The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-01-08
OUR CHARLEY.

"a busy shadow-a little restless specimen
OF perpetual motion, and the owner Thereof
is sour Chariey.'
Now, we should not write about him and
his ways il he were strictly peculiar and
individual existence Of our own home circle;
but it is not so. 'Our Charley exists ID u
thousand, nay, q million Of families: he has
existed in millions in all times back; his
name is yariousIy rendered in all the tongues
Of the earth; nay, there are thousand
SYNONYMS for him in English-for indispu-
tably 'our Willie,' or 'our Harry or sour
Georgia belongs to the same suub nosed,
checked, restless shadow maker. So
in France is 'Leoncc,' or sPierrc,' as well as
'Ck.re;' in Italy he is 'CarIino,' or 'Fran'
cisco;' in German, Max or WiIhclm;' and
in Chinese he is little Ling Fungi with q
long silk tail on the back Of his head, but
the same household sprite among them all;
in short, we take 'our Charley in generic
sense, and we mean to treat him as mlnla-
ture epitome of the grown man-enactlng in
a sliadowy ballet by the fire-side all that
men act in earnest in after life. lie is a
looking glass for grown people, in which they
nav see how certain things become them
in which they may sometimes ever see
streaks and gleamnss Of something wiser
than all the harsh conflict Of life teaches
them.
'Our Charley is generally considered by
tie world as an idle little dog, whose pur-
suits being very inconscquent, may be put
of or put by for every and anybody; but
the world as usual is very much mistaken.
No nan is more pressed with business, and
needs more prudence, energy, tact, and
courage, to carry out his schemes, in face OF
all the opposing circumstances that grown
people constantly throw in his way. Has
he not ships to build and sail? and has he
not vast cnglneerIngs to make ponds and
docks in every puddle or brook, where they
shall lie ut anchor Is not his pockets
stuffed with material for sails and cordage !!
And yet, like a man of the world as he is,
oil this does not content him, but he must
own railroad stock too. If he lives where
steam whistle has vibrated, it has awaken
cd quiet yearnng within him, and some
day be harnesses all the chairs into a train
md mikes q locomotive of your work table,
and steam whistle Of himself.
lie inSpects toyshop windows, gets into
firta,ions with benevolent watchmrn: and
when he gets his mouth close to papa's ear,
reveals to him that Mr.. So-andso has got
II locomotive that will wind up and go alone
so cheap too-can't papa get it for him !:
And so papa Gall papas do) goes and buys
it, though he knows it will be broken in n
week. Then what rapturcs the dear loco
motive! the darling black chimney sleeps
under his pillow. that he may feel Of it in
the night, md be sure when he wakes that
the JOY is not cyaporatcd. lie bores every
body with it as arilc5s as grown people do
with their hobbies, but ut last the arlor
runs out. His darling is found to have
faults. lie picks it to pieces to make 1t
work better; finds too late that he can't put
it together again; and so he casts it aside
and makes locomotive of Il broken wheel
barrow and some barrel slaves. DO YOU,
my brother, or grown-up sister ever indul &c
in anything like this? DO your friendships
and loves ever 80 the way Of Charley's toy;
First enthusiasm; second satiety; third
ciscontent; then picking to pieces; then
dropping and losing? low many idols are
in your box Of gon2.by p!aythiag>: And
M it not be as we'll to snssest you when
,vol fin. flaws in your next one, to enquire
before you pick to pieces whether you-can
put it together again, and whether what
YOU Gull defect is not a part Of its nature.
\ tin locomotive won't draw a string Of
pnr!or chairs, by any possible attention,
but it may be very pretty for all thnt it WAS
III .de for. Charley and you might both
learn something from this.
Charlcy's business career, rs We have be-
fore Unlimited, has its trials. 1t is hard
for him to find time for it, so many imper-
tincnt Interruptions. For instance, there
are four hours of school, taken out Of the
best part Of the dry-fOur mortal hours in
which he might make ships, or build dams,
or run railroad cars; he is obliged to leave
all his affairs, often in very precarious
situation, and 60 through the useless ccre-
mony Of reading and spelling. When he
comes home, the houscmaiI has swept his
foremost into the fire, and mamma has put
his top-saIs into tho rag-bag, and all his
affairs are in desperate situation. Some
times he gets terribly msanthTopic; all
grown people seem consp!rlng against him;
he is called away from his serious avocatIOns
50 often, AMI his attention distracted with
such irrelevant matters, that he is n-i.nant.
H. IS rushing through the passage in hot
haste, hands full Of nails, strings, and Irvine,
and Mary sgizcS ham and wants to brush his
hlir; he is interrupted in burst Of enthu-
siasm and told to wash his hands for dinner,
or pcrhaps. greater horror than all, COM
pany is expected, and he must put on
clean new suit, just as he has mad. all the
arran semcnts for u ship launching down at
the swamp. This dessin5 and washing he
regards with unutterab!c contempt and dis
gust: secretly, too, he is skcptlc"l about
the advantages of going to school and
learning to read; he believes to be sure,
when papa and mamma tell him of unknown
future advantages to come when he is IL
great man, but thea the present he is sure
Of his ships and sloopS; his bits Of strings
nnl :ish-hooks, and old corks and broken
railroad ctrs; anl above all his new skatc~
these are realities. And he also knows
what Tom White AMI Bill Smith say and so
he walks by sight more than by faith.
All, the child is father Of the man! When
he Sc:s }! Ter he will have the great toys Of
which these nra cmbems; he will believe in
what he sees and touches--in house, land,
railroad stock-he will believe in these
earnestly and really, and in his eternal IN M
hood, nominAlly and partially. And when
his Fathers messengers meet him. and face
him about, and take him off his!darling pur-
suits, and sweep his big ships into the fire,
and crush his full-grown cars, then the