Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-04-07
YOUTHS DEPARTMENT
BOBBY BOOTS.n

years old now; but from the day he was
six, when he put on his famous blue boots
with red tops for the first time, he had
been called by no other name than Bobby
Boots. and Bobby Boots he will probably
be called for years to come.
And this is the way he got his famous
| blue boots that gave him his name His
mother, the wife of a sea captain who was
at home but three or four times year
lived in cosy little cottage half hid
among the trees that lined the road lead
ing to the pretty village of s.. Bobby
was her only child. One day when he
was about . year old his father came
home from 3 voyage. The day was wet
and the road was muddy, and the Captain
had on a pair of big boots that came above
the knees. These caught Bobby's eye At
once, and he hardly looked into his fathers
| face. That day Bobby spoke his first
| word, and that word was boods,' and his
father laughingly declared that he should
have famous pair as soon Us he was old
enough to use them.
Bobby did not forget his first word:
! slippers and shoes had no charms for him
! aud passed by unnotIced; but as soon as
| pair Of boots came into the room,
GOODS, hoods, boods," sounded from the
| cradle ut intervals till they were out OF
sight. As he grew older he began to ask
when he would be big enough to wear
boots like papa
The day he was six he received, as a
birthday gift from papa and mamma, the
famous blue boots and red tops. And
what day that was! mamma pulled the
| light he really had pair of boots of bis
h>l H., ret ha ofoYp naI
his right foot, then the left, then both at
once; he tried walking in them slowly,
then fast, and then broke into a run, and
kept it up till he caught one OF the pretty
blue toes in the rug, and he fell on his
little stub nose, but he wasn't hurt bit,
because it was so short. Then he must
run up stairs half step ut q time, just to
| see how much noise his heels could make
in running down. Mamma told him 10
stop or he would fall and get hurt; but
Bobby thought he knew more than man
ma, and by -andby one of those pretty
light heels, so full of shining nails, caught
on almost the top step and Bobby came
rolling down to the bottom, head and
heels and nose and toes all together in
lump on the floor. This time his poor
nose suffered more than before, and the
red drops fell fast on the blue boots and
on the floor to the great dismay Of Bobby,
who began to cry: Eve spoiled my
boots! I've spoiled my boots" His
| mother feared he'd spoiled his nose, but
| there wasn't enough OF il to hurt, and
neither that nor the boots had suffered
| any real harm--a little water making
| both as bright As ever. After breakfast,
which was made musical by the constant
humping Of BObby's boots against high
| chair and table, he was allowed to go int
| the garden and make as much noise "a he
pleased.
Here was plenty Of room, and the boots
were everywhere, almost everywhere at
once; in the paths and on the grass,
through the melon patch and the straw
berry bed, and under the apple trees and
the plum trees, and finally up the big
grape vine. This last adventure quieted
him for little time for one of the blue
boots caught among the branches, and
Bobby in his struggles to get clear, found
himself hung by the foot. His loud cries
brought the cook TO the rescue, and Bobby
celebrated his escape by short rest.
Then he walked straight to wash tub OF
water to see if his boots had sprung a
leak. From this the cook jcrked him out
very quickly and scoldcd him sharply, all
of which made the same impression on
Bobby that it did on his boots. Not so n
half remark made about having "to grease
them" That was new idea to Bobby /;
he was very sure he could take proper
care of his own boots, and he started
straight for the cupboard. The butter
dish was high on the shelf but the firkin
stood on the floor. After much strug-
Cling Bobby got the cover OH; there was
nothing with which to cut out the solid
LAYERS, but Bobby didn't care for that, he
was equal to anything; climbing up by
the window he stepped both feet into the
firkin and stamped around till the boots
were well creased. Jumping TO the floor
he rushed into the parlor TO tell mother OF
his smartness, marking his path by splat-
tiers OF butter. Bobby lost his boots for
whole hour for this maneuver, and did not
get them again until after dinner.
Allowed to go into the garden on his
promise to keep away from wash tubs,
grape vines and butter firkins, Bobby
amused himself by making heal marks in
every corner of the walks and flower
beds, till tired Of running around, he set
tied himself in low crotch OF plum
tree and looked at the clouds moving
across the sky.
II wonder, eaid he, Ii tnc Diue Uc-
tween the white is made Of the same kind
of stuff as my boots? Perhaps it is, and
then the whole sky may be n big pair OF
boots Just like mine; | know ! saw the
shining red tops the other night at sunset
Then there are the white clouds; they
must be the long legged white stockings
such AS mamma makes me wear sometimes;
and It's the rain that always keeps them
clean, for know they get awful black
Just before it rains sometimes, and then
the wind comes out and blows TO make
them dry and warm just as they look
now; / wonder if"
Here Bobby's right boot gave twitch
that caused him TO stop in surprise; then
the toe of the left boot began nodding in
= very strange manner, just ss though il
WAS saying something very earnestly
why" said Bobby, :" do believe my
boots are trying to talk" and he bent his
head forward TO listen. He could hardly
believe his eyes as he saw the right nod
its toe in solemn manner, the left nod
ding back, and then both of them nodding
and bowling and twisting and wriggling
all together
But his wonder knew 20 bounds when
suddenly stopping their strange motions;