Harper's Round Table, January 19, 1897 — John Shaqi
Harper's Round Table, January 19, 1897Various
General
Harper's Round Table, January 19, 1897
Various
Children's periodicals
I nearly forgot to say that there were to have been five in the party,
but the Schoolmaster of our Republic (8) and the Mad Yankee (6) read the
sign and refused to go. But such a lot of things as were found by the
three who went!
First they explored a mysterious excavation (7) contained in a
street-sweeper, and a place of trade (8) kept in an insect. They met a
wise man (9) in conception, and bought a warm covering (10) contained in
a wrinkle; some small cord (11) done up in strengthening medicine; a
bedded carriage (12) in sparkling; a covering for the head (13) in an
impropriety; a quantity of paper (14) in demand; some food;(15) in a
scoffer; a chart (16) in a telegraph; a clamp(17) in useful; a white
linen garment (18) in military weapon; a large farm (19) in the gills of
fishes, and some certificates of stock (20) in a title.
These filled the boat, though some were eaten, some lounged upon, and
others studied. Queer place to shop? Well, never mind if it was so. Let
my story go on.
As the three men were trying on what they found in the impropriety which
they had purchased, one of them discovered a few things that had
probably been left in the boat by a former sailing-party. The first (21)
had once been in the fields and brooks, aye, a part of it even in the
sky. Then it had been warmed, put through a process that city folk are
laughed at by country folk because they cannot manipulate, and finally
subjected to great pressure. The second (22) was once a part of a great
mountain. Then it helped raise potatoes. Next it was buried in a grave.
Again it was heated and then cooled, and became the source of so much
comfort that the wonder was its owner left it behind. The third thing
(23) is supposed to bring good luck. It is something that, in its
natural position, moved rapidly--often with two motions at the same
time. There was that about it which masons use. It was a sad loss to its
owner, no doubt. The fourth and last thing was a liquor (24) contained
in a secretion of the ear. It was not the first time that a
drinking-vessel (25) which we find in refreshment brought death in its
train. From that moment the men were doomed. They grew reckless, and
here are some of the things they thought they saw:
An agricultural implement (26) in a railway employé; a small bed (27) in
a writer; a temporary shelter (28) in a native of South Africa; an open
land (29) in the bottom of a ship; a small house (30) in a window
covering; a stream of water (31) in a dance; a church seat (32) in a
cordage manufactory; a man (33) in a lizard; and a small horse (34) in a
place of worship.
Finding all these in a place so strange, and making so poor use of them,
it is no wonder that that which the sign-board warned them against
carried them over the falls, and brought an end to the story. The local
paper next morning said the bodies of the three were recovered and taken
to "The Bad Lands of the Say It" (35) for burial.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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