Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1868-01-25

tive. oracular air, when things have
gone wrong, which always upsets my
dignity. Yet how cunningly he uses
hispowerl Tt is only in the last ex-
tremity that he crosses his legs, puts
his hands into bis trousers pockets, and
argues the case with me. One day last
week he was very near coming TO grief.
By my directions, kindhng wood and
coal are placed every morning IN the
library CRATE, in order that l may have
a fire the moment / return at night
Master Johnny must needs apply a
lighted match to this arrangement ear
Iv in the forenoon. The fire was not
discovered until the blower was one
mass of red hot iron, and the wooden
mantel-piece was smoking with the IN
tense heat. .aa.5a ayl I
When / came home, johnny was led
from the store room, where he had been
imprisoned from an early period, and
where he had employed himself in eat
ing about two dollars worth Of pre-
served pears.
Johnny" said /, in as severe tone
as one could use Ia addressing a person
whose forehead glistened with syrup
Johnny, don't you remember that l
have always told you never to NEEDLE
with matches.
Tt was something delicious to see
JOHNNY trying to remember. de cast
one eye meditatively up to the ceilingE
then he fixed it abstractedly on the
canary bird, then he rubbed his ruffied
brows with a sticky hand; but really,
for the life of him, he couldn't recall
any iDiunctions concerning matches.
81 can't, papa, truly. truly, said
Johnny st length. Il guess 1 must
have forgot it. F"
"Wen, Johnny, in order that you
may not forget it In future"
Here Johnny was seized with an
idea. He interrupted me.
.1'll tell you what you do. papa
You Just pld Il doacn an 'critin.
With the air of a man who has set
tied a question definitely, but ct the
same time was willing TO listsH polite
ly to any crude suggestions that you
may have to throw out, Johnny cross
ed his lea. and thrust his hands into
those wonderful trousers pockets. L
turned my face aside. for felt GER
tain weakness creeping into the cor
ners of my mouth. was lost. In an
instant the little head, covered all over
with yellow curls, was laid upon my
knee, and JohDny was crying, Sim SO
very, very sorryl"
L have said that Johnny Is the terror
OF the neighhorhoOd. I think / have
not done the young gentleman an in
Justice. If there is window broken
within the radius of two miles of our
house, Johnny's ball, or stone known
to come from his dextrous hand, is
almost certain to be found in the bat
tered premises. / never hear the mu-
steal jingle of splntered glass, but my
portemonaie gives a cOnvulsiye throb
in nv breast pocket There is not a
doorstep in our streetthat hasn't borne
evidence In red chalk of his artistic
ability; there isn't bell that he hasn't
ruDg and ran away from at least three
hundred times. Scarcely a day passes
but he falls out of something, or over
something, or into something. A lad
der running up to the dizzy roof of an
unfinished building is no more TO be
resisted by him than the back platform
of 3 horse-car, when the conductor is
collecting his fare in front.
should not like to enumerate the
battles that Johnny has fought during
the past eight months. 1t is a ply
steal impossibility, i should judge, for
him to refuse challenge. He picks
his enemies out of all ranks of society.
He has fought the ashman's boy, the
grocer's boy, the rich boys over the
way, and any number of miscellaneous
boys who Gu need to stray into our
street.
1 can't say this young desperate is
always victorious. L have known the
tip of his nose to be in a state of I'M
pleasant redness for weeks together. /
have known him to come home FREE
quently with no brim to his hat; once
he presented himself with only one
shoe, on which occasion his jacket was
split mp the back in a manner that gave
him the appearance of an over-ripe
chestnut bursting out of It's burr. How
he will fight But this / can say: If
Johnny is as cruel as Caligula, he is
every bit as brave as Agamemnon. /
never knew him to strike boy smaller
than himself. 1 never knew him to tell
lie when a lie would save him from
disaster.
p At present the General, as I some
times call him, is In hospital. He was
seriously wounded at the battle of the
Little Go Cart on the 9th inst. On re-
turning from my Office yesterday even
ing. I found the SCARED veteran stretch
ed upon a sofa in the sitting room, with
patch of brown paper stuck over his
left eye, and convicting smell of vine
gar about him.
EYES," said his mother, dolefully.
'Johnny's been fighting again. That
horrid Barnabee boy (who is eight years
old, if he is day. won't let the child
alone"
"Well, said I, ''I hope Johnny gave
that Barnabee boy thrashing."
r"Didn't I, thought cries Johnny
from the sofa, 81 betr'
80 Johnny says his mother.
Now, several days previous to this, L
addressed the General in the following
terms:
''Johnny, if / ever catch you in an
other fight of your own seeking, | shall
cane you"
In consequence of this declaration,
it became my duty to look into the
circumstances of the present affair,
which will be known in history as the
battle of the Little Go Cart. After GO
ing over the ground very carefully, /
found the following to be the state of
the case:
1t seems that the Barnabee Boy-I
speak of him as if he were the Benicia
Boys the Oldest pupil in the prima-
~ military school 81 think it mast be a
military SCHOOL, of which johnny is q
recent member. This Barnsbee having