The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1868-01-02

y
and then too much for me. l wish
I could read him as. cleverly as hgI
reads me. He knows all my weak
points, he sees right through me, and
makes me feel that am a helpless
infant in his adrOit hands, He has
an argumentative, oracufar air, when |
things have gone wrong, which always
uPsets my dignity. Yet how cunning
ly he uses his power 1t is only in !
the last extremity that he crosses his
legs, puts his hands into hiss trousers
pockets, and argdeS the case with me.
One day last week he was very near
coming to grief. By my directions,
kindling-wOOd and coal are pIaced |
every morning in the library. crate, |
in order that may Have a fire the
moment 1 return at night. Master
Johnny must needs apply lighted !
match u This arrangement early. in
the afternoon. The fire was not dis
covered till the blower was one mass
Of red-it6t iF6h, and the wooden man. I
teI-piece was smoking with the in
tense heat.
When came home Johnny was
led from the stefe-roOm, where he Rad
been imprisoned from an early period, |
and where he had employed himself /.
in eating about two dollars worth of
preserved pears.
"JOhnny," said, in as severe tone
as 1 could use in addressing a person .
whose forehead gifstened with syrup ;
Johnny, don't you remember that | /
have always told you never to meddle
with matches?'
1t was something delicious to see
Johnny trying to remember. He cast
one eye meditatively dp to tRe ceiling,
then he fixed it abstractedly on the |
canary bird, then he rubbed his rufIled |
brOws with a sticky hand; but really,
for the life Of him, he couldn't recall |
any injunctiOns concerning matches.
81 can't, papa, truly, truly" said
Johnny at length. q guess 1 must
have forgotten it."
"Well, Johnny, in order that you
may not forget it in the future"
Here Johnny was seized with an |
idea. He interrupted me-.
"Ill tell you what you do, papa
yOW Just put 1t dOWH in eVritirl."
With the air of a man who has set |
tied question definitely, but at the
same tirde is willing to listen politely
to any crude suggestion that you may !
have to throw out, Johnny crossed his |
legs, and thrust his hands into his |
Wonderful trousers pockets. I turned
my face aside, for I felt a certain
weakness Creeping into the corners
of my mouth. was lost. In an in
slant the little head, covered all over
with yellow curls, was laid upon my
knee, and Johnny was crying, "t'm
So very, very sorry"
have said that Johhny is .tl8 ter
ror of the neighB6rhoOd. 1 think I
have not done the young gentleman
an injustice. If there is a window
broken within the radius. of two iililes |
from our house, JOhnny's ball, or a
stone known to come from his dexter
GUS hand, is almost certain TO be
found iii the battered premises. new
er hear the jingling 6f splintered glass,
but my pOrte-neOn1aaie gives a c6nvul-
sive thrOb in my breast pocket
There is not doorstep in our street
that has not borne evidences in red |
chalk Of his artistic ability, there isn't
a bell that he hasn't rung and run
away from at least three hundred |
times. Scarcely day passes bit he
falls out of something, or over some
thing, or into something. A ladder
running up to the dizzy roof of an un-
finished building, is no more to be re-
sisted by hin THAN the back platform
of hOrse-car, when the cOnductbr is
collecting his fare in front. -.
l should not like to enimerate the
battles that Johnny has fought during
the past eight m6nths. 1t is physi,
cal impOssibility, 1 shOdld Judge, foE
him to refuse to accept a challenge
He picks his euethies 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 chanced to
stray into our street,
I can't say that this voting desbera-
do is always victorious. / have known
the tip of his nose to be in 4 State of
unpleasant redness for weeks together.
I have knOwt him to come home fire.
dte!tly With bid RIM bri His hat once
lie Presented himself with only one
shoe, on which occasion his jacket
was split up the back in mahner
that gave him the appearance Of an
Oyef-rlpe chestnut bursting out of its
burr. How he Will fight! But this !
can say,-if Johnny is as cruel as Cali
gula, he is every bit as brave as Aga
memnOh. I never kne# him to strike
a boy smaller than himself: I never
knew him to tell a lie when lie
would save him from disaster.
At present the General, as I some
times call him, is in hospital. He
was seriously wdHHded at the battle Of
The Little Go-Cart, on the 9th inst
On returning from my Office yester
day evening, found that Scared vet
eran stretched upon Sofa in the sit
ting room, with a patch of brown pa
per stuck Over. his left eye, and a con-
victing smell of vinegar ab5ht him..
eyes" said his mother, dOlefQl1y,
"Johnny's BEgn fighting again. That
horrid Barnabee boy (whO is eight
years old, if he is day. Won't let the
child alone"
"well," said I, 81 hope Johnny
gave that Barnabee boy a good thrash
ing" .....
from the sofa. ''I bet g'
so johnny" says his mother.
Now, SEVERAL days previous to this, I
had addressed the GGtGtal in the fol-
lowing terms:
"Johnny, if I ever catch Fbd in
another fight of your own seeking, I
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. At
ter going over the ground very care
fuIly, 1 found the following to be the
state of the case: