A Strict Father.

Otago Witness, Issue 1679, 26 January 1884, Page 28

A Strict Father.

" M y father was a very strict man with his children, Baid one of the supreme judges of Arkansas, "and I don't think that I ever knew him to swerve one inch from a fixed purpose. He looked upon a boyish prank as a violation of the family law, and I don't think on Buch an occasion he ever failed to adminfeter punishment. One morning while the family were at breakfast I went oufc to the well, unwound the chain from the windlass and let the bucket go down to the water. I thought it would be a good joke to tell him that the bucket was in the well, and just as he became concerned, to draw it up and have a lau^h at his expense. " Bucket's down in the well 'l said when I entered the dining-room. The old gentleman didn't say anything, and I intended to correct the statement, but bendine my energies to the demands of a boy's keen appetite, I soon forgot my joke. After breakfast the old gentleman walked to (he blacksmith's shop, about four miles distant, and had an iron hook made. He returned home, cut a long pole, and spent some time in fitting the hook on the end of it. I noticed the work, but it did not occur to me that I was the instigator

of the performance. When the pole was properly arranged be went to the well and began to fish for the bucket. The bucket that I had lowered bad been drawn up, but the other one had been let down. I was afraid to say anything, so I went down to the bam and played around a long time. Finally I went back to the house, reaching there just aB the old gentleman brought the bucket from the well. He looked at the chain, then afc the windlass, then at me.

" Didn't you tell me that the bucket was in the well?" "Yes, sir." " Don't you know that you told me a lie ?" "But it was in the well, wasn't it?" and I laughed, hoping to impress him with the humorous side of the affair.

"That's very funny," the old gentleman replied, " but I'd better take you in hand, or you might be telling funny stories in the Legislature one of these days," and taking up a limb he thrashed me until all the humour faded from the joke.