The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-12-11
OUR BOYS TRUNK.


How well remember it, as it came
home from the maker's-that great hulk
of trunk It was built, like man.of-
war, according to speeifcations-stoDe
keel, plated with zine, crossed with
bands of oak, and fretted at every Joint
and corner with spikes of brass. II
was our boys trunk, the first he ever
owned, for, hitherto, in his short sum
mer journeyings, q light valise had
served to hold his g traps" or they had
been packed in the s' one and indivisi-
BILE " Saratoga. The boy was now, for
the first time, leaving home for a series
of years, to pursue his classical educa-
tion.
We said the trunk was made to order,
for our Ned was impressed with the idea
that no craftsman had yet laid a keel
large enough for his demands " for
you see, father" he would say, I've
all my summer and winter clothes to
carry, besides those monstrous lexicons,
and my skates, and boot-jack, and lots
of other little gin-cracks as if any
amount of IexicoDs and boy-properties
could fill that 3" three-stOry edifice," as
Thackeray calls it, modern trunk.
And so il was brought home, q regu-
lar mailed leviathan, and moored In the
family sitting room, preparatory to
taking on freight. Ned inspected 1t
with immense approval, walking round
it from stem to stern, and humping
every bolt and hinge. Inside, it was
as luxurious and almost as roomy as q
Iedy's boudoir-a succession of sur
prises and arnbuseades of convenience
with fairy sitting on the lid of every
compartment, and rising out of every
pocket. Ned's enthusiasm was dashed
with little disdain of these interior
furnishings, as being soft and girI-Iike,
and / think he would have chosen the
grim dinginess of bank safe, as better
comporting with the gravity of a
students life.
What hustle and confusion, what
giving and receiving of orders, while
the leviathan was taking in cargo
What nice folding of cambria neckties,
and asserting of silken ones, from the
4" Prince Albert" TO the "ButterHy ~
What inquest for odd cuffs and derelici
pocket handkerehiefs, tied 20 kite tails,
and slowed away in old coats ! What
inspection of collars and shirt-bosoms,
and remOrseless tossing into the laun.
dry basket of any that showed spot OF
wrinkle What brushing and sponginq
of old garments and "trying on" OF
new What disquisitions on the tailor.
like way of folding a coat What
washing Of ipk-stauds and rummaginp
for pens, knives, pencils and other
9 rolling stock, on which no boy from
Tubal Cain downward ever knew where
to lay his hand What squanderiug o1
tops. hsh-hooka, and water wheels or
the neighbOrs What measuring and
I fr,[ET - - l.
fit ! What ransaekiDg for readers and
speal<ers-the hold Of our ship being
found so prOdigiOus that it swallows uu
not only the 1exicons, but all sorts OF
miscellaneous books, to which the boy
helps himself withthe double purpose oi
filing up and making a brave show on
his book-shelves.
at last, after confusion enough &c
have shipped the stores of an arsenal,
the lower Compartment OF Ned's trunk
is pronounced solid as abrick. Buttons
and seams have all been inspected by
snxioUs mamma as carefully as a brake
mar tests his car wheels, and the snowy
piles Of linen have been laid in with 8
silent prayer that the boys heart may
be kept as pure and fresh amid its new
temptations.
Away in the upper loft. under the
monsters ribs, the winters fannels are
bestowed with ignominy, also thicl
boots, brushes, bOOt-iack, and slippers
and the blanket shawl which mother
VIII put IN, with striot Injunction Il
spread it on the bed o frosty nights
There goes the overcoat, too, thougE
Nsd insists it is quite superfiuous in Cit
being now Augusi), but punches it be
cause It win help the other things tC
ride snug"
Next come the 'Fdrswers and things. >
as Ned STYLES the fancy compartments
Here repose the neckties, in variegatei
sheen, IS If bird Of paradise had drop
/ ped her plumage; there, q cake o
/ Cashmere bouquet bestowed by Cousin
Alice, who, fresh from Dothsboys Hall
is sure nothing but yellow soap is evel
! provided IN boarding schools. Also
there is stationery Of all sorts, from
/ sturdy fOolscap 10 note paper of sucl
/ tender hue and endorsements as colo
/ the suspicion that Cupid instead o
/ miuerya, prssidss In acsdamic groves
! But here comes the mother with a med
/ icine chest which must 60 in-pepper
/ mint for collie, oil Of hemlock for ear
/ ache, camphor for to0thache, compo
4 sition" for a cold In the head, hot drop
I for indigestion, ETC, and having seeI
/ these safely Cushioned, she slips IN
/ frosted pound cake by way Of rendering
/ her prescriptions necessary. Trscruta
/ ble mamma OF course there are but
tons enough for PeggOtty, and needle