The Portland daily press., 1874-04-11


HEROD'S STORY.
ssThere, gor said I; ''and don't care if
never see you again!'
[ am almost an old man now, with my
grey hairs ana rheumatism, and an objection
to draughts $50 old that wear my rubbers in
dry, cold weather, and don't take off a com
forter oeiore May, and don't go out after
dewfall in the summer, and don't keep track
of the last engagement, and don't think much
about the church sociables and whom shall
take to d lecture. ~ sa.a7r t.
You can think how cid that must be! But
old as am, remembe. just how l said these
words; where the accent Tell chow they sound
ed; how they seemed to come around and
knock on the windows, to be let in again. af-
ter had shut the door. Nothing has hap
pened to me in all my life since they were
spoken that has helped in the least to make
me forget them. Ed
9 1t may be only an old mans notion, but
sometimes | am forced to wonder ii anything
will happen in the next life that can make m e
forget them. sro, Ssrs,Es e,e
There is this about a next worlds life, girls
and boys: it is no fun, to my mind, to carry a
thing on into it that you want to forget and
cant forget And VIC all know how dreary
anything is when there's mo fun in it.
There was fun enough in what have to
tell, at the first of it. At least Trollo thought
? SO, suppose. Tioilo was my brother. He
was little chap, eight years old. was four
teen. Fhey had ali gone off and left us alone
: in the house, ard TfoIlo bcd plagued me half
out of my senses. That s the way, you know
it seemed 10 me- 1t seemed to him quite diff
ferent, I We no doubt. - y .se-.,.,,.-...s
This is how i. happened.
NV sister Mary lived in New Haven. That
was fifteen miles away. Mary's husband
had got into some trouble about money, aud
father thought he would go on and see about
it; aud Mary's baby was sick with something
or other, and mother thought she would go
to and see about that. -..-.,.
Mary's husband was always getting into
trouble about money, and Mary's baby was
always; getting sick; but they didn't of'en
/ come on poor Mary together. At any rate,
father and mother thought they would go
on, and IS they would be gone only over the
second night, and because l was f,urteen
years old, and because Trollo said he would
be good, and BECAUSE, Keziah Phipps said she
would come over and sdo'' for us. and stay
q nights, unless s'the old man got his back up,'
and because, on the whole, we didn't very
much care, but thought it would be rather
nice, and that if Keziah Ph:pps' old man
should, by any providential accident, ''get his
2 back up,'' we would make molasses corn-balls,
with vanilla in them we were left alone.
away. Mother said she was afraid it was
blowing up for storm; but father said he
thought not. And told me he sure and
not let the fire go out, nor The pigs go hungry,
nor the horse go unblanketed; and mother
o kissed us hoth-but she kissed TroIlo twice
and told me to take good care of Trollo and
let the cat sit bv the fire; and then the stage
. ratified away with tLem, and Trollo and |
stood l6king after it. f'ai
b Il wish they'd come back tomorrow; don't
you, Herod p said Trollo.
ar My name was Hurdley. But Trollo used
to cal me Herod, inst to see what would
say; and when he found / didn't say any
thing, he call ID me 60 because he had got in
to the way of calling me so; didn't much
mind, but rather liked it. Only when The
boys laughed at it, or felt cross, it used to
seem an ugly name. But Trollo bad gentle,
little pleasant voice, and generally liked the
sound he gave it.
IL I said no, l don't wish they were coming
right back; for l was thinking about the va
nilla corn-balls. And Trollo said he didn't
know as lie d either.
s.But you're to be good, you know"
said l. sl ns 19al5 d ~
felt very old and superior to rrolo, and I
rather liked it to feel that could order him
around for two days.
Il hadn' t said wasn't, had / pa said
Trollo, firing uD to begin with.
Then fired UP little, and told him he
was to behave himself, at all events; and that
was the beginning of it. | thought after
wards it would have been nicer i'll me not to
have preached at him before he'd had a
chance to behave one way or the other. But
l didn't think of it at the time. Boys don't,
you know. ~ 3 .f.53 ..t.,s,i =. :
So we both skulked little, and Trollo went
to school; but when he'd come home to dinner
we'd got over it, or very nearly. We only
quarreed about his piece of pie. He said it
was bigger than mother let him have. And
we got out the foot-rule and tape-measure
and measured it off. Then he ale it down liz
three mouthfuls, to pay me for that. it
didn't 60 to school myself | was to stay
and watch the house, and look after the horse.
and so forth; for it was only two days, and 1
could study at home, and such a thing might
never happen again. And Keziah Phipps
came over and sot dinner and went away
again, and came again to supper, and stayed
all night. Kez'ah Phipps was our nearest
neighbor; she lived quarter of mile away
Ours was rather lonesome house, with pine
trees in the front yard and long stretch of
fields behind, where the snow drlited it al
ways drifted in the road by our house, too.
We lived on very windy road.
1t was cold day, and the wind blew pretty
high. Trollo came in from school the last
time that afternoon with red cheeks, and as
full Of mischief as he could hold. He stamp
ed of the snow in the entry and flung his
mittens at me when tod him not to. One
OF them hit me in the eye. .e.t
Trollo was good alma 1.-THE, little, quick
eyed chap, always up to something.
"Oh! Ididnt mean to!' he said, when
the mitten bit.
But was mad. 1t didn't hurt me much
but I'D been having a cold time with tue
horse and bad spilled the pigs supper, and, I
suppose. didn't feel like myself exactly, from
not going to school as usual, but loafing
around and sitting by the fire so much. A.
any rate, was mad. So shook him nn.
he didn't say much, and don't think he
cared much. He'd come home as wild as a
witch, and there WASH anything he wasn't
ready to do to make mischief that night.
And because was mad he wouldn't mind
me- .t--,.-- = = - -
ne ued his rubber boots to the door-bell.
re stunned his wet Rittens down NV neck.
ne SET ene cat into the platter with the turkey
uone' "a, aua sneh set platter, cat, bones and air
u upUn ~ We tao'ei wnen kezah Phfpps had be-
gun 10 eat. lie ran out with a new SQUASH
pie to give it to the horse, and dr,nned 4 and
fell on 1t before he got there He mt aalt in
my tea, and sugar On my pickles, and green
WOOD on the lire, aud when l scolded him he
whistled. 2aiyag ~ ~ 80 : -
- Then, after tea, we sat down to study
somehow, everything that Trollo did seemed
to me 10 De wrong that night. He banged
his boots against the table-leg. He wonidn.t
-put on his slippers. HIS nails were di(tv: he
wouldn't clean them. He asked Keziah for
another piece of cake, and, after ali he had
done he got it,. He sang 'sHail, Columbian %
on very fiat squeak for twenty minutes. He.
sat down on the cat. He wouldn't brush his.
hair. He got Kezah to show him his sums.
He flung sofa-pillows at the ceiling. and they
came down on the custard batter. He SEEM
ed to me the most disagreeable boy ever
knew. When he went to bed, l told him SO
remember just how he looked, standing
with our little brass bed lamp in bis hand
o ON ne entry, to say goodnight. 1t was
tbs, LIMO nose Old fashioned, ne wicked lamps
dim din, gave almost no light. His face looked
o'' ns a,la odd behind it in the dark entry
and d; n'arted to say something but gave it up
eff up stairs Itsin AK, aughed-and tro.ted
W sDsm mep a0Sn S s' Hs
he minded anything he %aya little chap {
t4u " -