Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-04-01

uoeh wasteu ON fOurtn Warder In row at
the polls; and my hollow merriment, although
| its merits rs an imitation did i'm fact make the
baby stop minute, catch breath. and look at
| me, did no more. His face curled ND again,
and out came the yell
had observed upon lifting Sammy from the
cradle; that he seemed to stiffen himself in
| somewhat writhed attitude as if to resist any
purpose He now began to squirm in n man.
ner rather alarming, so that fancied it might
be about to indulge in the pleasant diversion of
| mt. All at once, reflected that he must be
hungry; and that very possibly both screeching
| and s4uirming might be referred to that cause
accordingly placed the little one, still inde-
| fatigably bowling in manner that would have
/ exhausted Mohawk war chief in three min.
utes, in his cradle, raked some live Goals out
from the buried kitchen fire, warmed some
| milk IN an old tin cup, watered and sugared it
according to the regulations in such case pro-
vlded, put 1t in the suck bottle''-as I believe
1t Is caiied-took small precautionary pull at
the preparation myself, finding a perfect nectar
for lukewarmness, and proceeded TO invite Mas
ter sammy to partake, SO to speak, of the fcs-
| tive bowl.
Lying yelling, on his back, with eyes close
shut and mouth wide open, he needed not the
seductive Wand. 1 half lifted him, but he
wouldn't look. L jerked some drops into his
mouth, as job pcppered vinegar or tomato
catsup through a eruet cork at eating houses
| but he appeared not to perceive it, [ cautious
ly inserted the bottle into his mouth, until the
| TIP OF the sucking thing, whatever they call it.
fslTly .poked upon his epiglOttis. He only
gagged, writhed and yelled on. Evidently he
was not hungry; L put away the bottle.
The business grew dreadful. Sammy began
to turn purple, and to feel blue; but still he
| continued that ear -torturing cry | looked
about me In fOrlOrn and hopeless perpIexity
| There was n rattle-One Of those coral ibincs
with half dozen minute pewter sleigh bells
on lt-and a penny whistle. L shook the former
and blew the latter in an industr rious but
rather lmbecile way, near Sammy's phiz |
might as we'll have used the same means TO
scare 'ioness robbed of whelps or New York
city alderman nosinC out Job | lifted the
infant. who stiffened himself again at my touch,
almost into stony are. ard sIivered as dying
hsh Will sometimes do in the captor' hand and
with a feeble effort to preserve further the be-
| nignity and universal friendship which had
| f1Ourished so largely, and which felt growing
thinner and thinner, L sang to the child the
inevitable by 10 baby bunting" aud then
row lay me - also the affecting ballad of
The Three Lite Kittens, and as my stock of
truly juvenile literature gave out at this point,
L proceeded with s. Rise, my Soul" and one or
two other hymns. These efforts were all in
vain; felt as sheepish as if L had been caught
trying to sing tornado to sleep and my voice
died away as tried to raise the square-built
strains of old Amsterdam, like those of the
monk. her son, and her daughter, the num-
around the coffin of the wicked old woman of
Berkeley, in quiver of CONSERVATION.
1t was ut this point that my long tried pa
thence utterly failed, and with a sudden reyul-
sion of wrath, L found myself, mentally speak
ing, slung around into a position of absolute
opposition to this terrific child. of positive
anger and spite, not entirely unmixed with
fear. perfectly recolfect that precisely as 1
was feeling myselfcarried away by this impulse,
Sammy, who lay in a stiffened attitude with
his head well back over the one arm opened
his eyes moment. As am a living man the
pestilent infant winked his left eye at me
Never tell me there WASH t devil in that baby
Well, it occurred TO me in this new frame of
mind, that possibly 1 might intimidate the
child or simply out-yell and Overwhelm it by
sheer superiority Of yOciferation. So l held
him up by both arms on my knees looked right
down his ugly little red throat, and gave him
A wet sheet and a flowing sea,'
in syle that would have electrified the whole
British navy. 1t didn't discourage him at all.
tired the Plrate' Glee, containing some fear
ful chromatic whining, which l made the most
of, but to no end. Then degenerated, am
afraid. into mere mindless, ignoble spitefulness;
and opening my mouth again. spent some ten
OF fifteen minutes in a series Of the most hdeous
complicated and disgusting yells that probably
II ever entered into the heart of man to con-
ceive, until my throat felt as if I had peck of
teazles pOkcd into my lungs and pulled out
again. Great Ceaser's ghost, what baby, He
never finched, nor - bated a jot of heart or
hope" lie yelled away as peaceable as if moth
ing had happened.
But as for me, this finished me- I fancied
that under these frightful discourayements
my intellect was beginning slightly TO wayor
Hing Herod came into my mind | thought of
the geat bed Of live Goals in the old fashioned
kitchen fireplace. Not altogether free from un-
easiness as to what | might be led to do, I mt
Sammy into his cradle, and shut the kitchen
door.
But quickly grew ashamed of this. Diyni-
fed iDdhcrerc' L remembered, would suit me
better. Besides, L recOllected having heard
that letting babies alone would stop their cry-
ing when everything else failed L think il
would-when they had yelled themselves to
death. So | erected a little fortifcation in the
enscOnsed Sammy within it, stuck his rattle in
his hand, took up :. Dwight's Theology and
set down by the window to read.
L had no perception of the duration of time
For what know, Sammy squalled there for a
week Once, with grim smile, started up
aud emptled about halfthe milk out of the bot
tie, that L might permit it to be supposed he
had fed to that extent. / had also presence of
mind enough left to shape a scheme as euuiyo-
cation wherewith to elude the necessity OF con
Tossing the facts Of the morning to nv respected
aunt. Otherwise, the period which supervened
IL nlseTdDie Dlh1lk III my TecOllectlOn, moth
ing more except yell. 1t was sometimes in
the distant future-as regards my reading that
omnous dilineatiOn Of the abodes of the wicked
that the sudden noise Of stamping feet, rat
tling wheels and mingled voices, smote upon
my ear, aud walked me from kind of awful
s.upor. Before | had composed my counten-
ance, my Aunt Fanny entered the room. CLAN
ced at her vociferous progeny, and bent keen
aud suspicious look upon me. fairly cowed
before her-an abiect being--as miserable As if
| had been taken in the act of stealing sheep
from my best friend. / knew / had a hang
look; and felt TO use acertain 6gurative express
sion, like a boiled OWL
"WeII, Fred, said she, in her sharp, deci-
sive voice, ''hOw do you get along ~
Well" said, feebly, pretty well on the
whole. He cried some latterly; but on the
whole, / think he enjoyed himself"
Did lie, L don't care much if / did. But
L think he did enjoy himself
As the people came trooping in, Sammy was
apparently diverted by the noise, and ceased
firing that Is, the devil went out of him, be-
cause there was no further chance TO torment
me. He was soon in the enioymcnt of his sta