Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-08-03
Our. Roy.
1From Appleton's Journal

lFrom Appleton's Journal
Willie has had eleven years experience
in life, and has been allowed to develop
according to nature. The good dame is
said to be bountiful in her law of com
pensation, and will probably bring tc
our boy some great good later in life tC
compensat e for the numberless ills to
which all boy flesh is heir. L have adj,
hered to the idea that much government
of youngsters is hurtful, unless they hap
pen to come of a bad stock, and 1 have
been content to lay no other burden upon
Willie than the prohibition of lying,
which law is understood to be infieXible
and eternal. Of course, L have to eX-
p%ostulate ever and mon, as somen new and
startling development of ~bov-nature is
manifested, but [ have never had to in
flict punishment, and do not often adj
minister reproof. L paid him fifty cents
in silver, some years ago, for his promise
E'not to shoot Off matches in the house,
and / keep my powder-horn locked up.
1 think he groans inwardly under the
sense of the, disability he bought with
that half-dollar, but he adheres to the
contract manfully. The powder-horn
was locked up because L found him, on
the last national anniversary, behind the
kitchen, trying p~yrotechnical expert
ments. He had distracted a coal from
the range, and was pouring a steady
stream of powder upon it. The expert
ment failed, because the coal was extinct.
There is certainly a special Providence
hedging about q boys life, whatever may
be the truth of the doctrine beyond the
adolescent period.
1 spent an entire day at home, recently,
and it being Saturday, Willie was at
home also. 1t occurred to me that Il
good opportunity was here presented to
Investigate the manners and customs of
the animal boy in his native state. He
had conquered his lessons on Friday
night. L overheard him reciting to him
self his geographical studies, which APP
peared to be a list of provinces in Hin
doostan. He covered the page with his
hand, while he sung out his Geography
in this fashion :"Scinde, Agimeer, Delhi,
Agra, Allahabad, Dicksloo, Allogoslum,
Hulker, Pulker, Pee1ersguui, Francis"
In looking over the book afterward /
could not find alt these provinces set
down. He was equally %ccurate in his
task in syntaX, making strange confusion
with the rule and the example. He rat
tied the grammer lesson off glibly thus:
IA word is verb, which signifies to be,
OF to do, OF to suffer-as-(eXample)-a
woman, a duck, a hen.' However, he
went to bed satisfied, and slept the sleep
At breakfast, on Saturday, h young
genfIeman appearedsgWith his shining
morning face lam lot entirely salts
fed that the rigid adherence to our rule
Sof matutina1 ablutions is according to
5saatuEe. Willie goes through the cere-
m~onyReveryS day, but he has one or
twice plaintiyely wished that he were a
horse, so hat he could be "cleaned off
ewitha e~rry-comb, like pony" Perhaps
there is in boys q latent hydrophobia,
which ischecked and controlled by these
diurna1 infections. Anyhow, the custom
is time1honored, and Idosnot like to in
reduce, Innovations, so Willie has to
submit to the daily securing. With care
fully arranged hair, polished face, clean
attffe, our boyafs pretty well disguised
when he appears at the morning meal,
but he TOW into his normal condition
before the day is old.
He commenced the days regular ope-
rations by falling, head foremost, down
the main staircase, starting with a
pitcher of water, and reaching the bot
tom with the pitcher-handle in his grasp.
He turned over twice or thrice during
the transit, striking his head against the
wall and balustrades with violence suf-
ficient to brain half a dozen men, and
when he got to the bottom howled dis
mally. He was dried and comforted, Il
gave him a ~greenback dollar, and
promised him a new fOur-bladed knife,)
and 1 think he was a good deal refreshed
by the exercise. He felt that the day
was DeSun. IHG lTdSL1CHGS VI Gie SLiI-
tered crockery were gathered up, and
the innocent little darling was once more
turned loose upon the world. There
were two OF three new chronological
developments on the surface of his
Uranium, but no new manifestations of
character. The organ of benevolence
was very materially enlarged by the
contact with a thick oaken baluSter, for
[ saw him ten minutes after twisting the
cats tail until she sneeZed and yelled
h~ideously. She escaped at last, and took
refuge in the cherry-tree. OF course,
this could be only q temporary relief. In
half an hour she was stoned out, and fled
across the yard and over the fence, with
her ordinary tail multiplied by three in
diameter, and with a back that sur
passed the most astounding Grecfan bend
I ever saw on Broadway.
From the window of my library is
visible the larger part-of Wllie's usual
habitat, and during the day he furnished
me with many opportunities for investi-
eating his habits. He is proprietor of
the most extraordinary "dorg" that 1
have yet encountered, and, in the present
condition of the q~uadruped, it would be
difficult to assign him his proper place
in the canine family. His ears have
been scalloped on one side, and cut into
points on the other. His caudal append {
age has been shortened to an iEch. This {
curtailment was made under Willie's di- !
rections, when Sneak, that is, the dog, :
was caught in the act of ~egg-sucking. 1
Thus shorn of his fair proportions, Sneak '
is still a dog of parts. His master has 1
taught him to go lame in n leg, to sit c