The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-01-04
observations of Men and Things.
BY OUR GEORGE.

Observations of Non and Things.
BY OUR GEORGE.
THE SMALL Boy. There is nothing outside
of the covers Of a Iatent Office Report that will
knock SO many lro sh surprises out Of rs as the
small boy. He is an animated kaleidoscope,
and at every turn Of his new surprise awaits
YOU. Before you have got on your feet from
some surprising untc Of his, You are tloored
aqan by question that Il coroner's jury could
not answer; and while you are recovering from
the effect of that and realizing how fcarfu!ly
true is the saying that knowledge is power
and wishing that you had power enough just
1T tina, time to run Il saw mill, you are ~trucl,
down again by call to supply some want OF
his that makes the RothSchildS operations
dwinde into inSigniticancc.
The small boy suddenly breaks upon Your
obscured vision when he has attained about
the ace of four wears, and he keeps per,istently
before it for some ten years. | p to that time
he has simply been Il child, whom you have
designated A. an 1t; but rs It nit, he now be-
gins to develop wonderfully. You come home
some day and are made to feel that there i, I
small boy III your family, and YOU realize that
at least more census will he taken before
there Will be perfect safety again on youl
premises, and YOU crash your hat down over
your eyes. and rash down town and put an a,-
ditona fire risk on YOUR house. and take out
an accident policy on your life, and return
home 10 struggle with the inevitable
The lirSt trait the small boy develops is the
ar, Of making a noise, and he always succeeds
first rate, too. He takcS to philosophy natural
ly and studies acoustics, which he considers the
| science OF tongues aud sounds. The hardest
thing he can do il to keep stiII A man can
Keep STILL if the government detectives let him
alone, but :here is nothing desr!ihable thtl
makes so much noise a lot of boys trying tC
keep still, The harder they try, the more noise
they make. The noise increase. like the price
of circular saws, according TO the squares of
their diametela. / always had an deA of my
| own, although | never copyrighted it, that the
thunder we have Il nothing bat Il lot of ANGEL
boys playing.
Did YOU ever 4 small boy try to leave It
room, aud lie make up his mind that he will
get oui of that room ID quietly that ii would
take several PAR OF the largest sized ears tc
hear him. once determined, ne begins to
make preparations. lie h!t. on AS thick boots
and he knows they luu be handled carefully.
lie gets up from his chair and looks all around
the room His hreathin, sounds like line t.-
Srculing piston in Il steam ENGINE. H. raises
both hands above his head. which seems TO lit
him mp On his toes. Gently lie litt+ MP one foot
aS high rs the Slack Of hi, little trousers will
allow, and puts it down again a few inches i'll
advance OF where he took itup. Tie then raises
the other foot in like manner, seeming ~
think that the higher he raises his feet the ,7>
noise he MAKES. lie lifts them SO HIGH that he
line Of march across the Moor looks like the
scallops round the edge of Il cookey. All the
time his eyes are fixed on the door, and each
breath he draws is is heavy rs a tlatiron. The
door opens into n room on which there is an
oil cloth carpet. once through that door, all
his responsibility ceases. That door repre-
SCENTS TO him the dividing line between silence
and noise, and once closed behind him. he be-
lieves it impervouS 70 sound. He i trembling
IiOiL ut'ut " lpbt w ltiI ilNFiN' ltSt ne SLisll
meet with some accident and wake the sleeper.
His hand grasps the knob and the latch makes
a slight click, which drives him nearly frantic
with fear, and his back hair looks up over his
head to ascertain the cause Of the trouble. The
door opens slowly; there i an instant pause,
and then his little fol- III shoots over the TIRES
hold, his thick boots land on the oil cloth with
tl,n !,
slam, and the small boy ru>hes across the
room, yelling to = playmate over the way like
Il party Of Sioux warriors.
The small boy does not believe in putting of
till Tomorrow what he can do to-day, unle>, it
is little job Of work. lie will give more reu-
sons and invent more excuses in given Time
with one hand tied behind him. than half a
dozen strong men. lie has no regard for
weather or seasons. He seourS up his sled
shoes i'll July. gets out his bows and arrows in
December, counts his marbles and examines
his top strings IN March. He wants to Slid lie
when Ills good skating. and skate when It's
good sliding. Everything he has he does not
want, but wants everything he has not got If
he had every toy in the world but one, he
would Immediately enter into negotiations with
the propretors Of that one to swap all Of his
for it, and having obtained it, would find that
it did not suit him, and without resting, would
trade 1t OF for piece Of string. and then throw
away the string.
And Of such is the kingdom OF heaven :"
VIII oh would give one the vague idea that
there will be more or less scrimmaEes there.
and that it will not be the realm of everlasting
peace; for unless the small boy angels were
scraped out and = new set Of inSides put into
Them, they cannot get along without differ
fnce of opinion now and then, when they are
olt to play on the golden streets
Small boys, like their grown up examples,
prefer the national game to all others. | mean
the game of bawl It's q game in which they
all join, and they do il with 50 much energy
that | have often heard them iawin' several
blocks OFF.
Three or four small boys in house will fur
nish As much weather as a barometer They
can make the house too bot for YOU, or they
will have it 'scold ~ you can bear it. They
will have their reign storms, and it's no use to
try and prevent it. They will manufacture A
squat, and when You try 10 scientifically in
vestigatc lis cause, they viii wind ~ with
lynn %ale, and then there il Il good oppoltu-
nifty for the parent TO assist them with a few
blows, after which there will be calm.
Rnt | like the small boy. file is the spice of
existence. The ginger snap in the cupboard of
our lives. He is regardless of all but the
present, that | cannot but envy HIM. soon.
700 soon lac will meet the stern realities of
ltfe. He will learn how to dodge the tax col
.rctcr, and lie to the life insurance agent, aud
struggle with the book canvasser. In the
let him yell and fight, and play and
tear round and break things, and we will sit
back and smile and pay the bills.