American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-09-06
Youths Department.
A QUEER THEFT.
BY MRS. GEORGE NJ. KELLOGG

| purchase, one day STOLE, sad the mother
=" committed theft; and I'll venture
that not one of you can guess what sh'
| stoIe'
An orange" said Charley, briskly.
Cream candy" guessed Roberta.
| "Ncn
| what nonsense," said Brooks, witt
| great superiority. g You children think
| it's oranges and cream candy because
y0u like oranges and cream candy. O
course that rich little girl had all kind:
of knicknacks to eat, and didn't have tt
steal them 1t wasn't anything to eat
was it, mother:'
| "NO; it wasn't intended to be eaten, bl
it is well known that such things hav,
| been eaten"
Homeopathic pillsn shouted Charley
! triumphantly.
Every body laughed, because everybody
was reminded how Charley had frightened
Aunt Maxwell out of her wits, few days
! before, by eating every sugarpill in her
medicine case.
"No, it wasn't any kind of pills." the
mother replied, drawing nearer the light,
to close up the heel of a little red stock
ing.
t'Green apples 80 asked small Dinkey,
shyly, remembering how frequently she
had been warned that the hard, sour
things were not intended to be eaten, yet
how possessed she was, whenever she was
under the apple tree, to pocket few spe-
cimens of the forbidden fruit, and slip
away behind the gooseberry bushes for a
feast
What little goose you are, Dink !"
Charley replied to the suggestion. What
do you suppose little What you-may-call-
her wanted to steal green apples for?
1t was all,-wasn't it mother?"
"Now, who's goose? ?" asked Brooks,
always lying in wait TO trip his impetuous
brother. did you ever hear of anybody
eating a ball?'
Yes, did," replied Charley, in bois-
ferrous triumph; 90 | knOwed a boy onct
he just kept taking bites out of his rubber
ball, to chaw for gum, till he'd ct the
whole ball up"
at wasn't ball." said the mother; "and
it wasn't anything to eat Now, what do
you guess?'
WAS it anything to wear?" Brooks
asked
Brooks tries to act like lawyer"
said Charley; "just sets up, and asks
questions, and don't guess a thing. He's
afraid to''
Carefully, Charley.'' said the mother.
"No, Brooks, it wasn't anything to
wear''
"Was it doll ?" asked Dinkey the shy;
fastening to add, by way of justifying
her venture, little girls sometimes eat
wax-dolls, and candy folks, and ginger
bread babies''
"No, Dinkey, it was not dolI''
"Was it anything to play with? ~
"Lawyer Brooks has the floor" laughed
Charley.
"WelI," replied the mother, "such
things as this little Mamie stole are very
MI To nj lint
other things besides"
a think know what it was" said the
cautious Brooks at was" continued
Brooks, slowly and distinctly, "a puppy"
There was an instant profound silence;
then Charley's voice opened a perfect
tempest of laughter. Brooks alone pre-
served a stoical calmness.
Friends, countrymen, and lovers
said Charley, when he could be heard,
puppy-dogs are sometime ct
"The Chinese eat puppy dogs" retorted
Brooks, with quiet superiority.
at wasn't any kind of dog" said the
mother, fastening to restore the peace.
"A kitten?'' asked Roberta.
ono"
GA monkey?" Charley guessed, follow
ing up the line of association opened by
the Puppy-dog-
"-Well, what under the sun, moon, and
stars was it, then?'' he asked, his face in
an impatient quicker.
DO you give it up ~ asked the mother.
d" Shall l tell you?"
Yes" agreed all the children except
Brooks.
WATT he said; ''let me think awhile
and have another guess"
at was" the mother put in suggestive
ly, ''the quecrest thing, perhaps, that
child ever stole-the last thing you'd ever
think of a child's stealing"
''Well,'' said the irrepressible Charley,
ait must be it was a spelling book; that's
the last thing should think child
would steal"
Again everybody laughed, for Charley's
bad spelling was another standing family
Joke.
of spelt dog d-o-g-e," said Brooks,
giving poor Charley a stabbing glance,
'.I'd steal Il spelling book, and I'd study
it. too"
81 think Bible would be the queerest
thing to steal" said Roberta. I'D be
afraid to- it would be like taking some
thing from God"
s'Well, mother, tell us what the thing
was" Charley urged
mo; wait; l want to think moment"
Brooks said.
"Well, 20 in the study and Think" re-
torted Charley; Il want to know"
Il do, too,n put in Roberta.
Dinkey also was importunate; so the
mother said, even while Brooks, gazing
profoundly in the CRATE, went on think
ing, "Wcll, the thing that Mamie stole
was a But wait; must tell you how
it all happened; and, remember, not one
of you must interrupt me.
"There was a sewing girl by the name
of Theresa, who had spent much time at
the house of Mrs. Pearson, Nannie's |
mother. This young woman had married
in the summer and the next spring moved |
into Mrs. Pearson's neighhorhood. As
Theresa had been very fond of Mamie,
and Mamie had been very fond of There |
sa, the little girl was aching with impa-
tience to call on her old friend. The |
mother promised that this she might do |
the first pleasant day. OF course, Mamie |
discovered a great many pleasant days |
that the mother was forced to condemn |
But finally Il most delicious spring morn |
ing arrived, and Mrs. Pearson was only |
too glad to open the doors to the little |
puss who had been kept pretty close dur
ing the winter and the raw spring days. |
So, with the new sun-hat tied on, she went
tripping along under the sunny skies, rs
happy as the birds twittering from every
tree to the neat cottage where Theresa
lived.
" She did not wait to knock at the door,
but opened it softly, and went in on tip |
toe IN creep up behind Theresa, and
say boo. and scare her 10 pieces Mamie
thought. She went from a sm al hall into
a sitting room; Theresa was not there,
md the house was as still as death.
"On one side of the room she espicd a