“FOR FUN."
Four boys were full of fun; they wanted to see the people get a tumble as they came out of church, so they stretched a rope across the sidewalk, and hid behind the hedge to "have a good laugh." Little Alice came running down the street; she had been carrying a basket of fruit and flowers to Aunt Comstock, who was ill; and the cheery words spoken by the invalid made the little girl very happy; so she came hopping and singing along, gay as any bird. The night was dark, the street lamps dim and far apart. The little girl fell.
The boys ran away. After service the people found the rope; they found something else lying near, lying quite still, and bore it to the light—poor little Alice! It was long before she opened her eyes again; and then it was only to know she could not skip about any more, could never even sit in her cozy chair, but must lie on her couch all the years of her life.
Just for fun Johnnie and Charlie wanted a laugh. "Girls are such sillies, you know!"
Johnnie made a dough-face and put it on Charlie, wrapped him in a sheet, and hid him behind the tall old clock on the stairs. Dear little Mamie came down the long corridor hushing Dollie in her arms.
An awful groan and flourish of white from the shadows!—a shriek, a flying figure, a fall! The boys had their fun, but Johnnie has no sister now.
Some young men in college "must have some fun, you know," so they held a companion and poured brandy down his throat. A few hours later this telegram went flashing over the wires into a peaceful home: "Come at once, your son is dead."
Today those boys are wanderers over the face of the earth; behind them is a desolate home and an early grave—"all for fun!"
Five or six idle boys wanted a "jolly time," so they caught a little homeless dog, saturated its matted and tangled hair with kerosene, then applied a lighted match. In a moment the poor creature was in a blaze. With cries of agony it ran hither and thither—oh, how the boys laughed!
—then rushed into the open barn and hid beneath the closely packed hay. In a moment all was ablaze, and before assistance could arrive, barn, house, and the entire contents were destroyed.
The boys had their fun; mamma and the little ones were left homeless.
Selected.