Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-05-04
AMUSING THE CHILDREN.

Many "f the houehold rcrip"
! printed IN the NEWSPAPERS are glarili;
frauds. calcuiatritoru rugrn,rr troubl
and caua" infclicity il the domrsti
circle
| TIE other morning Mr.. Ncwhank
read Ill his favorItr Journal an artlcl'
on How t. Almlj-r the Children I.
Ilnnr The following formula wa
on" of the plans suggested:
''fla-i.r pf rari, !, cheap: let ;h'
childrrn have some to mix with water
and pour into anything hollow. a.. +"
+ instance. the halves OF olhtin anmal
: which have been parted astndrr. an'
+ the. Result vii delight their yuun.
souls
This scheme favorablv imprcssr,
Mr. Nrw'an!, 1t possessed maA,
advantages over such Juvenile pas
times Il, constructing mud pies, fall
in., into pond, and -toning the neigh
bcr, eats and dogs. and WAS dcsignr,
! to develop an artistic taste III tn,
! children.
/ In the afternoons. aS Mr. Newhank,
was deeply absorbed in the compost
tion of ;In elaborate paper on thc In
visibility Of the Uneeennc-s" for ;
/ scientific monthly. his wife entered hi:
/ library. and impusivclv exclaimed il
a sentence who'll Y innocent of pnnctu
alton points:
Nov William I'm going ont ;
/ couple of hours and do sreif you can
keep the children ont Of mis"iiirf un
til | return and is my bonnet OF
straight?'
''Oh. th"re'll he no trouble about
the children don't worry about EN-.
SAID Mr.. Ncwbanks. confidently. with
out looking up from his writing
Your bonnet $ all right"
/ The plasterof paris project was
still fresh in Slr. Ms mind. ana after
the departure Of his wife he sum
moncA his children two lively boys
and ditto girl and read them the
simple directions of IL" recipe. Thcr
he procured peck OF The plaster and
instructed them how to mix and list
it, ''drlighting their young souls" by
imprudently pouring a quantity oi
the stuff into Il small bottle. which he
aftcrward broke and showed them the
result" lie knew from the eager
hess manifested by the lttl,. ones that
it was going to be an overwhelming
success; and providing them with /;
number of hollow things with which
to experiment. he lef: them, with the
injunction to "amusc themselves and
keep out of mischief" Then he re
turned to his library and resumed
work on his scientific essay
The children remained very quiet
and Mr.. Newbanks' favorable opinion
of the recipe steadily increased as the
hours went laundering down the
ages.
The women folks he solloquizcd
fixing his eyes on Il handsome mono
gram pen wiper, and instinctively
witinS his pen on his coat sleeve. ARE
forever pratinS and moaning about
being worried nearly to death by the
children and having the life wor
rled out of them and all that sort OF
Nonsense. Why. it is the simplest
thii.,, i'll the void to amuse the little
ones and keep them out of misch-'
Papa, | can't get this out" said
little Tommy, breaking i'll upon his
parents reflections. "Iou fix it
and Tommy placed on the table his
fathers twenty dollar meerschaun
pipe highly priced Christmas gift
he bowl of which he had filled with
plaster. and then essayed to cracl
the mould" as his father had treated
the bottle
Mr. Newbanks rapidly grasped the
situation, and his opinion of the recipe
fell to zero as if by magic. Seizine
Tommy by the arm, he angrily ex
claimed: Why. you little rasc-"
Papa. papa" cried Rosie, rushing
into the library, with her eyes full o-
delight and her dress full of the mix
turc. come ont an see what Charlie.
doin'.'
why, Rosie" said the father, will
considerable asperity, lust look a
yonr dress, My. my! I'll have to
Wow. Woo 600 DOW ouch VOW
screamed Charlie. dashing into tn,
room at this juncture, with blood ooz
ing from a war map on his left cheel
and his hair matted with plaster
"WOw 900 WOW"
why, what IN the world is the mat
ter, Charlie?" anxiouslv questioned
the father. What has happened p
And Charlie said, 1T was boo hoo
the cat"
Mr. Newbanks soon discovered thai
the children had literally followed the
newspaper directions, and poured the
plaster Into anything hollow ant
if the author of the recipe had mad,
his appearance at that moment h'
would have been assassinated on the
spot. Charlie had discovered cavity
in the cats ear, and. despite the ami
mails terrible splitting and swearing
insisted upon filling it with plaster
and only desisted when the felin,
further showed her disapprobatior
of the scheme by inserting a coupl,
of claws in the little fellows cheek.
Mr.. Newbanks was constrained tc
admit that while this mode of anus
ing the children might delight tneil
young souls. it had decidedly anti
podal effect on the more mature spirit
With gloomy forebodings he made {
reconnolssance of the premises, ant