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Show lie had been left the night before, shaking shak-ing and shivering with cold. The ox skin had been fixed so us to fit him niee-! niee-! ly, and he did really look like Hn ox fastened up there.. He had sewed np the j hide so that his legs and aims fitted into J I tlie skin of the ox's legs, and his own head was where tho original cupnt had j I been, while the horns arose majestically j above the whole. Just above him ap- j peared the broad fire board, and it bore , the following announcement in charao-; ters which could be read with ease, even ; I at a great distance: I ' "This is Sam Pea-body, the great joker. ; i And this is one of his own jokes in which I he got trapped himself." i j Jerry took down the board and let Sam : read it, and then put it up again. j , "Hu, ha, ha! ' Vot a joke!" cried one. j ;' "Ho came out hero in that rig, to i frighten poor women," said Tyler. I "Sam, how's beef" "I say, Sam, can't you give us a horn?" "Whiit a long tail!" "Who ever seed a box vear boots afore'" These, and like exclamations, issued i from tho crowd, and all the whilo poor j Sam was begging for some one to como und take him down. "In the name of mercy!" he groaned, "won't somebody let me go?" "Can't think of it yet," returned Jerry Smith. "Your joke is too good to be lost. Von must have taken a good deal of pains to make that dress tit so nicely, and I should think you'd want folks to see it." "By jingo!" screamed little Adam Snip, going close to the victim, "you have a worse tit now than I ever had. Shan't 1 send for tho doctor?" At this the crowd laughed uproariously. They would have had pi ty for any one else in town, to have seen him in such a situa- j tioti, but for Sam they had none, for they j knew that for years he had been annoying j all whom he could, and now, since he was i caught in a trap of his own setting, they j thought it best to punish him. At 1) i o'clock nearly all the inhabitants of the j village were out there, and by this time Sam began to cry. Even Jerry was j CUEING A JOKER. Not a thousand miles from where I live dwelt a man named Sam Peabody or, at least, so I shall call him, for ho is a good man now and might not like to have the evil deeds of his youth made known among strangers. Sam wi an invelcr- , ate joker what is denominated a "practical "prac-tical joker" and though he never meant any real harm, yet ho often caused much mischief by his pranks. On one occasion when he had gone out at night, cnvel- ! oped in a white sheet to frighten some girls, he started to t he roadside at the approach of a chaise and frightened the horse, so that the chaise was smashed up and one of the occupants severely injured. in-jured. . Sam had been talked with and argued with, but to no purpose. Ho could not ,0 made to see the wickedness of his pranks. Sometimes he would fiisten lines across the sidewalk, and thus trip np the pedestrians; ho would ring folks np in the night and ask them if they had plenty of bedding. Once he called the doctor out at miduight to come and attend a mau who had very bad fits. The good old doctor arose and followed Sam till thoy came to Adam Snip's little domicile, and here the joker called up the little tow legged tailor, and the moment Snip touched now, and going up to the victim, ho said: "Now, Sinn, I'll let you down on one condition. Promise that you'll never attempt at-tempt to perpetrate a practical joke again?" "I never will." "Of any kind or description? You'll never annoy a human being again, if you can help iff" "Never never! I never will, so help me God!" i So Jerry untied the cords, and in a few ! moments Sam was free. He was too stiff to run, and for a while lie could walk with but difficulty. But Jerry gave him his arm, and helped him to his own house, and there let him remain until the crowd had dispersed. Towards noon Sam went home, and for over a month he stuck closely to his shop, never appearing in the street save when absolute necessity required it. He kept his promise faithfully, for to this day he has not attempted to perpetrate another of his practical jokes. And people peo-ple love him now, for he is one of the jollicst old men in the country, and his presence is sure to dispel anything like the sulks or blues. And among all his stories there is not ono over which he laughs more merrily thari over the one wherein is contained an account of that practical joke which was so summarily turned back upon himself. Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., in Yankee Blade. poked his head out at the window Ham cried: "There, doctor, is a man who makes the worst fits you ever saw!" and with this he ran away, and left the doc-ftor doc-ftor and the tailor to nettle the matter. This was serious business in one senwe, ,but it set the whole town in a laugh and Sam was delighted. , But Sam's last practical joke was near at hand. At the edge of the village lived a man named Jerry Smith. He was a stone worker by trade, and as strong as an ox. One evening Jerry's wife had been to see a neighbor, and in returning she had to pass over a place where tho road was built along upon a sort of morass, with willow trees upon each side. When she entered her houf?e she was pale and trembling, and sank into a chair almost out of breath. "What's the matter?" avked her husband." hus-band." "I've been frightened," gasped the woman, as soon as she could command her speech. I "But how? Where?" r "Out by the willow trees. An ox, with great horns and fiery eyes, came out at us, walking on his hind legs." "By thunder, it's Sam Peabody!" exclaimed ex-claimed Jerry. "He killed an ox this i morning." ("I knew it was Sam as soon as I had time to think," returned the wife, "for his voice was plain; but I was" so frightened fright-ened at first that I liked to have fainted." Jerry was angry. It did not suit hia fancy to sco a defenseless woman thus treated. Ho took his hat at once, and went over to a small house on the opposite oppo-site side of the street, where lived his partner in business, another stout, iron corded man, named George Tyler. "Look here, Tyler," cried Jerry, "Sam Peabody is out in tho willows, rigged up in his ox skin, frightening poor women. Come with mo and we'll punish him." Tyler hesitated not a moment, but taking his hat he followed Jerry over to tho other house. In the iirBt place Jerry took a tirebonrd, and with some marking paint he painted out a Darning placard, with letters large and distinct. Then ho got some of his wife's dresses, and bade Tyler put one of them on. "For," said he, "if he sees two men coming he may run." The dreases were thrown on after a fashion and pinned to the other clothing, cloth-ing, and then the men donned each one a bonnet. They then procured a lot of stout cord, and, taking tho firoboard, they sallied forth. As they approached the willows they began to giggle and titter in squeaking tones, and ere long the fearful nondescript made its appcarauce. With a low, deep bellowing it walked into the road and stood directly in front of the two pedestrians. . "Oo-oo-oo-oo!" bellowed Ram. "Mercy!" screamed Jerry. "Ah-oua-oo-oo!" "Save me!" squeaked Tyler. The ox hide approached another step, und Jerry leaped forward and seized it, aud on the next moment Tyler was by bis side. ' "Now, Mr. Peabody, I reckon you're etifa M nftmwl .Tm'rv frlvincr li,n ,i frvin - - . ' o n t-i- like a vise. 5 "Don't don't!" cried Sam. "Don't what-"' "Don't hurt mo!" ! "We won't hurt yon if yon keep quiet, , but if you makti any resistance you'll I run "the risk of getting your head broken." bro-ken." iSam knew that it was Jerry Smith'r wife whom ho bad frightened, and he knew that Jerry could liandlo him ns a child. He begged and prayed, but to no purpose. Tho two stone cutters backed up against one of the willows, and then proceeded to bind him to the trunk of a tree. They lashod his hands behind him, then lashed his ankles together, and then they bound him to the tree at the shoulders,' shoul-ders,' wrists, knees and feet, und they did it securely, too. After this they took tho fireboard and placed it against tho tree above his head, securing it by nails which they had brought for that pur- j poise. j "Mercy!" shrieked Sam, "you aren't tt-goin' to leave me hero?" j "Yes, sir," answered Jerry. "You have bad your share of joking long enough, and now we'll havo ours. 1 would ratiier have you tie my wife as you are tied, than to havo had her frightened as you j came near frightening her. Mind you, j Sum, vve only mean this for a joke." i And with this, the two mon went away, 1 taking no heed of the joker's cries and protestations. But they did not go far i away utitil they were suro th?ro would j be no more passing on that road for the j uight j On the following morning Jerry pet the news a-going of Sam's present situation, and in half tin hour after sunrise a bun-drnd, bun-drnd, people vt? collected around t he willow tree. T.hcrs atoed Sam. dust as I |