Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-01-05
THE WRONG STOCKING.
by II. W. RAYMOND.


by Il. W. RAYMOND.
NEARLY twelve at night, the children
fast asleep, in their little room opening
ont OF ours, and my wife and l sitting ur
TO I'LL the stockings. Two boys, two stock
1hgs;; two lots of presents of equal value
But, unfortunately, the harmony and
pleasure OF our preparations had been
disturbed by piece of Original sin" on
the part of Master Harry, who had got
into one of his tantrums of passion that
very afternoon, and broken some furni
ture, besides striking his twin brother
Ernest. IL was on receiving report OF
these proceedings, as l returned
from business the day before Christmas,
That told the young rOwdy in a general
way that Santa Claus didn't bring presents
to boys that behaved like him; and now /
was firmly insisting, against the meek OBJ
Jectlohs- of my wife (who is a sweet little
thlng, Witheut judgment, and never
would get along with the children if they
took notion to disobey her as they do
me)-frmly insisting | say, that Harry
needed a good lesson, and good lesson
he should have. Nothing must 20 into
his stocking but piece of charcoal and a
bunch of rods. Ernest should have all
his presents, of course; he was good,
gentle and atfectionate boy; but those
destined for Harry must be put away on
the top shelf in the cupboard, till some
future day when he should deserve
thenI
I As 1 have said, my wife made obiec-
ions She is an ingenious woman, and
She approached the subject somewhat as
follows
"We can't keep these cakes on that
shelf, Harry" MY name is Harry, too
and the boy is Just like what l was at his
age-which makes me determined that
his temper shall be subdued before he
grows up 1t took me twenty years to
conquer mine, and | mean to take the
thing in the bud with him.
livery well, then" said l. seat 'em
yourself, or give them to Ernest, or send
them to the poor, or throw them away, or
let the rats tiud them on the shelf l
don't care what you do with any of the
things-only don't use them to reward a
naughty child"
Don't you think it Il very severe pun
ishment, to destroy the boys Christmas
pleasure 1t comes but once year, you
know. and Harry has been looking for
ward TO it for months"
i, fThe more careful he ought to have
been not to throw it away by his unruly
spirit. tell you, the child is defiant still.
When | said to him that he was a bad boy,
- and Santa Claus wouldn't bring him any
thing, he stamped on the floor, and told
nue. to my face he didn't care.
"But1 think he does care" timidly re-
marked my wife who, in her soft way, has
IL remarkable ability for sticking to her
subjec0, "hc cried good deal to himself
in bed, although he turned his back to
Ernest, and wouldn't speak"
Rather a meager repentance" said ],
"and it comes too late, besides | tell
you, he-don't deserve any presents
" Do we give presents out of Justice, or
lover persisted my wife. And there is
Ernest; it will spoil his Christmas, too, if
his brother is unhappy"
- am sorry for that; but | cannot help
it, the innocent always suffer more or less
with the guilty"
just then we heard voices in the next
room. The boys had walked up, and were
talking in low tones. Il say, Ern," whis-
pered our little Hotspur, there's a light
in the big room. l guess Santa Claus has
come !"
".We must lie perfectly still and not
, look at him, replied Ernest; che is filling
up the stockings"
"Oh, dear! said Harry, "and he will
leave for me the switch and charcoal that
. hecarries for bad boys. Let him. then;
he may keep his old presents; what do
- care 2"
"Now don't talk So" replied Ernest's
sweet voice. " II you are sorry, perhaps
he,Will give you something after all, "
{" tell you, won't say Pm sorry, just
to get something, That's too mean. But
dm sorry hit yOit, Ern; that's fact.
say, let's snuggle.n
Thereupon there was some chuckling
and rustling and suppressed laughter,
with now and then smothered eXclama-
tion-" Owtch you tickle !''-and our
two seven-year-olds went off to sleep,
spoonrfashion.
My wife gave me one of her looks, as
much as to inquire what thought of
that p 81 touch of feeling" said |, "but
transient, merely transient. What the
boy wants is to have the sense of his sin
deeply impressed upon him."
She had filled one stocking by this time;
and the other lay empty across her knee.
took them both, and hung them up ON
either side of the fireplace, the full one
nearest the boys room.
"Give me the labels to pin to them, y
said |. She gave them to me, with trem-
bling hand, and cried out with a sob, ,,"OhI
doWt put "A rod into Harry'sW
"Well, l confess" said l. "that does
seem a little barbarous, on second thought.
| was only meaning to comply with the
legend, you know not to indicate whip
ping. | never whipped child of mine
and never shall. Justice and moral
suasion (fypsly administered, my dear y are
quite sufficient for family government
Now, what's th9use of your crying Thai
doesn't affect the argument in the least
Tin not brute you have only to con
vince me by reason-don't try tears
My wife is at heart sensible woman
and when | spoke in this calm and reason
able tone, she quietly retired only say
ing, hope you are right" | pinned
the labels hastily TO the stockings anC
shortly after went to bed with gooC
conscience. t.f
1t was barely daylight, when l wal
walked by shouts of triumph and laughter
from the next room. II had always beer
our custom to let the young ones jnmI
ont OF he'd whenever they liked, Christ
mas morning, capture their respective
stockings from the fireplace in our room
and return to the warm retreat with thei
booty and my wife and took great dc
light inlwatching unseen their innocen
wonder and joy, This morning the OLE
habit was much stronger upon me than