Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-06-16
NO. 144.
BASCOMB'E BABY.

She brought it over to our house, Mrs.
Bascomb did. 1t was their first-a wee
little red-headed, pug-nosed howling in
| July, but she bad it wrapped up in three
shawls and bedquilt, and was in agony
every moment for fear it would sneeze.
"Do see his darling, darling face - she
said to me, as she unwound him about
forty times, apd looked to see which end
his feet were on.
l looked. / have seen the father of
eleven just such howlng little wopsies,
and l didn't see anything remarkable
about old Bascomb's baby.
''See those eyes-that firmness of
mouth, that temper in his look :" she went
| on.
| saw them.
The little son of gun began to get red
in the face and beat the air, and his
mother shouted:
4" He's being murdered by pin!''
She turned him wrong end up, laid him
on his face, then on his back, loosened his
bands, rubbed the soles of his feet, and
the tears stood in her eyes as she solemn
| ly remarked:
II know he won't live-he's too smart 2!
The child recovered, and as he lay on
his back across her knees and surveyed
the ceiling, she went on:
''Such head. Why every one who
sees him says that he is going to be a
Beecher, a Greedy or Bismark; do you
notice that high forehead 90
| did. thought he was all forehead,
as his hair didn't commence to grow un-
| til the back of his neck was reached, but
she assured me that was mistaken.
"Wouldn't just heft him once?'
hefted him.
| told her l never saw child of his
weight weigh so much, and she smiled
like an angel; she said she was afraid
didn't appreciate children, but now she
knew l did.
Wouldn't just look at his darling lit
tie feet-his little red feet and cunning
| toes ?''
Eyes, would.
She rolled him over on his face and un.
wound his feet. and triumphantly held
| them up to my gaze. | contemplated the
hundreds of little wrinkles running length
| wise and crosswise, the big toes and the
little toes. and l agreed with her that SO
| far as | could Judge from the feet and the
toes and the wrinkles, q future of unex.
ampled brilliancy lay before that pug
nosed imp.
He began to kick and howl, and she
| stood him on end, set him up, laid him
down and trotted him until she bounced
| the wind-colic into the middle of Septem-
| ber.
"Who did he look like ?"
| bent over the scarlet-faced rascal,
pushed his nose on one side, chucked him
under the chin, and didn't answer with
| out due deliberation. told her there was
q faint resemblance to George Washing
| ton around the mouth, but the ewes re-
| minded me Of Daniel Webster, while the
general features had made me think of
| the poet Milton ever since she entered the
| house.
That was just her view exactly, only
she hadn't said anything about it before.
Did think he was too smart to live ?''
felt of his ears, rubbed his head, put
my finger down the back of his neck, and
told her that, in my humble opinion, he
| wasn't. though he had had narrow es-
cape. If his nose had been set little
more to one side, or his ears had appeared
in the place of his eyes, Bascomb could
have purchased a weed tor his hat with
| out delay. No; the child would live;
there wasn't the least doubt about it, and
any man or woman who said he wouldn't
grow up to make the world thunder with
his fame would steal the wool off a lost
lamb in January.
She felt so happy that she rolled the
imp up in his forty-nlne bandages, shook
him to straighten his legs and take the
kinks out of his neck. and then carried
him home under her arm, while my wife
made me go along with an umbrella, for
fear the sun would peel his little nose.