Page 425 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

Though his coat was burned and layered, still he said it little mat-
teredj
F o r ‘he garm ent was an old one and his losses w ould be sligllt.
And again in wild ascendance rose 1;hc vim of Independence—
Until his little 8-year-old wanted papa to “ turn an' see tie
big boo :J he was making. Bing, bang, boom 1 “ Dere 'tis 1 "
shouted the youngster, as the appreciative old man hurried
4. 5|
hi that direction, and found half a pack of fi re-crackers
knocking his new silk tile to ribbons, and he turned the
youngster wrong end up—
And warmed it to tile last degrees of sultry Fahrenheit*

Then his ardor patriotic grew uncommonly chaotic,
lie would stop this jubilation ere it set the towfl agog
Fun was fun in due restrictions, but— ten thousand maledictions ! I !—
Just then his favorite spaniel ran between his legs and bit
off a generous slice of calf in passing. A whole pack of
crackers was attached to the animal's tail, exploding at the
rate of five p er second. The cur made a bee-line for the
stable and ran under the foundation, and they had to turn
the horses loose and rip Up the floor before—
They could quench the conflagration or resuscitate the dog.

Shades of Lucifier and Hades! if it wasn't for the ladies
We could show the scope of language when the temper has its way :
That: ii warm vocabulary melts restrictions arbitrary—-
And several other things, but just then we left, for another
youngster burned his fingers and dropped a piece of hot
punk in the bo>; containing the balance of the fireworks, and
in ii m in Lite the air was volcanic with sky-rockets, Roman
candles, pin wheels, blue devils and expletives, To cap the
climax, a rocket struck the old gentleman amidships, and
—that settled it. Enough was enough. He gathered his
offspring all about him—
And he kq.it them in the cellar for the balance of the day*