The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-06-06
What Papa Told Ermy.

What Papa Told Ermy.
Many time L have heard poor, little,
pale-faced city boys sigh and wish they
lived in the country where they could
breathe the fresh air and scamper mer-
rily over the green fields, instead of be-
ing cooped up between high brick walls,
dusty streets. And Just as often / have
heard round-faced little country boys,
with cheeks so red that the very birds
would almost be fooled into thinking they
were great, round, red peaches, growing
on purpose for them to peck at, get fret
full and cross, just because they couldn't
live i'll the great city, where, they mag
ined, every pleasure clustered and every
desire was gratified.
1 suppose no little boy, and, fear, l
must include many of the grown folks,
was ever quite satisfied with his own lot
in life, and as the feeling is perfectly
natural, we will not quarrel about it.
City boys would soon get tired of the
quiet country and the green fields, and
long to get back to their tops and marbles
in the dusty streets, and it would not
be very long before the rosy cheeks of
the country boy would get pale, and he
would give anything in the great, noisy
city to get back to the babbling brooks
and the green meadows, the gray squir-
rels and birds nests that can only be
found in the country l know, because
/ was once a country boy, and, after l
went to the city to live, many were the
nights on which cried myself to sleep
and wanted to go home
/ wanted to tell you about Lion Ihad
when L lived in the country He was a
great, shaggy beast, with curly black
hair, and long tail that nearly touched
the ground and pair of eyes terrible
to look at when he was angry, but that
wasn't very often, for he really was the
kindest and most loving Lion you ever
saw-not fierce wild beast from the
jungle, but only a splendid Newfound-
land dog No wonder L never was afraid
of him, because we were good friends and
playmates. Why, L could ride on his
back, just as though he were a horse,
and we would lie down on the grass to-
gether, when we were tired, and he would
put his paws over my neck and hug me,
and kiss me, too, sometimes, when L
wasn't watching, as well as any dog
could do. And L could put my hand in
his mouth, and feelhis sharp white teeth,
and then he would shut his jaws, and
pretend to bite me, but only in fun ; and
when L pretended to be afraid and ran
away from him, he would scamper after
me, as nimble as squirrel, and throw
me down and roll over and over, he bark
ing, and 1 shouting and laughing as
happy as we could be.
Once Lion got into trouble, and met
with an accident that was funny enough
to me ; but poor Lion couldn't see
where the laugh came in y
We were out in the apple orchard, and
busy enough looking for eggs, for our
hens were great "gad-abouts, and
and lay their eggs in all sorts of places !;
but Lion and L knew pretty well call
their tricks and their Manners" and
generally found out where Mrs. Cackle
and Mrs. Chuck had hidden them. SO,
while we were keeping "A sharp lookout
for eggs, spied queer-looking thing
mp an apple tree that looked like bunch
of old newspapers all matted together.
Lion saw it and began to bark, and got
a pole and began to punch mt it, when
down it came right at Lions feet. How
he did pounce on it ! And how quickly
he let go again And the next moment
he was making "bee-line" for the
house, running like race-horse and
bowling at every jump!
1 laughed until the tears ran down my
cheeks, and wondered what was the mat
ter with the dog but pretty soon found
out something struck me in the mouth,
and in Just two seconds / was making q
Decline for my mother, crying as loudly
rs Lion was bowling. Do you want to
know what was the matter? Well, / had
torn down hornets nest, that was all,
and both Lion and gotpretty well stung
for our pains AS the Irishman said,
"the hornet is mighty purity bird, but
he has a very hot fut ~ 1 soon got over
the pain, after 1 had been pretty well
picked and rubbed down in salt but
Lion rolled over in the grass thousand
times, and finally ran into the goose
pond, and staid there nearly all day. Fol-
two or three days afterwards he looked
very sheepish, and seemed to hang hi:
head and look sorry whenever any of us
said "hornets y
But it was many day before he would
follow me into the apple-orchard again
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