The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-12-12
PICTURES OF A BOY.
CHAPTER I-"IT's A BOY"

strong sentence just quoted. No matter
what hopes have been INDUCED concern
ing girl babies, there is something, in the
pithy announcement, "It's boy" which
dispels all fancitul dreams and sets every
body squarcly on a prose basis. His very
voice, as i, utters defiant war-Mhoop to
the grand army of humanity, tells the
story to experienced years. The visions
of a dainty girl darling very soon vanish
before this positive piece of prose, who
kicks his sturdy heels through the deli
cate pink socks intended for his sister,
and who grows as red az turkey cocks
head at Thanksgiving times when he is
expected to show of to good advantage
before callers. He persists in an abnor~
NAL development of nose and puflincss
about the eyes, along with several other
little tricks known only to interested
parties. Parents and nurses become re-
concilcd and accept him on trust, seeing
no other alternative. He emerges from
his puffy and rosy obstinacy to roly-
poly, widc-awake thing Of beauty, which
is Il JOY fully onehalf of the time. There
isn process from infancy to little boyhood,
n sweet time, when the man. child is half
baby, half angel. In the clear depths of
his innocent eyes is world of trust and
n ircshly-opencd lily, and his lips as sweet
as hermosa roses. He is most witching
ut this stage, for the peculiaritics which
mark ,hc cnfdn terrible are yet undcvcl-
opcd. lie is an armful OF love and beauty
and promise and dread and hope. Love
him while yet there is no guile on the
tender lips, no sin i'll the unwritten soul,
no touch of the worlds breath upon
Gods finished work
CHAPTER II-"GET UP OLD HORsEYw
"Mcrcy, what n .iosc! Look at that
chair, with Il string tied on the arms and
made fast to the writing desk and flower
stand, all to be driven tandem by that
young imp in kilt skirt and fancy hat
and shoes! Who upset that work basket7
made with my wool and thread There's
the last Graphic torn 10 scraps and stuffed
in the cuspidore with my scrcw-drivcT
that lost week ago. What is he doing
with the cat? and, dear me, if he hasn't
thrown grandmn's spcctacles into the
STatci
Where's Harry? Run to the kitchen
and see. All the eggs are broken in the
basket of folded clothes, and the milk
for pudding has been fed to the cat and
dog" Bridget Innnigan is in towering
rage, and says, "Phat's the use of shavin'
to kape clano wild such young divii
forninst ye?" Miss Frigidity Fusbunch
calls, and Is Mortified by being requested
to "bc horse and let Harry ride to Bos-
ton" She is questioned also on many
delicate points. He gets very close to
her and asks what that white stuff on her
face is, and what makes her wear such n
funny little hat.
A few years Of this Juvenile terror and
then appears another stage of the boy.
He gets Il fever only appeascd by marbles.
1t is useless to head Off this phase if it
is shut of in Ole direction it breaks out
more violently in some other. 1t goes
through a period of six or seven years
and costs much i'll anxiety, broken win
dow-panes and mortified pride. He is
afflicted with rats, pigeons and other boy
ish complaints, which are harmless, but
annoying. He brings in six dirty steel
traps to amuse his sick sister, who grows
worse under it, and in his solicitude he
straps his legs fast to six feet of stills and
st00i,s to enter the door of her room, t.
the horror and dismay of his mother.
He brings little notes home from school,
light, but fails to convince his parents
that it was "only because Bill Wilson
dropped his slate on Abe Hennegan's
toes and made me laugh" He carves
his awkward initials on old Mrs. Will
liams' cellar door and she threatens his
arrest. lie goes to see 'Hiiinpty Dump
| ty' and comes home and throws rea.
brickbats at his aunt, and Bridget is met
with IL batterng blow from his head
when she is bringing in the coal. He
makes life a burden and home snare
and delusion. He tears the comforts
i'll more ways than one, and Sits the
pillow cases to match them. Gradually
he leaves off his hurly- -burly life and i'm
perceptibly glides into
CHAPTER TI-"wHERE's MY BLUE TIE?"
"Where is the blackiDg brush? am
going to little surprise, and won't be
nome till eleven. Is my percale shirt
done up nice? I wish you'd make my
collars sitter. / don't thank some one
for throwing my coat down and getting
it wrinklcd all up. How do you like this
hat? Think it looks better than my soft
one?" You will find the pigeon boxes
all deserted about this period; not rat
trap cumbers the back yard. The wood
shed theatricals are all ended; the stills
are put away kites forgotten and win
dow glass in perfect safety. The dust
has filled up the rndc initials in Mrs.
Williams cellar-door, and there is an
uninvited quiet all around the house.
Chairs stay in their places and panta-
looms will no longer bear cutting over for
the boy. He gets them now out of new
stuff, and mothers "cut" will not satisfy
him. He is not in the way now, and
there is heavy pain in mothers heart
as she thinks that he will never need her
much any more. The innocent eyes have
ii deeper meaning in them now. They
have taken into their depths the reflec-
ton of q face younger than mothers, and
life begins to look real to them.
The world is full of homes where these
pictures will be recognized and hung up
as family portraits-homcs where there
are no sounds Of young voices now
They grow away into the great world so
soon, and put away the nameless feeling
of desolation 40 we do the cast off toys Of
their childhood; and ', en- the evening
of lille approaches the heart goes back
along the track of time and IL oaco nioTs
with the children in the dear old long
ago. Cincinnati Saturday Night.
DELIGHTFUL PERFUMEs.-Dr. Price
has prepared O rich variety of perfumes.
from which the most fastidious can ga.