The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-01-07

BY CHARLES DUDLEY WARMER.

If was obliged to be a boy, and a boy in
the Countrywide best kind Of boy to be, in
SUMNER wonld be about ten years of
age. As soon as | got any older, / would
quit it. The trouble with a boy is that lust
as he begins to enjoy himself he is too old,
and has to be set to doing something else.
If a country boy were wise he would stay at
Just that age when he could enjoy himself
most, and have the least expected ofhim in
the way Of work.
OF course the perfectly good boy will al
ways prefer to work and to do the 'tchores"
for his father and errands for his mother
and sisters, than enjoy himself in his own
way. never saw but one such boy. He
lived in the town of GOshcn-not the place
where the butter is made, but much bet
ter Goshen than that, And l never saw
him, but heard of him; and being about
the same age, as | supposed, | was taken
once from Ioah where | lived, to Goshen tc
see him, But he was dead. He had been
almost year, so that it was impossible to
see him. He died of the NEST singular dis
ease; ii was from not eating green apples in
the season ofthem. This boy, whose name
was Solomon, before he died, would rather
split up kindling wood for his mother than
go tishing-the consequence was that he
was 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 when they were ripe enough
to knock off with Il stick--but he had such
longing for them probably so that his ex-
ample is difficult one to follow. In fact,
boy is hard subject to get moral sub
Ject from, any way. All his little playmates
who ate green apples came to Solomons
md .l..4 Al,
had done.
John was a very different boy from Solo
mon, not half so good, half so dead He
was farmers boy, rs Solomon was, but he
did not take So much interest in the farm.
If phn could have had his way he would
nave discovered a cave iull of diamonds
and lots of nail kegs full of gold pieces and
spanish dollars, with a pretty little girl who
l'ved in the cave, and two beautifully capar-
i'oncd horses, upon which, tsking the Jewels
ana money. they would have ridden off to-
scthcr, he did not know where. John had
rot this far in his studies, which were APP
parcntly arithmetic and geography, but were
IN reality the arabian knights" and other
books OF nigh and mighty adventure, lie
vas II simple country boy, and did not know
much about the world as it is, but Ii had
one of his own Imagination, in which he
lived good deal. dare say he found out
soon enough what the world is, and he had
lesson or two when he was quite young,
IN two incidents, which | may rs well re-
late.
Il you had seen John at this time YOU
might have thought he was only n ehahbjly
dressed country lad, and you never would
have guessed what beautiful thoughts he
sometimes had as he went stubbng his toes
along the dusty road, nor what a chiynlrous
lttle fellow he was, You would have seen
short boy, barctooted with trowsers at
once too his and too short. held up perhaps
by one suspcndcr only, checked cotton
shirt, and a hat Of braided palm leaf trayed
n the edges and bulged up in the crown.
1t is Impossible to keepa hat neat ifyou use
1t to catch bumbla-becs and whisk'em; to
bail the water from II leaky boat to catch
mnnowS in to put over honcy-bees' nests,
ana to transport pebble, strawberries and
mems eggs. John usually carried sling in
his hand, or bow, or Il timber stick, sharp
at one end from which he could sling an
pies great distance. If he walked in the
road, he walked in the middle of it, scufline
up the dust; or if he went elsewhere, he
was likely to be running on the top of the
fence, or chasing chipmunks.
John knew the hest place to dig sweetfag
IN all the farm; II was in the meadow by
INC rNer, Wherc the DoD0llnkS sang so galy.
lie never liked to hear the bobolink sing,
however, for he said it always reminded him
of the whetting of scythe and that remind
ed him of spreading hay; and if there was
anything he hated it was spreading hay at
ter the mowers" II guess you wouldn't
like ityourself" said John, "with the stubbs
get into your feet, and the hot sun, and
the men getting ahead ofyou, all you could
do"
Towards evening" once, John was coming
along the road home with some stalks of the
sweet flag in his hand there is succulent
pith in the end of the stalk which is very
good to eat, tender, and not so strong as the
root; and 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
stopped and bowed, as country boys used
to do in Johns day. A lady leaned from
the carriage, and said: