to turn prety dark culored before a week or 2. Aunt Sarah told Cele he was fooling.

June 16, 186- Brite and fair. my arm is all rite.

June 17. Rany and thunderry. my arm begins to ich a little only i cant scrach it.

June 18. still rany. all our arms begin to ich. Annies arm is the wirst. we dident go to church today. That is one good thing. I never knew it to rane before on sunday.

June 19. brite and fair. every one of us is cross as time. i took hold of Georgies arm today and she began to ball and said i did it purpose. i keep hiting my arm agenst things all the time. somehow i never hit the well one. that is always the way with things.

June 20. brite and fair. father is cross two. last nite he grabed me by the arm to shake me and it hurt so i hollered like time, and then he let me go and said he forgot about my arm.

June 21. brite and fair. Annie is in bed sick with her arm. She always has things the wirst xcept mother, only mother says she hasent enny time to be sick.

June 22. brite and fair. my arm is still auful sore and the wirst of it is becaus i cant go in swimming.

June 23. Brite and fair. All our arms is better. John Johnson who rings the town bell has gone away for a week and Beanys father is going to ring it. He has to ring it at 7 oh clock in the morning and at 1 oh clock in the afternoon and at 9 oh clock in the nite except Saturday nites when they ring it at 8 oh clock so that peeple can get there baths before bedtime. Me and Beany are going to lern to ring it.

June 24. Rany. me and Beany went up to the church today to see Beanys father ring the town bell, he let us pull it a little, it is prety esy. then we went up at 1 oh clock and at 9 oh clock.

June 25. Rany again. most of our scabs has come of. i dident go up to see Mister Watson ring the bell this morning becaus i dident get up in time, it was sunday. Beany he dident neether, but we did tonite. Beany can ring it prety well.

June 26. Brite and fair. jest think, Beanys father is going to Portsmuth tomorrow and Beany is going to ring the bell and he is going to let me help him. Beany is a prety good feller. mother sent of the scabs today to peeple whitch wanted them. nobody wanted mine. father said it was becaus i was such a tuf feller.

June 27. Brite and fair. gosh if we dident have a auful time today. in the morning me and Beany went up to the church and rung the bell, we had a good time and rung it jest so many rings jest as mister Watson, Beanys father told us to, then me and Beany both got kep after school, and when we got out we asked Noot Crummet what time it was and he said it was jest 1 oh clock and that the town bell had jest struck and then me and Beany jest put for the church as tite as we cood hiper, and we was prety near tuckered out when we got there and we both grabed hold of the roap and begun to ring the bell. well we only rung it a few times before we herd sumone holler fire, and then more peeple begun to holler and we looked out and we saw Charles Fifield and Charly Batcheldor and Chick Randall and Jimmy Josie jest putting it for the ingine house, and Beany said buly they is a fire, and we begun to ring the bell as hard as we cood and holler fire. then the Methydist bell begun to ring and then the upper house bell, and Charles Tolls horses came galoping down to the fountain ingine house with Mat Sleeper driving. And Mager Blakes horses went by jest lickety larup for the Torrent ingine house with old Brown driving, and then Flunk Ham came piling into the church and said, give me that roap and he puled like time, then sum peeple came runing in and said where is the fire, and Flunk he said we dident know, and then we herd the ingine and went out and they was the Torrent and the fountain and lots of men, and they said where in hel is the fire and nobody knowed where it was. and then Chick Randall he asked Flunk what he was ringing the bell for and Flunk he said he found me and Beany ringing it. then they asked us what we was ringing it for and we said we was ringing it for Mister Watson Beanys father, because he was going to ring it for Mister Johnson, and he had to go to Portsmuth and so he told Beany to ring it, and then old Brown he said us was fools and asked us if we dident know enuf to tell time and he said it was only 20 minits past 12 oh clock when the bell begun to ring, and some of the peeple was mad and said we had aught to be arested, and then we said that Noot Crummet told us it was 1 oh clock and then sum of them begun to laff and said it was a good one. Ennyway me and Beany run home as quick as we cood and the peeple went of two. well tonite father said if he had got into so many scrapes when he was a boy as me and Beany did he wood have been in jale. and Aunt Sarah laffed and said she gessed she cood tell a few things if she wanted to and father he said he cood two but he gessed he woodent. Ennyway he said Gim Melcher and Charles Talor led him into a good many scrapes and Aunt Sarah she said she gessed me and Beany and Pewt want a sercumstance to father and Gim Melcher and Charles Talor.

June 28. brite and fair. it is most fourth of July again. they is going to be a band concert on the square. i shant have as mutch money as last year. ennyway i bet i will have a good time. i went in swiming 4 times today. i coodent go in while my arm was sore. Annie is most well but cross as time.

June 29. brite and fair. i went in swiming 5 times today. tomorow me and Pewt is going pikerilling. Pewt is a good feller to fish. fourth of July is coming next week.

June 30. today me and Pewt went fishing. We got Charles Flanders little blew bote. it is the esiest bote to row i ever rowd. Pewt cougt 4 pikeril and 5 kivies and 3 pirch. i cougt 2 pikeril and 2 kivies and 4 pirch and 1 sucker. we cougt sum minnies and shiners for bate but we dident call them ennything. we div of the bank at the eddy, once Pewt sliped and come down all guts, it nocked the wind all out of him.

July 1. brite and fair. today is the first day of July, and we had my fish fride for brekfast.

July 2. brite and fair. i bougt 5 bunches of snapcrackers and 2 bunches of canon crackers and sum slow mach and put them in a box in my room. tomorow is the nite before fourth. Pewt is going to have a pistol and Beany a canon. father he says if he hears of me fooling with a gun he will lick me and send me to bed for a week. ennyway he dident say ennything about a pistol or a canon.

July 3. gosh i was scart today. this morning i went up to my room to look at my snap crackers. i got the box on the floor and was counting them when i looked out of the window. i saw old Miss Hartnett hanging out sum close on the line, i thougt i cood make her gump and i wanted to try jest one canon cracker to see if they was good ones. well i lit one and pluged it down behind her, and jest as she was reaching up with her mouth full of close pins it went of bang, and she hollered love of God and went rite over backwards. i thougt i shood die and jest then one went of bang rite in the room and then they all begun to go of bang bang bang and i grabed the box up and pluged it out of the window and mother came up jest hipering and the room was full of smoke and i was stamping out the burning paper. well when i got it out she was prety mad with me and made me clean the room and wash the floor and windows. ferst i went out and picked up my snapcrackers. they were all rite but all the canon crackers but 2 had went of. Mother she asked me how they got afire and i said i was fooling with them and they got on fire and i had to plug them out of the window. then she said that was what fritened Miss Hartnett so and i said was she fritened and she said she was so fritened that she fell over backwards and i said is that so. mother dont know i did it on purpose whitch is prety good luck for me, so she only made me keep my snapcrackers in the yard. so i put them in a hole in the apple tree. gosh, you aught to hear Miss Hartnett tell about it.

July 7, 186- brite and fair. i have been in bed 3 days. on the fourth i got bloan up with Pewts canon. i had fired all my snapcrackers but 2 bunches whitch i had saved for nite, so me and Pewt we was fixing the canon, ferst we wood put in sum powder and then we wood put in sum wet paper for a wod and then we wood put in sum grass and then put in the ramrod and pound it down with a rock. then we wood put a fuze of a snap cracker in the tuch hole and lite it and put for the other side of the street and it wood make an auful bang and tern 2 or 3 sumersets. Well we had lots of fun and bimeby i was poaring out sum powder out of the powder horn and all of a suddin they was a flash of litening and the next i knew i was in bed and father and mother and Cele and Keene and docter Perry and aunt Sarah and aunt Clark and Georgie was in the room, and i said what is the matter and mother began to laff and then to cry and Docter Perry he said you had better take her out and let her lie down, but mother she said she wood be all rite and docter he said you needent wurry Missis Shute, you coodent kill this boy with brik. well my eyes smarted and i felt like the room was spinning round but it dident hurt enny. well that nite i coodent go to the band concert but they pushed my bed up to the window and i cood hear it prety good. the next day i had sum buly gelly and oranges and Cele and Keene read to me and in the afternoon Beany came in to see me. Beany he burnt his hand on the fourth and Pewt he burnt of one eyebrow and so we all had a prety good fourth. Yesterday Boog and Puzzy came down and fit for me until mother came up. i am all rite now and tomorow i can go in swiming. it was the babys berthday today. he was just 1 year old. he is a auful fat little baby, when i was sick mother wood let him sit on the bed.

July 8. brite and fair. i went in swimming today. the water was jest as warm as if it came out of the kittle. next monday i am going bull froging with Cawcaw Harding.

July 9. brite and fair, nothing today but church.

July 10. me and Cawcaw had a prety good time today. we cougt 3 dozen bull frogs legs. we got sum old busters. it is auful funny to catch them. they will bite a bare hook, so we swing the hook by them and they gump for it and then they kick and almost tern rong side out trying to get of of the hook. then we grab them by the legs and whak their heads over the side of the bote and their inside comes out and sumtimes lots of hard water snales comes ratling out and sumtimes they has fishes and sumtimes other bull frogs or stripers. then we cut of there legs. me and Cawcaw always kill them ferst. sum fellers cut of there legs ferst, that is prety cruil i think. Cawcaw he thinks so two.

July 11. brite and fair. today i went in swiming up to sandy bottum. Whack and Boog and Puzzy were there and got to pluging green apples. Whack got behind a tree and jest as he peeked out Boog pluged a hard one and took Whack rite in the mouth. then Whack got mad and said he cood lick Boog and Puzzy together, so Boog and Puzzy piched in and had a good fite and punched time out of Whack. While i was waching them fite, sumbody tide gnots in my shert sleavs so tite that i coodent get them out so i had to go home without my shert on. it was prety lucky i had my jaket on.

July 12. Today i went up to Whacks and we et sum green currents with shugar on them and then et sum green apples and then we went in swimming down to sandy bottum. i dont feel very well tonite, i have got a bely ake.

July 13. i have been sick all day, mother made me take a big spoon full of caster oil.

July 14. i am beter today, it raned all day and tonite they was a thunder shower, it struck a tree in Gilman field.

July 15. i went up to Whacks agen today. i dident eat enny green apples or green currents you bet. Whack and Boog and Puzzy did and they give little Willie sum. they never have the bely ake. i never see such fellers.

July 16. i have got a velosipede, it ways 90 pounds. i have got so i can ride it down hill, last nite i was riding it up by Gim Odlins and it ran rite into a tree and i came of rite over it and scrached my hands and nocked the skin of my gnees. today was sunday and i coodent ride it but i set on it.

July 17. Hot as time today. Docter Gerrish and Docter Perry and J. Albert Clark have all got buly velossipedes, they have spring backs but mine is solid iron back and when i go over a bump or a stone it most ratles my teeth out. Beany he can ride two, but Pewt cant.

July 18. feerful hot.

July 19, 186- we fellers is going to have a swiming mach. they is going to be prises for the feller whitch can dive the best and for the feller whitch can swim the fastest and for the feller whitch can swim the furtherest under water and for the feller whitch can flote the best without wigling his arms and legs. i bet i will beat sum of the fellers. most of the fellers can beat me rassling or nocking of hats or running or gumping but i bet i will show them sumthing when we come to race in swiming. i practised today diving until my head aked feerful.

July 20. the race is to be next Wensday. They is Pewt and Beany and Fatty Gilman and Fatty Melcher. Boog and Whack and Puzzy was going to race but they wanted to have it at sandy bottum and we fellers wanted to have the diving mach at the oak and the swiming under water at the gravil becaus it is wider there, and so they was mad and woodent come in. Ennyway sandy bottum isent wide enuf and you cant tell whether a feller is swiming one foot on bottum. today i went in 7 times. ferst i practised swiming fast bullfrog fashion. next i practised side stroak next i practised swiming under water. i swum 5 times acros at the gravil. then i practised floteing, but i cant flote without keeping my hands moving. ferst my feet sink and when i get straight up and down my head goes under. then i div until my head aked like time agen. i feel prety tired tonite.

July 21. rany as time. i only went in swiming 2 times today and i dident dive enny. i only practised swiming fast and floteing. i coodent flote. in every boys book of sports and amuzements it says throw yourself on your back and throw your head back and hold your breth and you will not drownd until asistance reeches you. so i tride it today but i coodent hold my breth more than 1 minit and as soon as i let out my breth down i went unless i kep my hands moving. so what the man whitch rote that book said aint so unless asistance comes in 1 minit.

July 22. brite and fair and hot as time. Pewt thinks he is going to beat me swiming. i gess he will find out.

July 23. today was sunday and i coodent practise swiming or diving, darn it.

July 24. brite and fair. i only went in swiming 2 times today, once this morning and once this afternoon, but i staid in all the morning and all the afternoon so i coodent go in more then 2 times. the race is day after tomorow.

July 25. brite and fair. today we went up to Pewts and we aranged about the prises. Pewt was to give the prises. the prise for swiming fast was a bag of erly apples from Pewts garden. the prise for swiming under water was a gewsharp and the prise for the best diver was a cain fishing pole and the prise for floteing was a arrow rifle. we all give 5 cents eech to buy the cain pole. the gewsharp was one whitch Pewt had and the arrow rifle Pewt had made. So Pewt he said as long as he give 2 of the prises he was to have the say about whitch beat.

July 26. brite and fair. the fellers plaid a meen trick on me today. the meenist i ever see. i wont ever speak to enny of them agen. this morning we had the race. ferst we had the fast race. we started at the oak and swum down to the gravil. i was as far as from here to Beanys house ahead. so i got the apples. Fatty Melcher was next and Pewt was next and Beany and Fatty Gilman got tired and went ashore. next we had the floteing mach. Fatty Gilman floted the longest and then Beany becaus he was fat two and then Pewt and then Fatty Melcher and then me. i was the wirst and the fellers all howled at me. so Fatty Gilman he got the arrow rifle. i dont cair. then we went back to the oak to have the diving mach. after we had div Beany and Fatty Melcher they said i div the best and Pewt and Fatty Gilman said Pewt div the best. then Pewt giv himself the prise becaus he had the say. i was prety mad. then we went down to the gravil to have the swiming under water mach so i went ferst and i swum from the going in place on Moltons field to the elm tree on old Nat Gilmans side and when i come up and looked round they wasent enny feller ennywhere. so i swum back prety lively and my close was gone and the apples and the gewsharp and the fellers two. so i dident know what to do. i thougt they had hid the close and i hunted in the buches but i dident find them. so i wated a long time and bimeby i heard sum oars and i looked and i saw a bote with a feller and 2 girls, so i coodent holler and i hid behind a tree. so they went by and then i come out and i walked back to the oak and when i got there i found sum girls picking dasies and i lay down behind the fence and just then a hornet stung me 2 times and i yelled and gumped rite up and danced round before i thougt and then i see them and i hipered back to the gravil, they hipered two the other way you bet. well i set there in the shade for a long time until i got kind of cold and then i set in the sun. i thougt sum of the fellers wood come in swiming, but nobody come. i knowed if i wated til dark i cood get home all rite, only i wood get a licking for scaring the folks most to deth for they wood think i was drownded. well jest then i heard sum fellers talking up by the oak and i went up and there was Potter Goram and Chick Chickering. they had been fishing and had cougt sum buly pikeril. well i holered to them and they come down where i was and i told them about the meen trick the fellers had plaid on me and Potter he said he wood go home for sum close and he give me his jaket and then he hipered acres the field and me and Chick began to fish and i cougt a pirch and a eal and Chick he cougt 2 roach. then Potter he come back with my best close and so i coodent fish enny more. so i went home in my best close. when i went by Pewts he holered Plupy has got on his best close. i dident say ennything. so when i got home mother asked me about it and i told her, it want telltaily eether. so mother she told me to go up to Pewts for my close and i said if Pewt took them he cood bring them back and Beany and Fatty two. so at super father he asked me why i had got on my best close and i told him and he said if Pewt dident bring those close back in about 5 minits he wood go up and boot him down to our house and back agen and jest then Mister Purington came into the yard holding Pewt by the ear. Pewt he had the close and Mister Purington he nocked at the door and he asked for me and when i come to the door he made Pewt give me the close and then he told Pewt to tell me he was sorry for what he had done and Pewt he dident want to say it but Mister Purington most lifted Pewt of the ground by the ear and then Pewt he said he was sorry kind of mad like and Mister Purington lifted him up agen til Pewt he stood on his tip toes and his face was all onesided and his eyes all squinty and then he had to say it over agen polite. and then Mister Purington he led Pewt home all the way by the ear. i thougt i shood die. it sirved Pewt jest rite. father laffed when i told him how the hornet stung me and how the girls hipered.

July 27. brite and fair. Pewt cant go out of the yard today. i dident speak to Beany.

July 28. brite and fair. i am going with Potter and Chick Chickering instead of Pewt and Beany. we went butterflying today.

July 29. brite and fair. nothing to wright today.

July 30. thunder storm rite after church. i wish it had been rite before.

July 31. tonite a man come down to see father and said i had gumped up behind a fence without my close on and scart his girls. he was stoping at the beach and they come up to Mager Blakes hotel. well father called me in and i told the man all about it and bimeby he begun to laff and he said it was a prety meen trick on me and he shook hands with me and he was glad i dident do it a purpose only he was sorry i got stung.

Aug. 1. me and Potter and Chick went fishing. Chick fell of little river brige with his close on. Potter caugt a whacking snaping tirtle. he gave it to Sam Dire and he cut his head of after it was cut of it wood bite a stick. Sam says it wont die til the sun goes down. he says that if you cut a snake in 2 peaces it will come together agen and heel up and be as good as ever. me and Potter is going to try it.

Aug. 2. big thunder shower last nite. we all got up and lit lamps and set round in our nite sherts. we lit all the lamps we cood find so we coodent see the litening. father kept telling funny stories, but mother and Aunt Sarah was scart and told him he hadent aught to joke when enny minit he mite be struck by litening. father he said he dident beleave the litening wood strike him enny quicker for not being scart of it then it wood if he gumped and holered o lord every time it litened. well after a while it only litened way of and we went to bed.

Aug. 3. i havent spoke to Beany yet or to Pewt eether.

Aug. 4. this morning it was Friday. we have fish chowder Fridays. i dont like it and so i drink milk and father wanted the milkman to go down celler to try some of his vinegar. mother hangs the wash boiler and the tin pans and iron kittles in the celler way and when ennyone whitch is tall goes down celler he has to stupe down so not to nock down the pans and kittles. so father he was down celler and he holered for the milkman to come down and when he went down he hit his head aginst the boiler and nocked it down and all the kittles and pans tumbled down on his head and went banging down into the celler and you never heard such a feerful noise. father was mad as time, but after the milkman was gone we all laffed as if we wood die. mother and Aunt Sarah had to set down they laffed so. mother said it made more noise then the thunder did last nite.

Aug. 5. me and Cawcaw Harding has got a new way of fishing for pikeril when we are in a bote. one of us padles the bote and the other skips for pikeril. when you try to pull a pikeril into a bote most half of the time he goes over the bote into the water, so when me and Cawcaw fishes when the feller which is skiping gets a bite he lets him have it a minit and the feller whitch is padling the bote padles towards the shore and then the feller whitch is skiping gumps rite out as soon as the water aint over his head and gives a big yank, and the pikeril goes saling into the field. sumtimes when it is woods the line gets tangled all up in a tree and we have to shin up the tree or cut it down to get the pikeril. we get prety wet but we dont cair. we always ring out our close when we get done fishing and they is most dry when we get home. today the bigest pikeril we caugt got up in a tree and we coodent shin up the tree and we coodent plug him down with rocks so we had to leeve him there. we got 12 pikeril. we are going monday.

Aug. 6. brite and fair. today after sunday school Beany he came over and we made up. this was the longest time i ever was mad with Beany. i am glad we aint mad enny more. father let me go to ride with Mister Watson and Beany this afternoon. we went down to the beach and took our lunchun. when we was coming home me and Beany got most asleep and our legs got asleep two, so Mister Watson he told us to get out and walk a little and we wood be all rite and when we got out he whiped up his horse and drove of lively and made me and Beany walk most a mile. we kep awake after that you bet. i had a good time.

Aug. 7, 186- clowdy but no rane. me and Cawcaw went fishing agen today in the bote ferst i padled and he skiped and then he padeled and i skiped. when we got up by the cove i got a bite and Cawcaw he padled the bote towards the shore and i gumped out lively and gumped into a deep place and went down way under. when i came up Cawcaw was nearly ded he laffed so. well i held onto my pole and swum to the shore it was only 3 stroaks and i sloshed up the bank and yanked that pikeril way into the buches. he was a big one. Cawcaw did it purpose. sumtime i am going to rock the bote sudding when Cawcaw is standing up skiping and he will go into the river kerswash.

Aug. 8. hot as time. me and Beany rung sum more doorbells tonite. we dident get cougt.

Aug. 9. brite and fair. Potter Goram can stuf birds, so they look jest like they was alive. he stufed a red winged blackbird so good that the cat et it and dide. and then Potter he skun the cat and stufed her. i can skin the cat on the horizondle bar, that is another way.

Aug. 10. me and Beany rung sum more doorbells tonite. we rung old Heads doorbell and then we tiptode round by the side of his house into Gim Ellersons yard and laid down behind the current bushes. well jest as old Head come piling out mad as time Pewt and Fatty Melcher come rite by and old Head grabed for them and Fatty he run and Pewt got cougt and old Head he jest lammed Pewt with his cain and Pewt holered he dident do it and old Head said he did and then he give Pewt sum good bats and sent him home balling. me and Beany most dide only we dident dass to laff out loud. jest then father come out to see what Pewt was holering about and he said what is the matter Orrin and Mister Head he said sum cussid boy has been ringing my door bell most every nite and i cougt him tonite and licked him good. and father he said who was it, and Mister Head he said it was Brad Puringtons boy, and father said i am glad it wasent my boy and mister Head he said i am glad two but i gess your boy woodent be meen enuf to ring doorbells and father he said i gess he woodent eether and then they went in and me and Beany we tiptode up Maple street and down town and then back home jest as if we had been down town all the time. that was a good one on Pewt. it made me think of the time Mister Watson Beanys father licked Beany when we rung his doorbell and he came to the door with a lamp and the wind blowed the lamp out and Mister Watson he bumped his head on the door.

Aug. 11. brite and fair. i cant help laffing every time i think of Pewt getting licked. it is a good one on Pewt.

Aug. 12. brite and fair. tonite me and Beany tride the same trick on Nipper. we saw Nip go down town and we rung Bill Greenleefs bell 2 times before Nip come back. we hid in old Ike Shutes porch and peeked out of a little window. Bill he come out and run round the side of the house and then he run up street and looked behind trees and fences and swoar terible. me and Beany near dide. he was so mad that he staid up til nearly 10 oh clock waching. we cood see him peeking out of the window and we dident dass to go home til after 10 oh clock and i got licked for being late. if Nipper had only come home when he had aught to Bill wood have cougt him and licked him and we wood have got home all rite. we will pay Nip for this.

Aug. 13. brite and fair. nothing but church today.

Aug. 14. brite and fair. i coodent go out of the yard today. Beany he come over and we are going to ring old man Hobbses door bell tomorow nite. old man Hobbs is Prisils uncle.

Aug. 15. brite and fair, and hot as time. tonite we rung old man Hobbses door bell 2 times. it was auful funny. the ferst time he come out kind of slow with a lamp. me and Beany were rite on the other side of the street laying down in the long grass. well he looked all round and walked out to the end of the piaza and then he went in mutering. bimeby we rung it agen and out he come prety lively but he dident catch us. if he was as lively as Bill Greenleef he wood have cougt us. well he went round the house and then old Missis Hobbs she came to the door and said what is it William, and he said it is some more of that Purington boys deviltry, and she said i wood speek to his father and old Hobbs he said he wood and then they went in. jest as we was going to ring the bell agen a man come walking quick down the street and went up to the door and rung the bell and jest as the bell rung old Hobbs opened the door quick and gumped out and grabed the man and said you rascul i have got you and the man said you old fool are you crasy and then old Hobbs he said i thougt it was that Purinton boy ringing my door bell and then the man went in the house and we wated til they had shet the door and we put for home and made sum sweet firn segars. tomorow old Hobbs is going to tell Pewts father. i never had so much fun in my life.

Aug. 16. brite and fair. today Pewt come down to the house and said where was you last nite and i said me and Beany was making sweet firn segars over to Beanys and i gave him 2 segars. then Pewt he said that old Hobbs come down to his house today and told his father he rung his doorbell 2 times and Pewt said he dident and his father said he dident beleeve him and was going to lick time out of him if he had and he did it. Pewt was prety mad and i was prety surprized you bet. this afternoon they was a thunder storm. after it was over we went fishing but dident get a bite.

Aug. 17. brite and fair. went up to Whacks this morning and Boog and Puzzy had 2 fites. neether licked becaus old miss Finton come out and stoped them. Boog got a bludy nose the second fite. in the afternoon i went fishing with Cawcaw. i dident get a chance to tip him over but we cougt 5 pikeril. tomorow nite me and Beany are going to ring sum doorbells.

Aug. 18. clowdy but no rane. jest the rite day to go fishing. i was going with Cawcaw but he was sick becaus he et to many apples up to Whacks. tonite Beany coodent go out of the yard becaus he dident split sum kindlings so we dident ring enny doorbells. it was a prety meen day. all the fun i had was going in swiming.

Aug. 19. prety hot today. i went in swiming 5 times. sumthing is the matter with my eyes i keep winking them all the time. father keeps saying stop batting your eyes. i gess it is becaus i keep opening my eyes under water to see things on bottum. father says if i dont stop it i shant go in swiming enny more.

Aug. 20. it raned this morning so hard that i dident have to go to church. buly.

Aug. 21. brite and fair. tonite me and Beany rung old Missis Sawyers bell. when she come out with the lamp we run into Pewts yard and then into Nat Weeks. she went in and come out agen with a shorl on and went rite over to mister Purintons and nocked at the door. we was near enuf to hear evrything. when Pewts father come to the door she said i think things has come to a prety pass if peeple cant keep there boy from trubling there nabors. and then Mr. Purinton Pewts father said what is the matter and Missis Sawyer she said your boy has been ringing my doorbell and Pewts father he said how do you know he did it and Missis Sawyer she said i see him run rite into your yard. and so Pewts father he come out and went round the yard but coodent find ennybody. so he said praps it was the Watson boy or the Shute boy and she said praps it was becaus she had heard they was prety bad boys. then Pewts father said it was a mersy if they dident both get into jale and she said she gessed the Shute boy was a trial to his father and mother and Pewts father he said he gessed the Watson boy was two. then he said if he was her he wood go rite down and see there fathers. when me and Beany heard that we clim over Nat Weeks fence esy and put for home. when we got there they was nobody in Beanys kichen and we went in esy and got the sweet firn and begun to make sweet firn segars. bimeby we heard old Missis Sawyer blabing to Beanys mother and she said she wood go in and see if Elly was in and when she come in Beany said mother jest see how many segars me and Plupy has made and he held up a lot that we made last week and she said you boys must have wirked a long time and Beany he said it takes a good deal of time to make so many and she went back looking prety pleased becaus she thougt Beany dident ring the old doorbell and she told old Missis Sawyer that we had been making sweet firn segars all the evening in the kitchin. so old Missis Sawyer went home kind of mad becaus it wasent me and Beany whitch rung her doorbell ennyway she thougt it wasent.

Aug. 22. brite and fair.

Aug. 23. brite and fair. tonite me and Pewt and Beany and Fatty Gilman and Fatty Melcher and Billy Swett and Gim Erly and lots of the fellers come up and plaid i spy the bull. one feller lays it and he shets his eyes at the gool and counts fifty and the rest of the fellers go and hide and when he has counted fifty he trys to find the fellers and tag his gool before they do. they is a stick leening agenst the gool and if one of the fellers can get to the gool ferst he can plug the stick as far as he can and the feller whitch is laying it has to run and get the stick and go back to the gool and leeve the stick there before he can find enny more fellers and if enny fellers has been cougt they can hide agen. so tonite we plaid it til nine oh clock and i had laid it most an hour when Pewt pluged the stick and hit old Bill Morril rite in the head jest as he came round the corner and he was mad as time and we put for home jest lively. Pewt dident meen to do it. Bill hadent aught to have been coming round the corner jest then ennyway. Bill told father they was the tufest set of boys in the naborhood he ever see. i was behind the current buches when Bill told father this and he showed father his old plug hat whitch was all dented in. father he said well Bill we usted to make things prety lively when we was boys. then he told Bill that he usted to ask his father if he cood go over and sleep with Gim Melcher and his father wood say yes, and Gim Melcher he wood ask his father if he cood go over and sleep with father and Gims father wood say yes, and they wood stay out all nite and raise time, and Gims father he wood think Gim was over to fathers house, and fathers father wood think father was over to Gims house and so they woodent get cougt. that wood be a prety good trick for me and Beany to try only father wood know two mutch. i gess that is the reason father finds out so mutch about me becaus he was prety tuf when he was a boy. i gess that is the reson why ministers boys is most always tuf becaus there fathers dont know how to find out what tuf things they do. i wish i was a ministers son so i cood be tuf and not get found out, only i wood have to go to church 3 times evry sunday.

Aug. 25. brite and fair. i wish i was ded. a feller might as well be ded as to be getting licked all time for nuthing. tonite me and Beany wated till it was dark and we saw Bill Greenlef go down town. then we tide a string to his doorbell and hiched the other end to old printer Smiths door on the other side of the street and hauled it tite. bimeby Bill he come back and went in the side door. then a man came by driving a horse and when the horse run agenst the string both doorbells rung before the string broak and out come Bill and old printer Smith. when they found they wasent ennyone there they was prety mad. Bill he run round looking behind fences and trees and old printer he swoar terible and went through Miss Sulivans and over to Nipper Browns and all round. me and Beany was hiding in Ike Shutes porch. bimeby they come back and talked. Bill said they must be 2 of them and old printer he said it was about time this thing was stoped and he was going to find out who did it if it took him all summer. well bimeby they went in to wate and see if ennyone rung there doorbells sum more. Bill he said he wood leeve his door open jest a little and old printer Smith he said he wood leeve his open jest a little two so he cood gump out and lam time out of the feller whitch rung his bell. well bimeby me and Beany crep out esy and hunted round til we found the string and we tide it agen as tite as we cood and then we crep back into the porch and peeked through the window. bimeby old mister Lyford come up the sidewalk and when he come to the string it gerked his old plug hat of and he picked it up and brushed it and then went of. bimeby a hack came by and when it hit the string both door bells gingled feerful and Bill and old printer Smith came hipering out as if they was hiched to the string. Bill went to gump of the side of the steps and he got the string round his leg and went fluking and then holered to old printer Smith that they was a string tide to his door bell and printer he holered back that they was one tide to his two. then they swoar and talked sum and jest then Pewts father come out and they said it was Pewt and old Missis Sawyer she come out and she said it was Pewt two. well then they begun to hunt and look behind trees and into doorways and me and Beany got prety scart and bimeby we opened the door esy and hipered round Ikes house and ran rite into old printer and he grabed us both by the neck and holered i have got the misable cusses and he draged us out to the lite and Bill and Brad said it is George Shutes boy and Irv Watsons boy and they shook us up lively. well old Missis Sawyer wanted them to take us to jale but Pewts father and Bill and printer said to take us down to our fathers and so printer held us by the neck and marched us down the street and Pewts father and Bill come along two and old Missis Sawyer she came taging along talking all the time that we was the wirst boys in town. we went down to fathers ferst and he come out and Bill he went over and called mister Watson. well he come over and they all went into the back yard and they told father about it and Missis Sawyer said she was going to have us arested and father he said if she wanted to arest me all rite but he wood get a lawyer and carry the case to the circus coart if it took evry cent he had and Mister Watson he said so two. and father he said he woodent have his boy distirbing his nabors and he wood lick me and make me beg evrybodys pardon, but it wasent merder or hyway robery to ring doorbells and if they wanted to arest me to sale rite in, and Mister Watson he said so two. then father and Mister Watson marched us up to old Hobbs and made us beg his pardon and old Hobbs told father we was the wirst boys in town and father aught to whale the life out of us, and then we went down to Pewts and had to beg his pardon for getting him a licking and then we went over to mister Heads and begged his pardon two. then father took me into the kichin and give me a licking for eech doorbell that we rung. he give me a good one for Missis Sawyer becaus she was a woman and he said we dident have enny bizness to plage a woman, and he give me a prety good one for Bill becaus Bill was a prety good feller, and he only hit me one lick for old Hobbs becaus he was mad at what old Hobbs said and he dident hit me a lick for mister Head becaus Pewt got licked for it and he said Pewt had aught to have been licked so many times when he dident that one licking one way or the other woodent make much diference. the wirst was when i had to beg Pewts pardon. i wood rather get 2 lickings.

Aug. 26, 186- Brite and fair. tonite i asked father about him and Gim Melcher staying out all nite and he laffed and said it was trew. then i asked him how menny times he did it and he said all the times he wanted to becaus his father thougt he was a beter boy then he was. well i asked him if i cood stay out all nite sum time and he said no. then he said i woodent dass to and i said i bet i wood. then he said i cood if i wanted to and then mother she said George are you crasy and he said no but he gessed after i had been out a while i wood be homesick. so after super i asked Beany and Beany he asked his father and he told his father what father said and bimeby Mister Watson Beanys father he said Beany cood stay out if i cood. so we are going to stay out Monday nite.

Aug. 27. brite and fair. nothing but church.

Aug. 28. rany as time. jest the luck. i coodent sleep enny last nite thinking about staying out all nite. ennyway i dident go to sleep til most morning and when i woke up it was raning hard, and it raned hard all day. it has stoped now. they wasent enny fun today.

Aug. 29. brite and fair. i am wrighting this in the morning becaus i shall be to bizzy tonite to wright ennything. i bet me and Beany will have sum fun. last nite father said they was a tiger got out of a circus and he kind of thougt it was somewhere in the Eddy woods. i aint afrade. Beany aint neether.

Aug. 30. brite and fair. i gess i wont try to stay out all nite agen. it aint enny fun. yesterday afternoon mother made me go to bed so i woodent be sleepy at nite and Beanys mother she did two. i coodent sleep and bimeby i got up and stuck my head out of the window and looked over to Beanys house and Beany he was looking out of his window and bimeby Potter and Cawcaw went by with their fish poles and you bet i wanted to go two, but i had to stay in my room. so Beany and i begun to holler acrost to each other and i made up this poitry about Beany,

fat pork and beens thats what it meens that Beanys got the belyake from fat pork and beens.

and then Beany he made up this poitry about me,

Plupy Shute is meener than Pewt and he is a prety meen galoot.

then mother made me go in a room on the other side of the house, but i coodent sleep and she let me get up at super time. when father come home he said the tiger had carrid of and et up a bull over to Kingston and he gessed he was coming this way, but i wasent scart. well after super i split my kindlings and me and Beany went down town. we went to doctor Derborns store and got sum soda water and Beany he paid for it. then we got sum goozeberries of old Si Smiths and i paid for them and then we went over to Beanys and got a lot of sweet firn segars and then we went down town agen. we went into stores and looked at things and we went down to the warf and then we went acrost to the raceway and went in swiming. it was kind of cold and we dident stay in very long. then it began to be dark and we went back to water street and staid in the stores til the nine oh clock bell rung and then we went back home. the folks was all setting on the front steps. so me and Beany set down two and bimeby the folks said they must go in and they all went in and shet the door. it made me feel lonesum when i herd them lock the door. it must be prety tuf on fellers whitch havent got enny home. then me and Beany went over to his house and set on the steps til his folks went in and shet the door and then we set on the fence under the gas lite and we herd Nat Weeks come home and mister Gewell and bimeby Si Smith shet up his store and then it begun to be loansum. so we went down as fer as the swamscot house and they was a lite in sum of the rooms and we set down on old Kellogs steps and talked. bimeby old Straton the gas man come round with a little ladder and clim up and put out the gas and then it was prety dark. then Beany he said less go up to Pewts and yowl like cats. so we went up into Pewts garden and we begun to yowl feerful like cats and bimeby Pewts father opened a window and holered scat you devils and jest then Nat Weeks he stuck his head out and he holered scat two. and then we kep still a minit and Pewts father said i wish there wasent a cussid cat alive and Nat Weeks he said so two and then they went to bed agen. bimeby we begun to yowl agen and then we yowled jest like cats fiting and Pewts father opened the window agen and pluged a club out into the yard and holered scat and then we kep still and we herd him tell Nat Weeks that he had got his gun loded and if he herd it go of he needent be sirprized. so you bet we dident yowl agen. so after Pewts father and Nat Weeks had gone to bed agen we clim over the fence esy and went of up towards Gilmans barn. Beany stumped me to go as fer as the barn and we was going there when i thougt of the tiger and told Beany about it. we wasent afrade but they wasent enny fun in going down to the barn so we went back down towards the high school yard and it was prety dark there and so we dident go down to set on the steps. bimeby it struck eleven oh clock. ferst the town clock and jest after it the factory bell an then we cood hear clocks striking in the houses on the street. i tell you it made me feel loansum. we coodent see enny lites in the houses, so we set on the steps and told stories and talked about the fellers and the girls. Beany said he gessed he wood mary Lizzie Tole, Ed Toles sister sum day. i bet he wont. then Beany he said when he was a man he wood by the club stable and have all the horses he wanted to drive, and i cood wirk for him if i dident get drunk [curiously enough, the first two statements in this prophecy came true] like most of the hostlers. i told him that i wasent going to wirk for ennybody for i was going to play in the band like Bruce Brigam, Scotty Brigams brother. bimeby we herd sum real cats yowling and it sounded sort of feerful. Cele read us a story when we was sick with the scarlet fever about a man whitch had a black cat and he got mad with her and cut out one eye. then he got mad with his wife and cut her throte and stuck her up in the chimny in the celler and pluged up the hole. bimeby the polisemen come to find out where his wife was and they hunted evry where in the house and stable and hen koop and evrywhere and bimeby they wanted to go into his celler. so the man he said all rite fellers come rite down and so the polisemen went down celler with him and he showed them all over the celler and they looked evrywhere and coodent find ennything and jest as they was going out they herd a feerful yowl and they stoped and lissened and it kept on yowling in the chimny and when they took a pickax and wanted to dig a hole in the chimny the man whitch killed his wife said they wasent ennything in the chimny for it hadent been opened for 1 hundred years, but they cut open the chimny and what do you gess they found. well they found his wife with her throte cut and a old black cat with 1 eye out setting on her showlder yowling. so they grabed the man and punched time out of him and they hung him to a lampost. well when Cele read that story to us we all was wirse for 3 days and Annie never got over it and when i hear a cat yowl i think of what the polisemen found in the chimny. so when i herd the cat yowling i told Beany that story and Beany he dident want to go of of my steps enny more. bimeby the town clock struck 12 oh clock and so it was morning and so we tost up to see whether Beany shood wait til i got in my house or i shood go over to Beanys to wait til Beany got into his house ferst. i lost jest as i always do and so i had to go over to Beanys and he tride the door and it was unlocked and so Beany he went in and i hipered acrost the road as quick as i cood and went in the back way. i wasent afrade only i wasent going to have Beany beat me in geting into bed. i went up stairs as esy as i cood but when i went by mothers room she said is that you Harry and i said yes and she said are you going out agen and i said no it is morning now and i am going to bed and she laffed and said good mornin. then i piled into bed and dident wake up til 10 oh clock. Beany dident get up til 12 oh clock. father saved a mans life today in Boston. he was a old man whitch tride to get on a train whitch had started and father saw he was going to tumble of and get killed and he run and grabed him and the old man tride to pull away and holered and the trane was going faster and father had to run and push the old man and he grabed him by the seet of his britches and give him a hist and piched him rite into the door of the car and then father he gumped of. evrybody said the old man wood be killed if it hadent been for father.

Aug. 31. i bet Beanys father never saved a mans life. i bet Pewts never did neether. i asked father if he xpected the old man to give him a good deel of mony for it or a gold wach, and father he said the conscenceless of having did a noble act is enuf reward. Gosh if i had saved a old mans life i wood have made him pay me. i wood have grabed him and said old man pay me 2 dolars or of goes your hind legs. i realy woodent let him drop but i wood have scart him til he give me 2 dolars. father he said that wood be hyway robery. i dont care.

Sept. 1. brite and fair. they was a peace in the Boston paper today about father. it said heroik rescu of a old man and it told about father saving the old mans life. lots of peeple spoke to father about it. father walked down town tonite 3 times. he most never goes down. father is going to take me to Boston tomorow if i behaive myself and dont do as i did before.

Sept. 2, 186- i had to get up feerful erly this morning. after brekfast me and father rode up to the depo in Joe Parmers hack. while we was wating for the trane Charles Talor and Charles Gray and all the fellers began to pich into father jest fun like and father got the best of them evry time. You cood here them holler about a mile. then the trane come and we piled in. evrybody knowed father and called him George and evrybody piched into him and he ansered back so that he made evrybody laff. that was the way it was all the way to Boston. when we got to Boston we went into a bird store and staid a while and then father took me out to see a house with a canon ball in it where the british had fired it in the revolution. then we went down to the custum house where father wirks and father took of his coat and put on a thin coat and put on sum cuffs made of pastbord and then he took out sum big books and begun to wright. he give me a sheet of yellow paper and a pensil and told me i cood draw sum pictures. when he come in one man holered hullo George what are you going to do with the boy, drownd him, and father he said no but i wood if he dident amount to more then you have, and then that man he shet up and a nother man he holered George have you saved enny more peeple and father he said no i had a chanse to but his name was Mudge and i let them hang him, and then that man he shet up. his name was Mudge two. bimeby a man come in with specks and side wiskers and sum papers and a squint eye, and he come up to fathers desk and father took the papers and wile he was wrighting i drawd the man with his specks and his old side wiskers and his squint eye. when father had fixed his papers the man said is that your boy mister Shute and he said yes and the man said can he draw and father said yes and he took the paper before i cood grab it and give it to the man and the man looked at it and begun to look mad and father said what is it and he showed it to father and then tore it up and went of mad. and father tirned red and asked me if i dident know more then that. then father he picked up all the peaces and we paisted them together and he showed it to the men and they all laffed and said i was a buster. bimeby a man come in and said that the naval oficer wanted to see father and father took the picture and went in. bimeby he came back and said the naval oficer jawed him and then he looked at the picture and laffed and said he wanted the picture and he took it and told father he had better shet that boy up. then it was dinner time and we went out and et dinner at a resterrant. i had meat and bread and coffy. after dinner we went back to the offise and a man come in and asked who was mister Shute and father said he was and the man said are you the man whitch put a old man on the trane at the depo and father said yes and i thougt the man wood give father a hundred dolars or a gold wach and father looked as if he thougt the man wood say noble man you have saved my fathers life, but the man looked mad and said well sir you did a prety smart thing to throw a helpless old man on to the rong trane and send him of 100 miles away from home and scart all his peeple most to deth becaus they thougt he was merdered and cost him 3 dolars to telegraf and stay all nite and if you dont know more then that you had beter soke your head. father he said what was the old fool trying to get on the trane for if he dident want to go on it, and the man he said he was trying to get of the trane and you woodent let him and the man holered so loud that evrybody cood hear him and shook his fist and went of swaring feerful. then Mr. Pope he said o what a fall was there my countrymen just like what was in the fourth reader and Mr. Davis he said immortal seezer ded and tirned to clay, that is in the fourth reader two. then all the men laffed and said the treat is on you George and father he laffed two and said he wood be cussed, and he said that is what a man got by not tending to his own bizness. tonites paper had a peace in it about father and said the old man whitch father put on the rong trane was going to be marrid and his girl got mad becaus he dident come and marrid another man whitch was there and the old man was going to sew father for braking up the mach. father said he bet Ben Ridwill and Jaky Howe rote it for the paper and he wood fix them.

Sept. 3. brite and fair. sunday today but father dident go to walk. he was prety cross two. Beany got sent out of sunday school for raising time. after he went out he clim up to the window and made up feerful faces at us. mister Erl the suprintendunt was jest going to make a prayer and see us laffin and see Beany before Beany cood gump down and he grabed his cane and run out of the sunday school and chased Beany down to Gim Elersons. Beany cant come agen. i wish i was Beany.

Sept. 4. clowdy but no rane. school begins today, gosh.

THE END