Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1867-12-19

he reads me. He knows all my
weak points; he sees right through
me, and makes me feel that / am {
helpless infant in his adroit hands
He has an argumentative. oraculal
AIR when things have gone wrong
which always upsets my dignity
Yet how cunningly he uses his pow
er! 1t is only in the last extremit,
that he crosses his legs, puts hi.
hands Into his trousers pockets, anC
argues the case with me. One day
last week he was very near coming tC
grief. By my directions kindliae
wood AMI coal are placed every M orn
Ing in The library CRATE, in orler tha
| may have fire the moment | return
Mt night. Master Johnny mustnced.
apply n lighted match to this ar
rangement early in the forenoon
The fire was not discovered until the
blower was one mass of red hot iron
and the wooden mantlepiece was
smoking with intense heat.
When / came home Johnny was
led from the stOre-rOOm, where hs
had been imprisoned from an early
period, and where he had employed
himselfin eating about two dollars
worth OF prese: we'd pears.
johnny" said /, in rs severe q
tone rs one could use in addressing
a person whose forehead glistened
with syrup; johnny, don't you re-
member that have always told you
never to NEEDLE with matches?"
1t was something delicious to sec
Johnny trying to remember. He
cast one eye meditatively up to the
ceiling, then he fixed it abstractedly
on the canary bird, then he rubbed
his rufilcd brows with sticky hand;
but really, for the life of him, he
couldn't recall any injunctions con-
corning matches.
Il can't papa, truly, truly" said
johnny at length. Il gness l must
have forgot it."
"Well, Johnny, i'll order that you
may not forget it in future
Here Johnny was seized with an
idea. He interrupted me.
Ill tell you what you do, papa;
you just put it down in writin."
With the air Of a man who has set
tied question definitely, but at the
same time is willing to listen politely
to any crude suggestions that yon
may have to throw out, johnny
crossed his legs and thrust his hands
into those wonderful trousers peck
cts. l turned my face aside, for /
felt certain weakness creeping into
the corners of my mouth. Il was
lost. In an instant the little head,
covered all over with yellow curls,
was laid upon my knee, and Johnny
was crying, I'm so very, very sor-
ry"
j have said that johnny is the Ter
ror of the neighborhood. / think i
have not done the young gentleman
an injustice If there is a window
broken within the radius oftwo miles
from our house Johnny's ball, or a
stone known to come from his dex-
ferrous hand, is almost certain to be
found in the battered premises.
never hear the musical jingling Of
splintered glass but my portem onnie
gives convulsive throb in my breast
pocket. There is not a doorstep in
our street that HASN'T borne eviden-
ces in red chalk ofhis artistic ability;
there isn'ta bell that he hasn't rung
and run away from at least three
hundred times. Scarcely day pas
SEES but he falls out Of something, or
over something. or into something.
y ladder running up to the dizzy
roof Of an unfinished building is no
more to be resisted by him than the
back platform Of horse-car when
the conductor is collecting.his fare in
front.
/ should not like to enumerate the
battles that Johnny has fought du-
ring the past eight months. 1t is a
physical impossibility, i should
Judge, for him to refuse a challenge.
He picks his enemies out of all ranks
of society. He has fought the ash
mans boy, the grocer's boy, the rich
boys over the way, and any number
of miscellaneous boys who Glanced
to stray into our street.
/ can't say that this young des-
perado is always victorious. Ihave
known the tip of his nose to be in
state Of unpleasant redness for weeks
together. / have known him to
come home frequently with no brim
to his hat; once he presented himself
with only one shoe, on which occa-
sion his jacket was split up the back
in a manner that gave him the APP
pearance of an oyer-ripe chestnut
bursting out of its bur. How he
will fight. But this l can say, John.
ny is as cruel rs Caligula he is every
bit as brave as Agamemnon. / new
er knew him to strike boy smaller
than himself Inever knew him to
tell lie when lie would save him
from disaster.
Al present the General, as some
tines call him, is in hospital. He
was seriously wounded at the battle
of The Little Go Cart, on the 9th in
slant. On returning from my Office
yesterday evening / found that scar
red veteran stretched upon a sofa in
the sitting room. with a patch Of
brown paper stuck over his lett eye
and a eonvicting smell of vinegar
about him.
Yes" said his mother, dolefully,
"Johnny's been fighting again.