The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1868-01-02
tFrGaa dc Atlantic Monthly.
The Young Desperate.

QrlmY lIli0 udIluS, lOEIllLlS alUO36Gll'
er a perfect picture of peace and Juno.
cence, it seems hard to realize what q
busy, restiVe, pugnaciOus, badly in
genious little wretch he is There is
something so comical in those funny
little shoes and stockings sprawling
on the foor-they look as if they
could Jump up and run off, if they
wanted te-thefe is something Sd
laughable about those little trousers,
which appear to be making vain at
tempts to climb up into the easy-chair
the said trousers stiil retaining the
shape of Johnny's little legs, aud refUs-
ing to go to sleep-there is something
I saw, about these things, and about
Johnny himself, which makes it diff
cult for me to remember that, when
Johnny is awake, he not unfrequently
displays traits of character not to be
compared with anything but the cum
ming of an Indian warrior, combined
with the combative qualities ola train
ed prize fighter.
Pm sure 1 don't know how he came
by such unpleasant pfopensities. /
am myself the meekest of men. OF
course l do not mean to imply that
Johnny inherited his warlike dispOsi-
ton from his mother. She is the
greatest of women. But when you
come 10 JOhnny-he's the terror OF
the neighbOrhOOd.
He was meek enough at first-that
is to say, for the first six or seven
days of his existence. But 1 verify
believe that he wasn't more than
eleven days old when he showed a de-
gree of temper that shocked me
shocked me in one so young. On that
occasiOnshe turned very red in the
face-he was quite red before
doubled up his ridiculous hands in the
most threatening manner, and final
.iy, in the impotency of rage, punched
himself in the eye. When 1 think
of the life he led his mother and Susan
during the first eighteen months after
his arrival, I shrink from the respOn-
sibility 6f allowing Johnny to call lie
Johnny's Aggressive disposition was
hot More early developed than his dd-
plicity. By the time he was two
years of age, had got the f6llo%ing
maxim by heart "Whenever J. is
particularly, quiet, lO0k 6Bt for
SQUALLS" He was sure to be in some
mischief. And 1 must say there was a
novelty. an UnexPeetedness, an in
genuity in his badness that constantly
astonished me. The crimes he com.
mitted could be arranged alPhabeti-
tally. He never repeated himself
His evil resources were inexhaustible.
He never did the thing expected he
would. tie never failed to do the
thing 1 was unprePared for. lam
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 origin
al cruelty on Mopsey, faV6rite kit
ten ih the household. We were sit
ting in the library. Johnny was
playing in the front hall. In view
of the supernatural stiffness that reign
ed, 1 remarked, suspiciously, "JOhnny
is very quiet, my dear" At that
moment a series Of pathetic niews
was heard in the entry, followed by a
violent scratching on the Oil-clOth; then
Mopsey bounded into the room with
three empty spOOls strung upon her
tail. The spOOls were removed 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 tall to
three iiines its natural thickness
Another child would have squeezed
the kitten, or stuck a pin in it, or
twisted her tail; but it was reserved
for the superior genius Of Johnny TO
string rather small sp0Ols upon It: he
never did the obvious thing.
It was this fertility and happiness,
ifI riay so say, of invention, that pre-
vented me from being entirely defect
ed over MY sdh's behavior at this
period. Sometimes the temptation to
seize him was too strong for poor hu-
man nature. But I always regretted
it afterwards. When 7 saw him
asleep in his tiny bed, With one tear
dried on his plump, velvety cheek,
and two little mice-teeth visible
the parted LIPS; couldn't
Helping thinking what little bit Of
a fellow he was, with his funny little
fingers and his funny little tiails; and
it didn't seem to me that he was, the
sort of person to be pitched into by
gFeat stFotig man like me.
"When Johnny grows older" l
used to say to his mother, "I'il reason
with him."
Fow 1 don't know WHEN Johnny
will grow old enough to be reason
ed with. When Irefiect how hard it is
to reason with wise grown-up people,
if they happen to be unwilling to
accept your views of matters, am in
clined I'd be very patient with John
ny, whose experience is rather limit
ed, after all, though ne is six and
half years old, and naturally wants to
know why aid wherefore. Somebody
says something about "blihd Obedi-
ence." Icannot expect Johnny to
have more wisdom than Solomon,
and to be more philosOphiG than the
nh iIOSODherS.
At times, indeed, I have been led
to expect. this from him. He has
shown depth of mind that warrant
ed me to look for anything. At times
it seems as if he were a hundred years
old. He has a quaint, bird-like way
of cooking his head oh one side, and
asking a question that appears to be
the result of years of study. If 1
could answer some of those questions,
I should solve some of the darkest
mysteries of life and death. His in
quiries, however, generally have a
grotesqug f1tvCf: One night, when
the mosquitoes were making lively
raids on his person, he appealed to
me suddenly: iHow does the moon
feel when a skeeter bites it?' To the
mind, the broad, smooth
surface Of the moon presvhteIa a temp