The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1874-11-05
A BiLLY-GOAT SCHOOL MASTER.

| -hufaf AeW Yorker.
A BILLY-GOAT SCHOOL MASTER.
| "C-AP-RICIO-U-S-N- That's a
pretty word to put in a story book for a
little fellow like me. | wonder what il
means, anyhow
Tommy always scoids a little when a
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 fellow might
| as well learn them first as last. OF course,
its trouble to be asking some one,
What's this?" and Whats that?" every
little while, especially when everybody
is busy reading or working; and it isn't
easy for little fellow to be running to
the dictionary every time he stumbles
over long word; still, anything is bet
ter than skipping.
| can't help watching him with the
corner of my eye, as he stands with his
elbows on the windowsill, resting his
chubby check on his hand
Presently a smile begins to flicker
round Tommy's mouth; his eyes dance
a little, and the ghost of il laugh ripples
over his face, without making bit of
noise. He wouldn't laugh that way if
we were in the woods!
What is itg" | ask
Little Billy"
What's happened to Billy"
Nothing, only he's trying to jump
outside of himself, while his mother eats
posters off the wall, in spite of that boy
with stick! Hes such funny rascal!
Do all goats act that way"
!" 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 of at one side,
rearing and bunting and fngng out his
heels &c th9eRHaEh hea fwaowsa 81 sa,s fire
lieve"
"Just 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 tail he has. 1t
looks lust as though it had been broken
off and stuck on again the wrong way.
There's caper for you! Just look at
him"
"Did you ever here of the Romans,
Tommy"
"Romulus and Remus and julius
Caesar, and all those old fellows that
lived long time ago? OF course !
have"
"Don't YOU know that if Julius Caesar
had said, There's u caper,' he'd have
meant simply, There's goat"
"Would he? Why? Coper doesn't
mean goat, does it?"
"Not now, but it used to-"
"And is that the reason why we call
funny things that fellow does when he
| feels good and doesn't know what to DO
copers"
Precisely. To caper is to do ode
things without any particular purpose
| lust as goats do
| 81 never knew that words came abou
in that way"
"They do, very often. Don't you know
how we call greedy boy pig, or one
that goes bawling around for nothing
little caT'"
40 yes. And we call fellow that i
always bossing around buHy'
Certainly. Even the dictionary
makers have to admit it."
Dictionary makers! Do dictlonarie
tell anything about where our word
come from?"
Certainly; and capital stories yo
can make of them, too. Fetch me tha
big one there, on the lower shelf. Ca
you lift it:'
"Humph. Pity if l can't lift a boo
as big as that"
"Here we are! Thank you. No
let's look at cnper. Here it is:
'Caper-(L. Caper, goat)
"That II stands for Latin, the lar
guage the Romans used to talk. You
hear enough about that before you al
done going to school!
"The meaning of caper, you see, is
, skipping, leaping or jumping in froli
some mood, utter tie aaanner cfa goat, an
To Caper, means to dance, skip or lea
in frolicsome manner.
"Dolly says Quit your capertng' som
4 times when I'm having little fun al
: make too much noise"
"And I've heard you say the same
Billy, when you wanted to lead him al
/ he wanted to play You know what
means.
g "Here's another word of the san
s sort, which we likewise owe to Mast
G Billy:
Caprice.-A sudden start of t
I mind; a whim; freak; fancy
0 You've seen such actions, dare ss
e in some of your playmates. You nev
l can depend on them. One moment tn
'e want to play ball; before you can beg
n to play they have changed their mln'
= ana want 10 play HoTSc, VI laS, W 'o'
d thing else. One moment they are We
+ friendly, and the next they're oil ID
.e huff, without any reason for 1t. ou
at people are called caIricious. Here's I
le word. a little further along"
n "Why, that's the very word could
ID understand in my book"
81 "Was it? Look"
ooh, no! It's capriciousness. KIN
what that means now. But who'd M
= thought it had anything to do wit
Billy -goat?'
"That's wonderful book, that
of tionsry. It'll pay you TO study II.
ST. Nicholaa,