The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-01-23
BEING A BOY.

to be in SUMMER would be about tel
years of age. As soon as got any old
er, would quit it. The trouble witt
boy is that just as he begins to enjo,
himself he is too old, and has to be Sc
to doing something else. If countr.
boy were wise he would stay at just tina
age when he could enjoy himself mos
and have the least expected of him ii
the way of work.
Of course the perfectly good boy vii
always prefer to work and do th'
chores for his father and errands foi
his mother and sisters rather than en-
joy himself in his own way. I nevel
saw but one such boy. He lived in the
town of Goshen-not the place where
the butter is made, but m ch better
Goshen than that. And I never saw
him, but / heard of him and being
about the same age, as I supposed,
was taken once from Zoah, where lived
to Goshen to see him. But he was dead
He had been almost year, 50 that il
was impossible to see him. He died oi
the most singular disease it was from
not eating green apples in the season oi
them. This boy, whose name was Solo,
mon, before he died, would rather split
up kindling wood for his mother thar
go hunting-the consequence was thai
he was kept at splitting kindling wood
and such work most of the time, and
grew better and more useful boy day
by day. Solomon would not disobey
his parents and eat green apples-not
even if they were ripe enough to knock
off with a stick-but he had such q
lOnoinor fop. khapo rOhoI1u. hot &c
example is a difficult one TO follow. In
fact boy is hard subject to get NOR
al subject from any way. All his little
playmates who ate green apples came to
Solomon's funeral, and were very sorry
for what they had done.
John was a very different boy from
Solomon, not half so good nor half so
dead. He was farmers boy, as Solo
mon was, but he did not take so much
interest in the farm. If John could
have had his way he would have discov-
cred cave full of diamonds, and lots
of nail-kegs full of gold pieces and
Spanish dollars, with pretty little girl
who lived in the cave and two beautiful
ly caparisoned horses, upon which, TAX
ing the jewels and money, they would
have ridden off together, he did not
know where. John had got thus far in
his studies, which were apparently arith-
metic and geography, but were in reality
the Arabian Nights" and other books
of high and mighty adventure. He was
simple country boy, and did not know
much about the world as it is, but he
had one of his own imagination, in
which he lived a good deal. I dare say
he found out soon enough what the
world is, and he had lesson or two
when he was quite young in two incl
dents, which I may as we'll relate.
If you had seen John at this time you
might have thought he was only shah
billy dressed country lad, and you never
would have guessed what beautiful
thoughts he sometimes had as he went
stubbing his toes along the dusty road,
nor what a chivalrous little fellow he
was. You would have seen a short boy,
barefooted, with trousers at once too
big and too short, held up perhaps by
one suspender only, a checked cotton
shirt, and hat of braided palm leaf,
frayed at the edges and bulged up in
the crown. It is impossible to keep a
hat neat if you use it to catch humble
bees and whisk 'em to bail the water
from a leaky boat to catch minnows
in to put over honey-bees' nests, and
to transport pebbles, strawberries, and
hens eggs. John usually carried a
sling in his hand, or bow, or linn
ber-stick, sharp at one end, from which
he could sling apples at great distance.
If he walked in the road he walked in
the middle of it, scuffiing up the dust /;
or if he went elsewhere, he was likely
to be running on top of the fence or the
stone wall, or chasing chip-monks.
John knew the best place to dig
sweet-fag on all the farm it was in a
meadow by the river, where the bobo-
links sang so gayly. He never liked
to hear the bobolinks sing, however,
for he said it always reminded him of
the whetting of scythe, and that re-
minded him of spreading hay; and if
there was anything he hated it was
spreading hay after the mowers. 81
guess you wouldn't like it yourself" !"
said John, "with the stubs getting in
to your feet, and the hot sun, and the
men getting ahead of you, all you could
do"
Towards evening once, John was
coming along the road home with some
stalks of sw weet-fag in his hand there
is a succulent pith in the end of the
stalk which is very good to eat, tender
and not so strong as the root aud John
liked to pull it, and carry home what
he did not eat on the way. AS he was
walking along he met carriage which
stopped opposite to him he also stop
ped and bowed, as country boys used
to do in Johns days. A lady leaned
from the carriage and said:
"What have you got, little boy?"
She seemed to be the most beautiful
woman John had ever seen, with light
hair, dark tender eyes, and the sweetest
smile. There was that in her gracious
mien and in her dress which reminded
John of the beautiful castle ladies with
whom he was we'll acquainted with IN
books. He felt that he knew her at
once, and he also seemed 10 be a sort OF
young prince himself. fancy he didn't
look much like one. But of his own
appearance he thought not at all, as he
replied to the lady's question without
the least embarrassment.
"It's sweet-fag stalk; would you
like some? ?"
"Indeed I should like to taste of it, y
said the lady with most winning smile.
81 used to be ever so fond of it when ]
was little girl"
John was delighted that the lady should
like sweet-fag, and that she was pleased
to accept it from him. He thought
himself that it was about the best thing
to eat he knew. He handed up large
bunch of it. The lady took two or
three stalks, and was about to return
the rest, when John said :
"Please keep it all, ma'am. I can
get lots more. 1 know where it's ever
so thick"
"Thank you, thank you," said the
lady: and as the carriage started she
reached out her hand to John. He did
not understand the motion until he saw
a cent drop in the road at his feet. In
stantly all his illusion and pleasure van
ished. Something like tears were in his
eyes as he shouted
81 don't want your cent. L don'tsell
fagl"
John was intensely mortified. 81
he said, "she thought was
a sort of beggar-boy. To think of sell
ing flag -
At any rate he walked away and left
the cent in the road, humiliated boy.
The next day he told Jim Gates about
u l. A-t-