Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1874-01-15
Being a Boy.

If I was obliged to be boy, and boy
| in the countryside best kind of boy to be,
| in the SUMMER would be about ten years
! Of age, AS soon as / got any older,
would quit IT, The trouble with boy is
| that just as he begins TO enjoy himself he
| is too old, and has to be set to doing
| something else. If country boy were
wise he would stay at just that age when
he could enjoy himself most, and have
| the least expected of him in the way of
work
OF course the perfectly good boy will
always prefer to work and to do "chores"
| for his father and errands for his mother
and sisters, rather than enjoy himself in
| his own way. / never saw but one such
boy. He lived in the town of Goshen
not the place where the butter is made,
but much better Goshen than that. And
/ never saw him, but / heard of him; and
being about the same age, as | supposed,
| was taken once from Zoah, where /
| lived, to Goshen to see him. But he was
dead. He had been dead almost year,
so that it was impossible to see him. He
died of the most singular disease; it was
from not eating green apples in the season
of them. This boy, whose name was
| Solomon, before he died, would rather
split up kindling-wood for his mother
than go afishing-the consequence was
that 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
when they were ripe enough to knock off
| with a stick-but he had such longing
| for Them that he pinned, and passed away.
| If he had eaten the green apples he would
have died Of them, probably; so that his
example is a difficult one to follow. In
fact, a boy is hard subject to get
moral from, any way. All his little play
mates who ate green apples came to Solo
mons funeral, and were very sorry for
what they had done.
John was very different boy from
Solomon, not half so good, nor half so
dead. He was farmers boy, as Solomon
was, but he did not take SO much interest
in the farm. IF John could have had his
way he would have discovered cave full
of diamonds, and lots of nail-kegs full of
gold pieces and Spanish dollars, with a
pretty little girl living in the cave, and
two beautifully caparisoned horses upon
which, taking 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
arithmetic 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 1t is,
bat he 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 as well relate.
If you had seen John at this time you
might have thought he was only shabbily
dressed country lad, and you never would
have guessed what beautiful thoughts he
sometimes had as he went stumbling his
.oes along the dusty road, nor what a
chivalrous little fellow he was. You
would have seen a short boy, barefooted,
with trowsers ct 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 ends and bulged up in the crown. 1t
Is impossible to keep hat neat if you
use it to catch humble bees and whisk
'em to bail the water from leaky boat;
to catch minnows in; to put over honey
bees nests, and to transport pebbles,
strawberries, and hens eggs. John usual
ly carried sling in his hand, or bow,
or Timber stick, sharp at one end, from
which he could sling apples a great dis
tar, e. If he walked in the road, he
walked, in the middle of it, scuffing up
the dust; or if he went elsewhere, he was
likely to be running on the top of the
fence or the stone wall, and chasing chip
hunks.
John knew the best place to dig sweet
flag in all the farm; it was in a meadow
by the river, where the bobolinks sang so
gaily. He never liked to hear the bobo-
fink sing, however, for he said it always
reminded him of the whetting of scythe,
and that reminded 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 stIbbs getting into your feet,
and the hot sun, and the men getting
ahead of you, all you could do"
Towards evening, once, John was com.
ing along the road home with some stalks
of the sweetfag in his hand; there is a
succulent pith in the end of the stalk
which is very good to eat tender, and not
40 strong as the root; and John liked to
null il, 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:
"What have you got, little boyy"
| 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 well acquainted in books.