The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-06-09
Something for the Girls.

suppose you really love these rough,
teasing brothers of yours, but don't you
think you might show it little more
pleasantly | can tell you know all
about boys. | was brought up in
house full of them. have enough in
my own house this very minute to keep
things from getting dull and stupid. |
know just how rough and noisy and
heedlest they are; how they forget to
wipe their feet on muddy days, throw
their caps and scarfs on the floor, and
leave their boots in the queerest places,
10 be hunted up in the last minute be-
fore school time. | know how they
white on the carpets, paste kites on
the chair seats, daub the table covers
with paint, and spill mucilage on the
bed and bureau. | know how they
come in with whoop, and clatter up
stairs like so many fre-engines, the mo-
ment baby goes to sleep; and how they
are always leaving the doors open, and
cutting, and burning, and blowing
themselves up. But for all that we
could not spare them from our homes
very well, could we? and isn't there
something wrong in the family when
sisters can call their brothers " nui
sances ?" Yes, that's the very word
she used, and I've remembered it
these half dozen years, for the speaker
was pretty, delicate girl, and l
was good deal astonished to hear her
say,
. A boy in a family of girls is a per-
feet nuisance"
The nuisance" came home from
school, presently; a hearty, good-na-
tured. looking boy of eleven or twelve,
whistling " Kingdom Coming" with all
his spare breath. He stopped suddenly
as he saw me, and come forward, awk-
wardly enough, to speak to me, for he
was evidently unaccustomed to meeting
company. Unfortunately his foot came
in contact with his elder sisters dress,
soiling it slightly.
You clumsy thing! y was the impa-
tent exclamation, "you ought to be
kept in a cage"
| looked from the crimson face Of the
nuisance" and tried TO fancy how
sweetly that sister would have assured
an older gentleman that it was of no
consequence at ALL and was entirely,her
own fault for taking up so much room.
In an arm chair, one of the younger
sisters was curled up, examining with
great interest a new magazine. An ex-
clamation of delight brought her bro.
Their to her side, and he was soon alb
sorbed in the engravings, looking over
her shoulder.
"Wait just a second" he begged, as
she was turninga page.
"Oh, you always want to see some
thing said the sister, fretfully.
hate to have any one look over my
shoulder"
So it was, from morning until night.
There was not place in that house, so
far as | could see, where the boy was
wanted, or a person who wanted him (;
and / wondered if the dear, dead moth.
ar knew how it was, and whether it
would not make her heart ache, even in
heaven, to see it. If the sisters walked,
or rode, or sang, or played croquet, no
one ever said, "Come, Johnny" And
| really suppose they thought he did
not care for their laughing, and teasing,
and snubbing, just because he was a
boy, and was too brave to show that he
cared. | found out another thing, too,
and that was that the nuisance" was
very convenient when the pony was to
be harnessed, the pitcher to be filled
with cool water, big bundle to be car
ried down town, or a disagreeable err
rand to be done yet | never heard any
one cay,
Thank you, Johnny it was kind in
you 20 take the trouble"
No doubt he would have stared i
h. ho1 ID but / i'll ha L.
have liked it, and | think it would have
helped him to remember to be polite
himself.
Why didn't YOU thank that boy for
bringing your hat? ?" asked of pleas
ant little girl
Why she exclaimed, " that's oul
Tom y as if that were reason enough
for not being polite to him.
- l wish | had sister, said boy to
his companion, in my hearing. " 1t
must be so nice to have sisters Of your
own
That's because you don't know
said his companion. Il tell you they
plague fellow the worst way, and
the bother of it is, you have to take
it, because you know you darent lick
EN-
That made me think of a little fellow
whom / once charged with cruelty, fol
pulling out the long legs of a grasshop
per.
Don't hurt him. was his defense
4" amt mite of juice in 'em. An he
don't squeal, neiver-course if it hur
him, he'd say somefn' bout it.
These brothers of yours will not al
ways say when you hurt them by un
kind, careless words, but they feel i
all the same, and it hurts in anothe
way, by gradually chilling their low,
for you, and making them hard heart
ed, and careless of the comfort o
others.
tell you, girls, you cannot afford t,
lose your brothers in this way. You
need them, and they need you. NAM
boy has gone into bad company, anC
yielded to evil, degrading influences
simply because there was no stronger
purer influences at home to draw hin