American citizen., 1874-11-21
BILLY-GOAT SCHO0L-MASTER.

| pretty Woru 10 put III Stoi -booh ioI :"
| little fellow like me, | wonder what it
means, anyhow"
Tommy always scolds IA little when n
hard word trips him up. He doesn't like
hard words. How can he find out what
they mean, he says; and if he skips
them he never knows how much of the
story he has missed. Besides, there's no
use in skipping them, for they are sure
to keep turning up; and a fellow might
as well learn them first as last. OF course,
it's a trouble to be asking some one
Whats this?" and e What's that?" every
little while, especially when everybody
is busy reading or working; and it isn't
easy for a little fellow to be running to
the dictionary every time he stumbles
over long word; still, anything is bet
ter than skipping.
1 can't help watching him with the
corner of my eye, as he stands with his
elbows on the window-sill, resting his
chubby cheek on his hand.
Presently smile begins to flicker
round Tommy's mouth; his eyes dance
little and the ghost of laugh ripples
over his face without making bit of
noise He wouldn't laugh that way if
we were in the woods!
s.What is it?' l ask.
Little Billy"
What's happened to Billy"
outside of himself, while his mother eats
posters off the wall, in spite of that boy
with a stick! He's such funny rascal. !.
Do all goats act that way?"
g What way, Tommy
"Why, as Billy does. He's so comical, !,
He'll be trotting along as sober as an old
sheep and whisk. he'll go off at one side,
rearing and bunting and tlinging out his
heels as though he'd swallowed fire
fol 10 :
going to cut up his monkey shines"
That's characteristic of goats, l be-
lieve."
".yust look at him now! Did you ever
see anything so funny? 1t always makes
me laugh to see him frisk about and tlirt
that ridiculous stump of Il tail he has. 1t
looks Just as though it had been broken
off and stuck on again the wrong way.
There's IA caper for you! just look at
him"
"Did YOU ever here of the Romans,
Tommy"
"Romulus and Remus and Julius
Cesar, and all those old fellows that
lived long time ago? OF course l
have"
"Don't you know that if Julius Caesar
had said, There's caper,' he'd have
meant simply, Were'sa goat"
Would he? Why? Caper doesn't
mean qoot, does it?''
- ot now but it used to-"
'And is that the reason why we call
funny things that Il fellow does when he
feels good and doesn't know what to do,
cdpers?"
Precisely To coper is to do odd
things without any particular purpose,
Just as goats do"
s. never knew that words came about
in that way"
They do, very often. Don't you know
how we call a greedy boy IA pig, or one
that goes bawling around for nothing a
title caif?"
40 yes, And we call fellow that is
always bossing around IL bulyT'
Certainly. Even the dictionary
makers have to admit it"
Dictionary makers, Do dictionaries
tell anything about where our words
come from?"
Certainly; and capital stories you
can make of them, too. Fetch me that
big one there, on the lower shelf. Can
you lift it,"
"Humph. Pity if cant lift a book
| as big as that"
Here we are. Thank you. Now
let's look at caper. Here il is:
'Caper-(L. Caper, II go0t.1
THAT r. stands for L0tiR, the Ian
@uage the Romans used to talk. You'll
hear enough about that before you are
0
done going to school.
The mcanin" of c1per, you see, is IA
skipping, leaping or jumping in trollc-
some mood, after tie Hs@aher ct'a goat, and
To Coper, means to dance, skip or leap
in "A trolicsome manner
dolly says 'D7lU y0tt1' raperfH9." some
times when I'm having a little fun and
make too much noise"
And I've heard you say the same to
Billy, when YOU wanted to lead him and
he wanted to play. You know what it
means.
Heres another word of the same
sort, which we likewise owe to Master
Billy:
| ." Caprice-A sudden start of the
mind; whim; freak; a fancy.
/ You've seen such actions, | dare say,
in some of your piaymates. You never
can depend on them. One moment they
want to play ball; before you can begin
to play they have changed their minds,
and want to play horse, or tag, or some-
thing else One moment they are very
friendly, and the next they're off in Il
( huff, without any reason for 1t. Such
| people are called capyici0lts. Here's the
/ word. Il little further along"
Why; that's the very word ] couldn't
understand in my book.
I Was it? Look"
"Oh, no, It's coprjcio,lSHess. know
what that means now But who'd have
/ thought it had anything to do with a
I Billy goat"
/ That's a wonderful book, that die
tionary. I'LL pay you to study it,
. ST. Nicto(as
THINNING OF MAMMA.