The Hickman courier., 1868-06-13
OUR BABY.


OUR BABY.
1t was pretty little baby-thatis is, fol
4 baby. L had no fault to find with it
as far as its individual identity was con-
cerned. IF babies must exist-and ]
suppose there is necessity fSy the thing
or else where would all the gGgn people
come from this baby was we'll in
its way as any other baby.
] mention these facts merely ~ prove
that am in no way prejudiced As far
as mortal man eau be, am an Airely
impartial witness.
- - Szsesee, in its crl =.
syejnst sysiIas ns : ! 49,
we'll defined dimp ~ zhs St6s 56ints
thereof. 1t was fast asleep, I say, when
Bertha came airily into the room.
9 am going over to the depot to see
mother off Joseph, I'll be back in half
an hour. just keep an ne to the baby
while I'm gone, will you?
looked blank at my sister. But
while | was considering how best to ex-
press my total dissent from her auda-
cious proposition, she tripped out Of the
room, her ribbons futtering in the soft
spring air.
Silence doesn't always give consent.
but Bertha had taken it for granted. in
this matter, and l was left an unwilling
guardian Of my little nephew.
However, he was fast asleep; that was
one circumstance in my favor. Mortal
baby couldn't present a more innocent
and cherubic aspect thar he did. So l
calml y went on with my writing, soon be-
coming oblivious to his ipfantile pres
enee.
g Talk about tending babies, quoth |
to myself, dipping my goose-quill trium
! phantly into the ink, why It's the east
! est business in life. | should never spend
my money hiring nurses, if the little one
was mine-but women never do know
how 70 sssos4osnize property
As these fancies passed through my
mind the baby woke up and sneezed.
/ l gave the cradle an oscilatory kick,
and then burst forth into the we'll known
burden Of & Bye baby bunting" but
the little villain absolutely declined to
shut his eyes again, like sensible baby.
/ He opened them wider than two mini ature
moons, stared at me with an air of male
violence that has made me firm believer
/ in human deprsvity ever since, and de-
liberately began to cry. And the harder
[ rocked the cradle and the louder /
sang, the more resolutely did that baby
cry,
He's hungry" thought to myself
q Babies must be fed, and it's highly
reprehensible of Bertha to stay away SO
long" 9r
So went down into the pantry and
instituted search for some milk which
| have a vague idea was the diet gener-
ally preferred by the toothless infancy
But milk there was none. Lamp OIL
Stewards syrup; vinegar; kerosene
brandy; everything but Xix was there
every conceivable fluid in aggravating
profusion-but not drop Of milk.
All this time, meanwhile, the roars oil
my infuriated nephew, but slightly soft
ened BY distance, followed me abo2A ke
a Nemesis. =
rusbehfrsntically up-stg
of sugar, the frs
e8fedient that suggested itselfN
Bless its dear little heart1 6ere
there confound your racket, capt yor
keep still Take its sugar from own
own uncle, that's little goldeq y"
But the golden boy absolute reject
ed the sugar, screamed louder &n ever
as if its lungs were forty baby power
and warranted to never die out. 1t kick
ed, it struggled, tpawed the air, it grew
purple inithe face. Ashes Of king Her
cd and all the Egyptians what was I
man to do?
In vain | executed a war dance arounC
its cradle, in vain rang the dinner bell
a..3a ssiassls4 tha-sLiAeae eae...a,.-e-.4-----.--
waved the feather -duster, and swung IN,
gold repeater, and bawled nursery bal
lads at the top of my lungs. Talk abou
perseverance, Robert Bruce's spide
was nothing to that atrocious little lumI
of mortality.
There nothing for it but to capitu
late, said / to myself, as jammed m.
hat on my head, viciously thEust m
arms into my overcoat, and Sed til
baby cut of its cradle.
Leave it absolutely alone Died no
and the nearest grocery where MIX wa
. procurable lay three blocks off hu
lna sort of stony despair iss Grt
se<Aouse, carrying my
, like a bNaase under one arm,
!: thought he would stop q =
5, he got into the open air, but not o1
+ ygen only seemed to increase the shri
power of his villainous little pipes +
u People turned to stare at me as if | wel
an escaped lunatic, or an abductor
human innocence. Wepen looked il
L. dignantly at the baby y Blue worste
socks and little pink legs kicking bin
lily from beneath my arms. Children r;
after me, dogs barked, but kept do
q gedly on my way, walking into the gr
Gerry, with resolution second only
that of the Roman fellow who Jump
into a crater, nobody knows how mai
u hundred years ago.
a pint of milk, if you please" !"
"Milk, sir? Have you brought an
thing to put it imp
l thought of my tobacco box, n
= nocket handkerchief. the corner of n