Cinder Path Tales

go CINDER-PATH TALES joyed it as muchas anybody, and agreed that " everything was on him," if the boys would follow him in town. When on the following morning I dis­ abused Paddy of his false hopes, and told him that while he was a good man to work, he was not at all qualified for the position he wanted, I expected that hewould lose heart, and give up the " quest." But in this I was mistaken; I did not understand of what material Paddy wasmanufactured. He kept pegging away as before, trying to please everybody, anticipatingour wants,and bur­ dening me with attentions. The boys stuck to him, and the practical jokes which Paddy endured I cannot begin to remember, and of most of them I suppose I never heard. He was drenched from the fire hydrant, received a shock from an electric battery, and was knocked groggy by the foot­ ball dummy in the basement, which t ey per­ suaded him to tackle. He appeared one morning dressed in his Sunday suitof black broadcloth, and with a white shirt and collar. In this festive cos­ tume he labored all day, the starch in the collar and shirt losing courage more and more as the sun grew hot, until at night he was a ghastly wreck. This strangeperform­ ance wasthe result of Mitchell's tip, thathe