The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-03-13
The Infant in Church.

Mr.. and Mrs. Pryden took their lit
tie boy to church OH Sunday. 1t was
his first day in pants and his first dav
in church For the first half of the ser
vice he was fully absorbed in the things
about him and the novelty of the situa-
ton. After that his mind turned in
upon himself, and he began to pay ex-
elusive attention to his own wants, and
Dlr and Mrs. Pryden, from an exultant
feeling of pride, gradually slipped down
an inclined plane ofanxiety, which emp
lied into All abyss Of despair The
number Of positions the youth got into
and the wants he manifested would seem
incredible were they not actually wit
messed by full score Of respectable peo-
pie. AS soon as he took in realizing
sense of his own identity, Master Pry-
den began to comprehend and respond
to the demands Of his nature. He got
up on his knees in the seat and stared at
the choir. He twisted back again to
the front, and was only saved from fall
ing the floor by the alertness of his pa.
The floor being thus suggested to him,
he got down on it. Then he got up on
the seat again. From this place he de-
sired to change to position between
his pa and ma. He was accommodated.
After resting quietly there for twenty
seconds, he changed to the other side Of
lis pa. Thence moved to his pas lap
From there he went to the other side OF
his ma.
This was evidently mistake, for he
Immediately expressed a wish to get
back to the other side Of his pa, and on
their attempting to lift him there, he
kicked and cried, and was only silenced
by being allowed to walk the distance,
which he did ut once. The motion so
pleased him that he went straightway
back again and tried it over. Also for
the second and third time. Then he got
up again between his ma and pa. After
that to the other side of his pa. Then
he espied gilt-backed book in the rack
Of the next pew, and reaching over to get
it, came within an ace of depositing his
entire carcass on the other side, but was
clutched in time by both his parents and
hauled safely back, very red in the face
and very indignant. Disappointed in
his venture, he turned his atten-
tention to the rack III his own
pew and possessed himself of the
books therein, which, being taken away
from him, made it necessary that he
should get them again. These he dropped
On the floor one at time, and he smiled
the guileless smile of infancy as they
were picked up by his embarrassed pa
rents. Pretty we'll exhausted, he now
prepared for sleep, and rested his head
upon his mothers breast and closed his
eyes. His parents sighed. Then he
slipped down on the floor, sliding in such
a way as to leave quite an expanse of
white goods behind his pants and jacket,
and to roll the collar Of the jacket up on
the back of his head.
The clothing was adjusted, his ma
whispered in his ear for the fortieth
time, and his pa scowled 50 hard rs to
nearly dislodge his own scalp. He saw
the scowl, and sullenly sank down on
the floor, from which he had to be lifted
by main force. linen ne toOk OuU
the hymnbooks again, and was going to
drop them as before, when his pa inter
Tered and rescued them. He resented
this liberty by throwing back his head,
which, coming in contact with the back
of the scat, wrenched from his lips
a shrill cry The unhappy mother en-.
deavored to stihe in her shawl so much of
the wall as she could not whisper away,
while the pas face was full of great
drops Of perspiration of which he him.
self was unconscious. This wall not
abating, pas knife, containing four
blades, was brought into service, and
then the cry was husbed. For full
moment he was absorbed in the contem-
p,ation of this object There was no
carpet in the pew. Two-thirds of the
congregation rose from their seats, and
Mr.. Pryden himself came almost to a
perpendicular. Then the hymn was
given out and sung, and the benediction
was pronounced, and Mr. and Mrs.
Pryden, with their heir between them,
started for home. Mr. Pryden being so