JOHN HENRY'S LUCKY DAYS.
Seven, come eleven!
After promising Clara J. that I would never again light a pipe at
the race track, there I stood, one of the busiest puff-puff laddies
on the circuit.
Well, the truth of the matter is just this: I fell asleep at the
switch and somebody put the white lights all over me.
Just how I happened to join the Dream Builders' Association I don't
know, but for several weeks I was Willie the Wild Boy at the race
track and I kept all the Bookmakers busy trying not to laugh when
they took my money.
Every day when I showed up at the gate the Pipers played "Darling,
Dream of Me!" and every time I picked a skate the Smokers' Society
went into executive session and elected me a life member.
Every horse that finished last gave me the trembling lip as he
crawled home, well aware of the fact that I had caught him with the
goods.
I blame Bunch Jefferson for putting the bug in my Central.
Bunch went down to the skating pond one day with $18 and picked
four live wires at an average of 8 to 1. Then he began to talk
about himself.
After that event whenever I happened to meet Bunch he would raise
his megaphone and fill the neighborhood with hot ozone, fresh from
the oven.
It was pitiful to see that boy swell.
Just to cure Bunch and drive him out of the balloon business I made
up my mind one day I'd run down to the Flatfish Factory and drag a
few honest dollars away from the Bookmakers.
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