The weekly Anglo-African., 1860-06-16

Woo snO AOoC VI tuo uduy, toihptiHS oPoli
upon which it landed for refreshment. buz
zing most villianously as it did so. 1t
was ticklish landing, however, and baby
soon drove it off with sneeze that aston
ished its nerves, and mine, too, more than
the fys, for the fly was accustomed to
ticklish situations, which was not Baby
was thoroughly reused Up went its
round, chubby arm; but rock of the
cradle soon sent that back to its place
did rock that cradle beautifully. The lit
tie head rolled to and fro as easily as if it
had been fastened on by toy mandarin's
neck. | could not help admiring myself
for the way in which | did it. and | am
sure that any reasonable baby would have
gone to sleep again, if only for compli-
ment's sake but the baby in the cradle
didn't. The moment the rocking ceased,
up popped the little head, like Judy's in
the show, with small peeyish cap. That
cry! it was like the fixing of the Fuse
of powder magazine, sure to end in an
explosion.
Were you ever reused in the middle of
the night by the maid-of-all-work COM
ing in her slippers and night-cap to inform
you that the house was on FIRE? Did you
ever stand near Dutchman who was
weighing gunpowder with lighted segar
in his mouth? If not, you cannot conceive
my horror when | heard that cry. / was
in cold perspiration from head to foot l
have no doubt that hail stones as big as
peas might have been picked off my fore
head. l rocked for dear life, and baby
bounced about like ball of india-rubber.
But it was all uselessness. sang all the
songs that could think Of, from the cabil-
istic HushabyW to Cease, rude Be-
reas 7" tried tenor, and / tried bass;
but the baby did not know the difference
1t seemed to think it all base, The loud
er / sang, the louder it cried. 1t was
bawl and squall; and squall boat. The
cry peevish became the cry indignant, and
the cry indignant became the cry imperat-
i've. Blue bottle buzzed with delight, and
danced horn-pipe on the window, while
the clock kept up tantalizing Go it go
it p
In an unlucky moment / lifted the little
tempest ont of the cradle. Never, never,
never will l commit such an act of
thoughtless imprudence again Before l
did SO, could have truly sung with the
poet, "The white squat raves" but after
wards the fercest blasts of Boreas seemed
to come from that little throat.
In the hope of quieting the tornado, /
took the baby in my arms, waddled it
about the room; tossed it up and down
till my shoulders ached; handled it on
my knees, now the right one, now the
left; but nothing would do. Like an east
erly gale, that multiplied squall seemed to
be endless. felt really alarmed. | was
completely terrified. / saw visions Of con
vulsions, and such like ills that infant
flesh is heir to-" If 1 had been in city
I am sure that crowd would have collect
ed. might have been taken up and &C
cused of an attempt to commit infanticide
perhaps been published in the papers as a
wretch guilty OF cruelty to dumb animals.
Dumb How 1 wish that the dear family
organ had been dumb even envied the
deaf men that pick up cinders.
| / looked at the clock, and exclaimed i'll
despair, "When will the mother return 7"
and the clock answered me.with hooking
monotony, mot yet, not yeti Blue-bot-
| tie had ceased its buzzing, and returned to
its old quarters over the dali plate to watch
for the temperance of the ship-perhaps
asking impatiently as 1 did the question,
"When will she return 7" while the clock
confined to repeat increasingly, "Not yet,
not yet W
l knew not what to do, and rushed do
zen times to the door, hoping to see the
promised relief. But the walls of the dis
tant church and the houses beyond were
thick, and l could not look through them.
There was rooster upon the fence flap
ping his wings and growing like Trojan
Il do believe it was over my perplexity;
the pigs were granting in their sty, pull
ing each others ears for amusement; and
a cow was giving nourishment to her calf
in distant field. Suddenly bright idea
struck me. I seized an old tobacco pipe
that had been slowed away upon the man
tel-piece, and immersing the bulb in tum-
bier of water, stuck the stem into babys
mouth. Baby was no genius. | became
satisfied of that in a minute. 1t is an at
tribute of genius to accomplish its desires
with imperfect instruments. There was
no stoppage IN the plpe-l tried 1T myself
was at my wits ends, and laid the ba-
by on the floor, examining my fingers into
my ears. 1t was of no use-I could not
shut out the sound 1t was like thou
sand "ear-piercing pipes drilling me
through and through. was riddled with
screams that touched like galvanic wires on
every nerve. What would / not have
given for the sight of petticoat bearing
down to my relief Never did Rob-
inson on his desert island gaze more long
ingly over the ocean in search of sail,
than / did down the road for bonnet and
curls. But the feminine, like other useful
commodities, had all vanished when most
wanted. Even the cat, accustomed to
nursing as she was-even the cat, sensible
creature, had disappeared. Like the dis
tressed hero of novel, was left to my
own reflections, and had no resources left.
There was the baby Topping about on the
floor like porpoise on ships deck, as if
lying on its beam-ends were natural pos