LIMPETTY JACK

ONCE upon a time there was a very stupid fellow whom
nearly all the boys of the neighborhood, “just for fun,”
called Limpetty Jack. It would have been better if they
had pitied him for his stupidity, and tried to help him to his
wits as well as they could. But none of them thought of
that. Probably if the boys had thought of it, they would
have gone to work and helped him heartily. But, at all
events, they did n’t. They made, instead, more and more
sport of him every day, until at last they resolved to have
some very wonderful fun indeed. So, after many a con-
sultation in front of the country store, they worked and
conjured with an ugly mask and brown stuff and wire
and long seaweeds and big green gogeles until they suc-
ceeded in producing a horrid-looking monster — that is,
when they had persuaded a young man to try on the
mask and all the trappings. Tt was one Philigan McDer-
mot who thus consented to join in their so-called fun.

Then they took Philigan to a damp, gloomy cave by the
sea; and after dressing him in the hideous rig, they made
him squat down on a rock in the dimmest corner. Such a
dreadful-looking object surely was never seen before, and

301