Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-01-11
The Story of a Willful Boy.


The Story of a Willful Boy.
Not long after the purchase by the
United States of the Territory of Louis
lana, there lived in New Orleans q
French lady, a widow, having under her
care two orphaned grandchildren, a boy
and a girl. The boy vas about II years
old, and was what boys are and will be.
The grandmother was what all grand
mothers are not. While affectiOnate,
she believed in discipline which the
wise man recommends. For some boy
ish offense she logged her grandson.
The youngster having endured the
Christening without resistance, coolly
said: "Grandma, if yer you do that
again,y you will repent it, for you whitney,
er after have the opportunity" Where
upon a second dose was inco~ntinently
administered. The boy made good his
threat. He disappeared and left no
trace whatever. [ can not tell how
much the grandmother grieved, or
whether she repented having done her
duty, or what steps she took to ecOye
her charge; or whether the truth EVER
was suggested to her. Poor old lady,
she was dead long ago, when [, a. a
boy, knew the family. a generation
passed away. The younger sister wa
now herself the mother of a family, and
by all else the missing boy had been
forgotten; when one day her husband
brought home to dinner a merchant
from one of the towns in Missouri.
During the meal something led to the
mention of the lady's maiden name,
when the visitor said: "That is
an unusual name, and yet | am familiar
with it. There is an Indian whom I
know of that name, OF rather a white
man who is a chief among q tribe of
Indians in the Ear West. Once or twice
in the year a part Of the tribe comes to
my town to trade, and this - is al
ways of the number, being the man of
most intelligence and best fitted to buy
from and sell to the WhiteS.n From the
first mention of the fact that her name
was known in the wilds of Missouri, the
excited sister felt sure that her brother
lived, and her anxious questionings
brought out all the particulars that
could strengthen her assurance-the
sum of which | have given without at
tempting to be dramatic.
When the merchant went back to his
western home he bore earnest entreaties
to the iong-lost brother (if it was in
deed he) from the loving sister to come
to her. Within a year the renegade
presented himself. The story of many
years was a short and simple one.
When, in his indignation, he left his
grandmother's home, it was with the
purpose which he had carried out. In
those days in the swamps close upon
the city, were the bark huts of the
peaceful Choctaws. Long afterwards
they might be seen in the city singly,
selling wild fruits or cane baskets; or
in parties in their paint and feathers,
dancing to the beating of a small kettle
drum, and begging for enough money
to get drunk on. Perhaps their miser-
able remains may still be found there.
To these Indians the boy had gone at
once. With them and with others, he
had lived ever since. In early life he
had wandered farther and farther from
his home, till he found himself, in what
was then the far West, a man of i'm
pOrtance in a little world which had lit
tie connection with what we call the
world.
He had come now to CRAFTY the
longings of a sister whom he had not
forgotten-to indulge his own atFec-
tions, but without a thought of yielding
to her %entreaties to live with her. 1t
was not that he would not be depend
ent o her; he had money enough to
take care of himself; but he was an In
dian, and white mems ways could not
be put up with. lie remained a short
while in New Orleans, more and more
fretted by the restraints of a city, and
then went back to his people-to his
woods or his prairies-where, as he
said, he could breathe. 1 hope the ex-
perience of a willful boy will not deter
any grandmother or mother from a
due, divinely taught use of the switch.
Perhaps without the fogging my boy
might have done worse than turn In
dian.-Ceuntry Gentleman.