Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1885 — Jimmy Brown and the Ice Cream Party. [ARTICLE]

Jimmy Brown and the Ice Cream Party.

There was pretty nearly a whole week that I kept oat of trouble, bat h didn't last Boys are bom to fly upward like the sparks that trouble, and yesterday I wa* "up to mischief again,” as Sue said, though I never had the least idea of doing any mischief. Hew should an innocent boy, who might easily have been an orphan had things happened in that way, know all about cooking and chemistry and such, I should like to know. It wag really Sue’s fait. Nothing would do but she must have a party, and of course she must have ice-cream. Now the ice-cream that our cake-shop man makes isn’t good enough for her, so she got father to buy an ice-cream freezer, and she said she would make the icecream herself. I was to help her, and she sent me to the store to order sonic salt. I asked her what she wanted of salt, and she said you couldn’t freeze ice-cream without plenty of salt, und that it was almost as necessary as ice. I went to the store and ordered the salt, and then had a game or two of ball with the boys, and didn’t get home till late tn the afternoon. There was Sue freezing the ice-cream, and suffering dreadfully, bo she said. She had to go and dress right away, and she told me to ke< p turning the ice-cream freezer until it froze, "and don’t run off and leave me to do everything again, you good-for-noth-ing boy ; I wonder how you can do it. ” I turned that freezer for ever so Ion;., but nothing would freeze, so I made up my mind that it wanted more salt. I didn’t want to disturb anybody, so I quietly went into the kitchen and got the salt-cellar and emptied it into the ice-cream. It began to freeze right away ; but I tasted it and it was awful salt, so I got the jug of golden syrup and poured about a pint into the ice-cream, and when it was done it was a beautiful straw color. But there was au awful scene when the party tried to eat that ice-cream. Sue handed it round and said to everybody: "This is my icecream, and you must be sure to like it.” The first one that she gave it to was Dr. Porter. He is dreadfully fond of icecream, and he smiled such a big smile, and said lie was sure it was it delightful, and took a whole spoonful. Then he jumped up as if something had bit him, and went out of the door in two jumps, and we didn’t see him again. Then three more men tasted their ice-cream, and jumped up and ran after the doctor, and two girls said, "Oh, my!” and held their handkerchief* over their faces, and turned just as pale. And then everybody else put their ice-cream down on the table, and said thank you, they gueaeed they wouldn’t take any. The party was regularly spoiled, and when I tasted the ioe-crefun I didn’t wonder. It was worse than the best kind of strong medicine. Sue was in a dreadful state of mind, and when the party had gone home—all but one man, who lay under the apple tree all night and groaned like he was dying, only we thought it was the cats—she made me tell her all about the salt and the golden syrup. She wouldn’ believe that I had tried to do my best and didn’t mean any harm. Father took her part, and said I ought to eat some of the ioe-oream since I made it; but I said I’d rather go upstairs with him. So I went. Some of these days people will begin to uuderstaud that they are just waisting and throwing away a boy who always tries to do his best, and perhaps they’ll be sorry when it is too late.— Harper't Young People.