The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-10-07

ODA ...NO1OD.IIN -
dent Of our mixed humanity.
have" added the kind hearted cock, ;
mo titleto dictate lines of conduct tt
the junior division; but I will say
this, whoever shows consideration tc
this unlucky stranger is the friend o.
Robert Lindsay"
Boys are queer animals. No ont
would believe it possible, that, afte,
the scene Of the morning, Madonns
would become by bedtime one of tht
most popular fellows in the school
By Jove he was! When he recover:
ed his spirits a little,w began to find
out (fighting aside) what a jolly char
he was,-gay, gsnerous,-with alto
gether the sweetest temper T. ever
knew: he didn't know what malice
was, and would have been on good
terms, even with Bathurst. The lat
ter, however, like a sneaking bully
as he was, never from, that day forth
let slip an opportunity Of annoying
and insulting poor Madonna. He
made him a sort Of fag, often struck
him: and more than once spat in bis
face: On these occasions, Madonna :
EYED would light up with the same
strange; fire we noticed before !; but he
never struck again, and seemed to &C.
cept the necessity of submitting to
every indignity, as the inevitable and
only alternative Of his not fighting
T. I'm now going back to the day of
Madonna's arrival :'".,. -.
:. His bed was in a large room, in
which /, and a whole lot of other
chaps-fourtaap, 1 think-already
slept. And after old Mopkins, the
spoony usher, had taken. away the
candle, we began to talk as usual.
Madonna was rather silent.
Il say-you-new 10y, what's
your name 7"
madonna p said his next neigh
Dor.
"A penny for your thoughts. I
bet l know what they are"
"Tell me-" said Madonna, who was
sitting up in bed, swinging his night
cap, '*are any of you fellows in love~
A perfect volley of alternatives re-
piled. Love, you must know, was q
sort of epidemic at style's,-that is to
say. it came in at intervals, with 9TH
er games. There wasn't much usual
ly in the summer half; but when
cricket, and hockey, and trapball
were stopped, love came regularl y
in. 1t happened to be highly fash
ionable at the time of Madonna's ap-
pearance, having recently received
an immense impulse from the arrival
at Miss Billiter's Pallas House Acad-
emy, Of three new pupils; all pretty.
Pallas House was so capitally close
to us, that, by great skill and strength
a cricket-ball might be propelled over
an immense wall into their play
ground. It was a rum Sold house,
with two little turrets at one end
that nearest us), one of which was
called the Penitentiary, and used as a
place of confinement for pupils in dis
grace. We saw (at different times,
of course) lots of little golden-haired,
captives bobbing about in this cage
sometimes playing with smuggled
doll, sometimes trying to relieve the
monotony of prison.life by killing
flies, or other innocent pastime. We
tried to establish a system of COM
munication by signal, but it failed.
One ingenious boy thought he had
hit upon a method of conveying relief
and sympathy in its sweetest form,--
sugar-candy. A small parcel was
carefully made up, and attached to
the tail of kite, the wind being fair
for the Penitentiary, and the prisoner
on the alert; the kite was dropped
gradually down the wind till it reach
ed the necessary point, then suddenly
loosed, in the expectation that the
tail would drop past the prison win
dow. 1t did so with the greatest &C.
curacy; but the small prisoners arm
was too short to catch it; the packet
descended lower than was intended,
and flop it went, right through the
| window of Miss Billiter's study
Kites were stopped for the rest Of the
half.
To 20 back to our; bedroom chat
| A sigh from Madonna was the next
sound audible.
"Tell US all about it, old chap
| said voice from an adjacent couch,
in mock sympathetic tone.
"If you won't make fun Of it," re-
piled Madonna. "It's no laughing
matter, I can tell you. I've seen a
good deal of the sort of thing. I've
had much SORROW"
"Have you, though? I shouldn't
have thought it, to look at you,'
squeaked Poppy Purcell, across seven
other chaps. "What's she like?"
"I'ye been in love-" said Madonna,
fever since-I don't remember when
wasn't-nine times, I think, with
all sorts of women; but bosh! Its
all hollow, sir,-hollow J. They 60 to
school and forget a fellow, Or
"A fellow-then!' put in Matilda
Lyon (whose name was Matthew.
~ fear, Madonna, those precious eyes