The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-02-01
HOW NED WAS crREn.

/
/ said Ned Merrill sas be held up a muddy
| boot in front of his mothers face.
''Where is your boot-jackP'' she
asked. s4f,ty. agtei 4
80, split it up for kindingwood to-
| night, =" replied Ned. - II 81 /
''Split it up for kindling7yood! What
did you do that for? There are plenty of
boards in the woodlshed.
Il was in hurry said Ned. ''and
grabbed hold of the first thing | came
| to- .aS3 a&3i'( - - I'll 4
You arc the LATEST boy ever saw, y
said Mrs. Merrill, as she took hold of the
muddy boot and pulled it off. You be
sure and makeyourself a new boot-jaek
tomorrow.
Eyes, mother, i will,'s said Ned. as
bed 'ssa''' 's
you'll ruin that boy,'' said Aunt
Louise, who had been. sitting in the
room busily sewing. ''You wait on him
entirely too muah.'i .H wi s.
His boots, you, know, are rather
tight for him, - replied Mrs. Merrill.
land, being .Wetn were really hard to
pull of. don't intend pulling them
off again: He VIII make a.boot-iack to-
morrow yoY ~
Ned Merrill was q boy who always
put off everythingiin the shape of work
until the last moment. 1F The old adage:
Lazy folks work best when the sun is
west. was true in his case. He had
the kindlingsl 70 split for the fires, the
water to bring from the well, and the
COW to feed three times day; but his
mother often said that it was such
hard work to get Ned to do these things
she would rather do them herself. he
could easily have stepped into the
wood-shed and split up kindlings
enough in a few minutes to last three or
four days but he always, as Aunt
Louise said, dreaded everything in the
shape of work. d He would wait until
dark be ore he got, about his chores
and then he would split up his boot-iac
or something else that lay near him,
saying: 81 can easily make another
The next night, when bed time came.
Ned looked all around the kitchen as if
he had lost something.
He has not made that boot-iack. -
thought Aunt Louise, as she saw the
boy try to pull offhis boots on the chair
OAs i
der what he will do, 4 thought she.
Ned's mother was in the pantry, stir
ring up buckwheat cakes for breakfast
hen she came into the kitchen-she
said: Haven't you gone to bed vet,
NedP | thought you went up stairs
long ago." sg8ar = i,
II can't get my boots off," replied
Ned, in fretful tone s. 10
,,3 s'..Therei i knew you wouldn't make
that beok-jac to day, when YOU said
you would, ? exclaimed his hother.s
81 forgot it, /" replied Ned.
"'You didn't forget to 90 to Tom
White s for Yourfbah. Or to go,skating
with Willie Rounds; but you always for
get to do anything you consider work. =
While Mrs. Merrill was talking, Ned
was tugging and pulling away at his
boots, and soon a word which he knew
he ought not to say escaped his lips, and
made the tears come in his mothers
eyes. She silently went to her boy and
pulled off his boot. While she was pull
ing off the second one, Charles Brown.
a neighbours son, came il to borrow
some yeast. He looked with amaze
ment at Ned, as he sat in q chair while
his mother pulled of his muddy boot. I
Does your mother pull off your
boots. Nedp7 he asked. WHY don't
you have. a boot iackp. Your mother
must be very good. would not dare
ask my mother to do such thing for
me.n VT
Ned looked quite ashamed, although
he was such selfish boy that the fact
of his moteer's doing such menial.I
service for him was, not what shaned
him; it was the thought that Char est
Brown had seen the transaction and re-
sented it.
The next day Ned seemed to have
forgotten all about the event of the
evening; also, the making of the boot
j3ck. He went off skating with a crowd
Of boys, without as much as bringing
his mother one pailful of water.
Where is your booths old fell
low?" shouted a dozen voices as Ned
went down on the ice.
81 never heard Of making boot-ia tx
out OF a mother before,H exclaimed
Harry Jones. My mother would APP
ply the boot to me externally, / guess,
II stuck my muddy boots up into her
face"
All the afternoon Ned went by the
name of "Boot-iack.'' He felt so i'll at
ease that he went home, an hour earlier
than usual .t ~ sff -
His mother met him at the door and
said: Hurry up, Ned" Ned was used
to this kind OF welcenley his mother al
ways wanted him to hurry up, and asked
him a number of questions such as:
g Did you water the cow this noon.
Nedgo or ibid you feed ber?' II
have not q drop OF water or stick of
wood in the house; why didn't you get
me some before you lefta'' Ned was
used to such questions; but when his
mother showed him very nice box
which the expressman eft at the house