Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1869-02-19
OUR TROUBLESOME BOY.


picture OF peace and innocence, it
seems hard to realize what II busy, rest
i've, pugnacious, badly ingenious little
wretch he is There is something so
comical in those funny little shoes and
stockings sprawling on the floor
they look as if they could jump mp and
run off, il they wanted to,-there is
something SO Imaginable about those
little trousers, which appear to he
making vain attempts to climb mp into
the easy chair,--the said trousers still
retaining the shape of his little legs.
and refusing to go to sleep, there is
something, I say, about these things.
and about Johnny himself, which
makes it difficult for me tn remember
that, when Johnny is awake, he not
unfrequently displays traits Of charac-
ter not to be compared with anyt hing
but the cunning of an Indian warrior,
combined with th" c imperative qualities
of q trained prize fighter.
I'm sure don't know how be came by
such Unpleasant propensities | am
myself the meekest of men. Of course
1 don't mean to imply that Johnny in
herited his warlike disposition from his
mother. She is one of the gentlest of
women. Blu when you come to John
ny-he's the terror Of the who neigh
borhood.
He was meek enough at first,-that
is to say, for the first 6 or 7 days of his
existence. Bnt verify believe that he
was not more than eleven days old
when he showed a degree of temper
which shocked me,-shocked me in
one so young On that occasion he
turned very red i'll the face. he was
quite red before, doubled up his
ridiculous hands in threatening man
ner, and finally, in the impotency of
rage, punched himself in the eye.
When think of the life he led his
mother and Susan during the first
eighteen months after his arrival, [
shrink from the responsibility Of al
lowing Johnny to call me his father.
By the time he was two years OF age,
/ had got the following maxim by
heart Whenever j, is particularly
quiet, Ilook out for squalls" He was
sure to be in mischief.
Sometimes the temptation to seize
him was too strong for poor human ma
ture But I always regretted it after
wyrds When saw him asleep in his
tiny bed, with one tear dried on his
plump velvety cheek, and two little
mice-te visible through the parted
lips, couldn't help thinking what u
little bit of fellow he was, with his
funny little fingers and his funny little
nails and it didn't seem to me that he
was the sort of a person to be pitched
into by great strong man like me.
When Johnny grows Older" l used
to say to his mother " I'll reason with
him. ~
Now / don't know when Johnny will
grow old enough to be reasoned with.
When reflect how hard it is to reason
with wise grown up people, if they
happen to be unwilling to accept your
view of matters, | am inclined to be
very patient with Johnny, whose ex-
perience is rather limited, after all,
though he is six years and half old,
and naturally wants to know why and
wherefore Somebody says something
about the duty of "blind obedience. "
I can't expect Johnny to have more
wisdom than Solomon, and to be more
philosophic than the philosophers.
/ have said that Johnny was the ter
ror of the neighborhood. think /
have not done the young gentleman an
unjustice. If there is window broken
within the radius of two miles from our
house, Johnny's ball, or stone known
to come from his dexterous hand, is al
ways certain to be found in the batter
ed premises. never hear the musical
jingling Of splintered glass but my
porte-monaie give convuls,ve throb
in my breast pocket. There is not a
doorstep in our street that hasn't
borne evidences in red chalk of his ar
tistc ability /; there isn't bell that he
has not ring and run away from at
least three hundred times. Scarcely a
day passes but he falls out of some
thing or nNar Snma tLinm o.. into sornn-