Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-03-21
0billoll sStaItlle|'snf1'alrl, i
"A YOUNG DESPERATE.

NY men JOnnny is all Snugfy curled up
in bed, with his rosy cheek resting on one
of his scratched and grimy little hands,
forming together a perfect picture of
peace and innocence. it seems hard to
realize what a busy, restive, pugnacious,
badly ingenious little wretch he, ISL
There is something so comical in. those
funny little shoes and stockings sprawl
| ing on, the foor-they look. as if they
could jump up and run off, if they wanted
to-there is something. SO laughable
about those little trousers, which appear
to be making vain attempts to climb up
into the, easy-chair-the said trousers
still retaining the shape of j Johnny's lit
tie legs. and refusing to 60 to sleep I;
there is something, / say, about these
things and about J Johnny himself, which
makes it difficult for me to remember
that when Johnny is awake he not un-
1 frequently displays traits of character
not to be compared with, anything but
| the cunning Of an Indian warrior COM
bined with the combative qualities Of. a
trained prize fighter. -,.7..s .;sr. ..,.r
I'm sure 1 don't know how he came
BY such unpleasant propensities. / am
myself the meekeest of men. OF course
I don't mean to imply that Johnny in
herited his warlike disposition from his
mother. She is the gentlest Of women.
But when you come to Johnny-he's
the terror of the whole .neighborhood.o
| He was meek enough at frst-that is
to say, for the first six or seven days of
his existence. But verify believe that
he. wasn't more than eleven days old
when he showed degree of temper that
shocked me-shocked me in one SO
young. On that occasion he turned
very red in the face-he was quite red
before-doublsd up his ridiculous hands
i'm the most threatening manner and
finally, in the impotency of rage, punch
ed himself in the eye.s When 1 think of
the life he led his mother and, Susan
during the first eighteen months after
his arrival,I shrink from the RESPONSE
bilityo of allowing Johnny to call me
father.
Johnny's aggressive disposition was
not more early developed than his du-
plicity. By the time he was two years
of age I had got the following maxim
by heart: "Whenever j. isiparticularly
quiet look out for squalls" He was sure
to be in some mischief. And l. must
say there was a novelty, an unexpected
ness, an ingenuity, in his badness that
constantly astonished me- The crimes
he committed would be arranged alpha
betically., He never repeated himself.
His evil resources were inexbaustible.
He never failed to do the thing l was
unprepared for. 1 am not thinking so
much Of the time when he painted my
writing desk with raspberry jam as of
the occasion when he perpetrated an act
Of original cruelty on Mopsey, favor
tie kitten in the household. We
were. sitting in the library.
johnny was playing in the front
hall. In view Of the Supernatural still
ness that reigned, I remarked suspicious
ly,s""i Johnny is very quiet, my dear. -
At that. moment a series of very pa
thetic news was heard in the entry, fol-
lowedsby aviolent scratching ON the oil
cloth. Then Mopsey bounded into the
room with three empty spools strung
upon hers tail The spools were re-
moved with great difficulty, especially
the last one, which fitted remarkably
tight. After that, Mopsey never saw a
work basket without arching her tortoise
shell back and distending her tail to
three. times its natural thickness. An
other child would have squeezed the kit
ten, or stuck a pin into it, or twisted her
tail; but it was reserved for the superior
genius of Johnny to string rather small
lspools upon it. Hs-never did the OBJ
vious thing: r9T' geJao itia aoz ssslent
| Itiwas this fertility and happiness, if
may say so, of invention that prevent
ed me from being entirely detected over
my sons behavior at this period. Some
times the temptation to seize him and
shake him was too strong for poor hu
man nature. But / always regretted it
afterwards. When I saw him asleep in
his tiny bed, with one tear dried on his
plump, velvety cheek, and two little
mice-teeth visible through the parted
Hips, / could not help thinking what a
little bit of q, fellow he was, with his
funny little nails; and it didn't seem to
me that he was the sort of person to be
pitched into by q great strong man like
me. ..o.f,c
"WhenzJ ohnny grows ,older," / used
to say to his mother, RI will reason with
him." sBs-jIib 5idaf
| Now, I don't know when Johnny will
grow old enough to be reasoned with.
When I reflect how hard it is to reason
4 with wise grown-up- people, If they hap
pen to be unwilling to accept your views
of matters, I h am inclined to be very
patient with Johnny, cwhose, experiences
i is rather limited, after all, though he1 is
six yearsand a half old, and naturally
wants to know why and wherefore
Somebody, says something about the
Iduty Of. blind obedience" dIican't ex-
Ipect j ohnny to have more wisdom than
Solomon, and to be more philosophic
than the philosophers. .aoiin1itsng5 siAoils
i AT times, indeed, Iihave been led to
expect this from him. G He has shown a
depth, of mind that warranted me in
looking for anything. AT times he seems
as if be, were a hundred years old. He
has quaint, birdiike way of cooking his
head on one side, and asking question
that appears to be the result of years Of
study. If 1 could answer some of those
questions Il should solve, the darkest
mysteries of life and death. His in
quiries, however, generally have a gro
tesque flavor. One night, when the
/ mosquitoes were making lively raids on
his person, he appealed to me suddenly:
..How does the moon feel when a skeetel
bites it2'' To his meditative mind the
broad, smooth surface of the moon pre-
sented a temptation not to be resisted by
any stray skeeter. 4.;ls ~.
i freely confess that Johnny is now
| and then too much far me-. wish I