The Project Gutenberg eBook, Back to the Woods, by Hugh McHugh

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Title: Back to the Woods

Author: Hugh McHugh

Release Date: June 13, 2004 [eBook #12609]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK TO THE WOODS***

E-text prepared by Al Haines

BACK TO THE WOODS

The Story of a Fall from Grace

BY HUGH McHUGH

AUTHOR OF

"JOHN HENRY," "DOWN THE LINE WITH JOHN
HENRY," "IT'S UP TO YOU," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

1902

To all the boys in the Hammer Club:--Greetings
and gesundheit! Get together now and hit
hard--for the Devil loveth a Cheerful Knocker.

CONTENTS.

JOHN HENRY'S LUCKY DAYS

JOHN HENRY'S GHOST STORY

JOHN HENRY'S BURGLAR

JOHN HENRY'S COUNTRY COP

JOHN HENRY'S TELEGRAM

JOHN HENRY'S TWO QUEENS

JOHN HENRY'S HAPPY HOME

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Yours till the last whistle blows, believe me! John Henry

Clara J.--A Dream of Peaches--Please Pass the Cream

Uncle Peter--the Original Trust Tamer

Aunt Martha--a Short, Stout Bundle of Good Nature

Tacks--the Boy Disaster

Bunch Jefferson--All to the Good and Two to Carry

CHAPTER I.

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