The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-01-22
From the New York Tribunc.1

ifTOHl the Ne" oTh lIIDule.J
Tom.
Tom slung his satchcl over his shoulder
and set oil to school, after his ten days holt
day, .iest as unwillingly as when. two hum
.dred years ago, the melancholy Jaqucs made
him immortal. His morning face does not
shine now-a.d days. however there are black
.dats of burnt cork upon it, after the min
.strel performances Which he and The other
fellows had last night. They tone with a fine
stitness with the limp shirt-collar and unlaced
muddy shoes. The American schoo-boy
does not whine either; he shows his
memorable prejudice against learning
and authority by banging his slate
to bits against the hall walls. dashing bis
Cesar at the pet poodle; he beats tantara
at his brother 'ercy's door asleep after
hast nights opera and supper at Del.
monico's), tumbles over Tot on the stairs,
gives her bearish hug, and goes out, slam
ming the door, and down The street, not
creeping by any means, but shouting out
=" The fox jumped over the parsons gate" or
other "chaSte aria" stopping to talk to the
policeman, with whom be is on friendly terms,
to follow q fire-eDgine down the next street,
or to swarm with hundred of his cougcnerS
about a dog-fght or 4 procession. The
mouse IhilS iUlo u Dllssi III IlpSe vi SlicuCc as
soon as ne is out of it; the late seepers turn
in their beds with sigh of relief; the SER
wants 20 about repairing damages with many
'unSpoken oathS; Tom is no fayorile with
them; they can see no use for him but TO
."eat like glutton and to order about his
sbcttcrS."
The trouble is that nobody can find the use
for Tom; he is crude, noisy, malapropos in
the house, or the woods, or the street the
one limb of the social body, awkward and
ill set; the uncouth moocue for which even
TyndalI could find no woIk in nature. Out
of doors Tom Is as sure harbinger of row
or fight as cough is Of consumption !;
indoors he stamps out carpets, breaks
china, leaves the print Of his paws
ION the walls. The land before him
may be an Eden of bric-a.bac, but
behind him will be bowling wilderness.
In literature nobody found a place for him
but great-hearted, gentle Thackeray, who
loved and made much Of the lad. His sister,
a sweet Christian girl, who teaches the little
wretches in a mission school with enthusi.
assn, etldtTes Tom with patient resignation.
They are picturesque through dirt and
misery; bat what can you make of
creature who mimicS your singing of An
mon giunecr, land cleverly, too,) or thumps
you on the back with "Give US the Mul.
ligan Guards Nancy !" Percy, brilliant
yeung lawyer, marked in society for his fine
aesthetic taste, does not endure Tom; he
thOk;s him an. nnmannerly cub, with neither
heart nor brains. His father, out of regard
to his c0rns,' holds him at arms length, and
mentions him only to grumble at bis shoe
andptai.or.biHs. Percy had been head Of his
class liz scbeni-a career and distinc-
stien waited for him; but what can be
done with tbs dull, lazy fellow.
Even .lis mother, since he put on trow-
sers. for kEiekerba: kers, has unconsciously
drawn away. from the boy; she is loving,
.gentlemother, too; eShen he was baby lying
on her breast heSs9 a part of herself,a good
deaf desrer than hstSelf. But this Mailman,
,half.ehild, with all bis strange developments
of cruelty and roughaess, thoughts and ways
which are alien 10 be- own, appals and per-
,plexes her. 1fsshe is aEoarse woman, she nags
and scolds hinrincessastly; if she be of gentle
.breedingS he quietly ie.a.es him to himself. At
school Tom herds with the undistinguished
rabble. There are certain pale, broad brow
Led youths who earry off the prizes at every
-eShibiton.day, ard certain ether broad
shauldered, ruddy fellows who are masters
.on;the background, but there are one or TWO
hundred Toms remarkable in neither brain
mor body; they are neither head sor foot Of
the roil:; the masters hear Iheir hating les
sons ,droWsily; they are ,wsSn out with
surfeit OF commonplace boy.
MEANWHILE nobody ncmemasers that Tom
is Tom to himsef--the only Zero he knows
in the worid-the ,one being whose plea
suress and hurts, and ,cssances for to-tnor-
row be considers night after night and
day a4tar clay. You thiak that his mind
is full * the chunks OF cake he Is MUNICH
ing or tie licking he means togire Joe Pc.
tiers. But the boy knows quite well where
he stands ia Iifes he secs all she impatient
looEs, feels the act an every angry word.
lie sees with keen insight how he is some.
how outside Of the world Of other people,
grown men aud women have their place and
work outlined aud clear; his futsee and ca.
pability are all Pague-a mere nothing, which
nobody concerns himself much about. There
Is certain Immortal charm about the baby |
Tot. She brought the glory with her when |
she "came from God, who is her houe,s |
Tom himself has reverence and a passionate
love for the little thing; it brings the tears to
his eyes when she hugs or kisses him. or
when he sees her watching ut the window
for him. But the charm and glamor were
worn oil him long ago; even his mother
does not see it now. He does not know
"nat can be the matter with him; he does
NOT know why, when he would be graceful
ana manly like Percy, he is only priggish
ana ridiculous; be does not understand
why the problems which come by nature
10 the other fellows make his heavy brain
ache. The dullest, toughest Tom does
not want TO be dull or rough. He Is
In the cropping transition state, when
be cannot appear the child he was or the
man he will be; he perpetually essays to be
something, to stand firmly somewhere in the
worlds by turns humble and conceded.
Sod knows how bitter the consciousness of
ITS inferiofaty is to the lad, how often be
would like to 60 back to lay bis hand on bis
n9!heE's breast, or say bis baby prayers at