People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1893 — HE WANTED THE CORRECT TIME. [ARTICLE]

HE WANTED THE CORRECT TIME.

The Old Man from Willow Fateh Had m Mission on ths World's Fal.- Grounds. The Columbian guard thought ha must be crazy and possibly the Columbian guard was justified in so thinking. He had long chin whiskers and a smooth-shaven upper lip. His eyes were apparently fixed on something above one of the buildings, and in his' hand he held an enormous silver watch. “What are you trying to do?” asked the guard. “Yon ’tend to your business an’ I’ll ’tend to mine,” was the prompt response. “You’ll lose that eight-day clock,” suggested the guard, facetiously. “Well, that’s nothin’ to you,” retorted the old man, dually bringing hia eyes down to earth and looking at the guard. “I’m rnore’n twenty-one an’ I know what I’m doin’.” “You dou’t act like it," said the. gua-’d. “I think I’d better take you in, anyway, fora lunatic.” "Yon ain’t smart enough. One of them three-card Monte Carlo men tried to take me in an’.got fooled. But seein' as you’re so all-fired smart I’ll jest tell you what I’m doin’, an’ then you can mosey along. I told the old woman before I left Willow Patch, down near Kankakee, that I’d bring her home the correct time She ain’t, got no confidence in the town clock an’ wanted the time right from this here time ball on the world’s fair grounds, an’ I been sittin’ here nigh onto half an hour bo's not to miss it when it drops. When it goea I'll just set the old watch an’ go home to —” He looked up again and saw that the ball had already fallen. He started for the Columbian guard, but thought better of it. “That’s the second time some darn fool has come along an’ got me talkin’ an’ the ball’s got away from me,” he suid. "Now I’ve got to stay over another day, and try it again. I’ll be here to-morrow 'bout the same time, lookin’ the same way, with tlie old silver watch in my hand, an’ if you see me you’d better go 'round the other side of the building, ’cause I’m goin’ to get that time to-morrow If I have to lick every guard on the grounds.”—Chicago Tribune.