The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-05-28
DADDY DINKLE'S WARDS.

HIS lIOiltt dpptdItuT III Lllt NlaANllic
Indcr one day. ever so many years ago
Rev. Gustavus' Dinklebach proposes
to.Open in Mayville. January /. a private
school for boys. Particular attention
given TO the classics and mathematics.
Boys ndyOung men will receive a careful
and thorough training preparatory to en-
tering college. Rev. Mr.. Dinklebach re-
spectfully solicits the patronage of the
citizens of Mayville and vicinity.''
In other words. it was an Old-fashiOned
boys academy, which Rev. Gustavus Dim
klebach opened" An old Old-faShioned
boys academy, now all out of da e, and
laughed TO scOrn by our new-fangled fel
lows who turn up their noses at PlatO's
Dialogues in the original, and claim that
the only present and future hope for the
world is that it shall be 'evOlved" out OF
the pattern of the crook of Herbert Spen-
GERS little finger.
Rev. Gustavus Dinklcbach wasn't that
sort, bless hissweet, simple old heart. He
read his Bible and the Greek tragedies,
and believed the salvation of the world de-
pended on the golden rule and hic, haec
hoe. His religion and his learning were
so mixed up that he could hardly tell
which was which at last, and he some
how got it into his queer old brain that
one who was familiar with Greek and He
brew and Latin lore. by that simple fact
perforce was made a gentleman, and that
it was henceforth incumbent on him to
walk through the world as an example TO
modern degeneracy, loving his neighbor
as himself, being honest, gentle-mannered,
kindly and dignitied.
Rev. Dinklebach was all that himself,
and he knew no more of the ways of the
wicked world than if he had been a spotted
kitten a Ia
could read the Clouds of AristOphanes in
Greek like a novel but he couldn't drive a
nail TO save his life. He came to Mayville
a very learned. highly recommended man,
with tender heart. a big bald head, the
soul of a little child, and but two pairs of
stockings TO his name.
Mayville took him under its wing. He
"Opened " his boys academy and presided
over it for twenty-five years. 1t grew
and fiOurished apace. and nobody in May
vile cheated Rev. Dinklebach out of all
the money he got. 1t just happened so,
as exactly the opposite had happened to
him every place he had been before. To
this day many and many a broad-shOul-
dercd. bearded man. with his own locks
even beginning to frost a little, pauses a
minute from the claShing din of the wide
world, while he calls TO mind the green
days at Mayville, and remembers Daddy
Dinkle and GntO, G1lsaS, dD3Gt, with smile,
a tear and blessing.
Good friends. one and ali, here's to the
memory of the DAYS of our youth, which
come but once! Young trien Is. make the
most of your youth, for it is glorious, and
It comes but once!
Rev. Gustavus Dinklebach was an old
bachelor. who loved little children. He
called himself a dreary old bachelor, and
Il. Z
boys was always this:
My dear young friends, don't you be
an old bachelor"
| don't know how it was. but before
Rev. GuStavus Dmklcbach had been in
Mayville a year, everybody fell into the
habit of calling him Daddy Dinkle, and
that although he was an old bachelor.
They called him that to his face, after
awhile. and I'm sure they meant no disre-
spect. for everybody had a sort Of rever-
encr for him. so good and so dignified he
was. and so learned withal. They may
have called him Daddy Dinkle on account
of his voice. don't know. He always
spoke in a kind of soft, drOning monotone,
which wasn't bit tireSOme to listen to,
assure you upon my honor, but was very
soothing and comforting, and Eve noticed
i'm this world that men who speak in that
nicknamed Daddy this or that. But say
| don't know why it is.
When he first went to Mayville, Daddy
Dinkle took up his lodging with a cOmely
young EnoliShwoman. who had big,
stupid husband and a frisky little Ameri-
can-born baby girl, three months old, not
vet named. on account of difference of
opinion between its father and mother.
The mother wanted TO name her daughter
Frances Mary; the father, on the other
hand. insisted that the child should be
called Hannah. Both agreed to leave the
question to Daddy Dinkle for arbitration,
and Daddy Dinkle named the bright little
thing TheOdora-gift of God.
During the year. the cOmely young
EngliShwOman's husband died. Daddy
Dinkle still lived in the house of the wild
ow. A few months after. the widow her
self died. and left Daddy Dinkle alone in
the house with little baby. With her
dying breath, the widow had committed
the child to his care, and he had promised
that never while he lived should the baby
girl be homeless and friendleSS. He prom
iSed all this, at the same time that he had
no more idea what he should do with the
child than if she had been an elephant.
But he promised. out of the goodness of
his heart. After the funeral, he paid an
elderly spinStera stipulated sum for taking
care of the child. went to visit it twice a
week. and always carried it a doll-baby
ard package of candy. This was his
idea of infantile femininity.
Misfortunes never come singly. Neither
do blessings. Nearly at the same time
another piece of drift came floating across
the wide sea of humanity into the open
arms of Daddy Dinkle. The piece of drift
was bov. 1t was the orphan child of an
Old claSSmate of GuStavus Dinklebach,
also preacher. who had died of consump-
ton. and the poor father went across the
river of death with his eyes looking back
ward upon this world on account of the
little boy he was leaving. There wasn't
soul on earth to stand between the bov
and the orphan asylum but Daddy Dinkle
Daddy Dinkle accepted fate and the two
young ones. lie took the children, Theo-
dora and little Ned Wallace, and set up
housekeeping with the elderly spiuster for
his household goddess, her mother going
along TO save propriety.
These two children were Daddy Dinkle's
wards.
That's the bones of my story. Now it's
ready TO be commenced. Let us string the
bones together.
A little girl sat on q green brook bank,
idlv splashing with her bare feet IN the
crystal water. A boy stood beside her, en-
gagged in the manly amusement of throw
ing stones across the brook at a dogwood
sapling. some ways of. He was trying to
stone the bark off the dogwoOd. The girl
had flashing, bright gray eyes, wide, res
olute mouth, white. teeth, and tanned
checks. She was a healthy. wholesome
child, pleasant to look at, but not pretty.
Oh! no. The boy. contrariwlse, was a
model OF boyish beauty, like golden
haired young god, or something of that
sort. Everybody who saw the two Young
ones sand what pity the girl hadn't been
the boy.
Boys can get on without beauty.r said
Mother Vaughn. "Girls can't. Bows
have everything; but if a girl hasn't got
good looks, she hasn't anything. What a
nirv for the child'