Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1867-06-05
A GOOD STORY
GENERAL TOMMY

! Our house IS under martial law, and
| Tommy is our ruler. 1t has always
been so, since his birth | remember
when he was wee bit of baby, the
dinner hour was changed, that the cIat
ter OF our dishes might not disturb his
afternoon nap, and every thing was reg.
uIated to suit his royal pleasure
None of us older children were al
lowed to appear at the family table ur.
til we had learned to handle knife
and fork properly; but Tommy was
brought down in triumph, as soon as
he could sit up in his high chair.
And then such behavior. Why Tom
my may do the most iIl-brcd things,
and we all laugh it off, as capital
Joke.
Father is what grown people call
fastidious,' what children style very
pertickelar.' Many a time, I've seen
him leave his breakfast untasted, only
because simple little fly, wishing a
warm bath, chose fathers coffee cup
as a suitable place tor that perform
ancC
But when Tommy, from the farther
end of the table, sent his inseparablc
companion, a rubber doll, with great
violence, from his own mouth plumb
into fathers cup, splashng his linen
and hands with hot coffee, father only
laughed, and cried" Bravo as he
tossed it back to baby, and declared
his coffee to be .'all the sweeter," when
mother passed another cup.
| remember that breakfast time so
we'll, because father was telling us
pititul story about college friend of
his. He had just reached the very sad
dest part, and was evidently much af
tected, when there came crash, clat
ter, loud peals of laughter, and far
above the din, such jubilant crows of
delight from Tommy.
This time he had only upset the
spoon stand, which brought down the
cream pot, and then as Ella stopped to
restore the scattered silver. he tasten-
ed both hands into her culls, and bal
ancing himself upon his little toes, was
tugglLg away most numerically.
Father forgot his story, and Joined in
the general laugh, and dear little Nell,
when rescued from Toms clutches
smiled bravely through. her tears.
| asked father why Tommy was SO
INDUCED; but he only laughed, and
said : 'Oh, he is the autocrat OF our
breakfast table; though | could not see
that that explained the matter
Before Tommy was six months old
he had shattered q pier glass, broken
off solitary blossom from mothers
century plant, and scalded pet poodle,
besides giving us on an average one
good fright daily by his own reckless
ness.
AS he grew older, he did but grow
worse. Mother says that good DR..
Watts taught that children should be
Iinquisitive; that youthful curiosity
ought to be encouraged She talks Of
Sir Isaac Newton, Columbus, and other
great discoverers, and hopes Tom may
be Of use in the world.
This is when Tom is safe abed, or, as
she thinks, well occupied. But when
she finds that he has been employed
in making inky seas on tho back OF
some rare engraving-when she be-
holds her bust Clytae hanging from the
bell-rope, and Tommy at work on her
grand piano with his little hammer, Sir
Isaac Newton, Columbus, and the com
fort they afford, seem distant and un.
satisfactory, while Tom and his mis-
chief are near and provoking.
/ Then his excuse is that ClytH is Jane
who is awful bad, hung in effigy, and
that he is only hammering ito see
where the music comes FROM does not
amuse mother or me as it does Grandma
Wilson, who delights in all Toms an
tics, saying,
They show he is of practical turn,
and Il thorough Wilson
Mothers father was an artist, and
art holds a low place in Gandma Will
sons estimation.
Tommy will have reason for every
thing, and is by no means content
with an explanation merely verbal