The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-07-03
WHEAT SHALL WE DO WITH HER,

When I married. had an earnest con-
viction hat earth held no mission for
woman quite SO heavenly as that of
being the mother of daughters.
!, the oldest of seven sisters, ap-
peared to have spent my whole life in
helping mother in every possible way
in the care .sof the girlsn-hemming
and ironing rufles, tying sashes, brush
ing curls, trimming pretty hats,
making dainty sun-bonnets and aprons,
dressing dollies, making play-houses,
and helping to educate the youngsters in
all the ways that model children of the
feminine gender are supposed I need
training. All, the sweet, romping, vet
gentle, dainty six! At this distant day
/ look back 81 those easily governed
darlings with wonder.
When 1 left my happy childhood
home for the new, untried West, all my
ideal pictures of domestic happiness
embraced the rosebud garden-garden
of girls
Before the new farm was fairly
opened; before the wonderful prairies
had lost their newnes and fascination,
a little bundle, well fianneled, was
brought to my bed one morning.
A fine boy, ma'am, a noble fellow"
said the nurse.
..Dear, dear-a boy," thought i.
ssWhat in the world shall 1 do with the
c~reaturea" And l had an indistinct
idea that he would have to be wrapped
up in his fathers old coal until some
trowsers and boots could be prepared
for him. / pulled away the blankets
and looked him over. The large joints
and undue proportion OF bone reminded
me of q remark I once heard a stock
man make when looking at an awkward
young colt:
Hell be a very strong horse when
he gets his growth. just look at his
jointsin
Otherwise, to my surprise, he looked
very much as mothers little girls used
to look, and nurse had one of my little
girls Chat was to be) dresses on him.
I touched his little hand with one
finger, and it closed tightly on it. He.
opened great dark ayes and looked at
me, and it seemed as if he was going to
say: "Well. what are you going to do
about itPn
OF course, / drew the precious gift to
my bosom with a rush of tenderness
that never again failed.
Idefy any woman to take the entire
charge of an infant in its early
and not love it. The darling will win
its way to the most obdurate heart.
The new breaking had mellowed
down to smooth cultivation; two nice
crops had been safely gsrEered into
IAil-pens lined with straw when san
other boy greeted my e~xpectant ear.
/ knew what to do with this one. He
was to yea his brothers o%ut-grown
clothing. play with his broken toys,
watch all his motions, catch all his bad
habits, and tag along close behind at
every step. Another boy'' and San
other boy" kept greeting our waiting
r as the years passed on, until the
little house was filed with boys, and
boots and jackets.
John, the father, who was q some
what stoop-shouldered man when we
were married, began to walk with head
very erect, as became a pillar of the
family, and to say my boys" in a very
impressive manner. And those bows.
Is it not written how they hacked the
trees with the axes, hammered with
the hammers, sawed with the saws,
filed with the files, bored with
the augurs, waded the slews, swan the
lakes, called to each other from the
tops of the tallest trees, and kept such
q whoop-la echoing over these prairies
that Nature, who is said to abhor q
vacuum, never had reason to regretthe
departure of the Sioux braves. These
boys filled the place perfectly.
But was the mother satisfied As she
cooked and scrubbed and made and
mended, what had she to show for all
the years of hard laborP Not much, /
fear, unless she bid her boys get upon
the scales and give the figures in avoir-
dupois. She had tried t O train them
to g~entleness, but were they gentlep
She had tried to train them to. tidiness,
but were they neatp She thought of the
lovely ''six" who occupied her time in
earlier years, and could not answer to
her satisfaction. Sometimes four of
them would be in the stable at work
before breakfast; and how the straw
tined stable forks. They would rush
straw hanging to their caps, their ears,
their collars; their boots reeking with
unrectified ammonia, but their faces
rosy and happy. | believe the hardest
thing to learn which came TO me in
GuOoO 0d1S was Gu0 uSclcSSu0oS vi IQ6
Saturday evening bath, to prepare q
boy for going to Sunday-school next
day. 1 learned that with boys upon a
farm, ..you can't calculate with any
degree of certainty upon what is going
to happen" Perhaps just as you think
they are all ready. shoes blackened and
neckties on, the calves break out OF
their pen. Of course they must not be
all1-vA1 ~ -o - a. 49,, l,% ~.-o-
they run in all directions, through wet
grass and W muddy roads, a small
regiment of boys after them. Over
hedges and bitches for an hour or two
until all are completely wearied out,
her it is too late for church, and it will
take all next week to repair the dam.
ages to the clothing. Sometimes it il
a sudden prairie-fire sweepingin, some
times a sick animal, or a cast one, or
sudden change in the weather, necessi
tatiDg IN entire change in the chorus
Well, all this l have learned and trieG
to laugh when the rest laughed, anC
wipe their tears when they flowed. But
sometimes their lessons went far ahead
of mine. / remember a fright they gave
me one day when they thought to give
me pleasure. They wished me to &C
uowH W INC ldho W sc0 INV well IHcs
could swim. They dared me to ge
down there by the time they were il
the water. 1 started down to get ther'
at the right time to find them all in th'
lake, but could see nothing of them
Away out toward the middle of thu
lake, which was nearly half a mil,
wide, were a lot of black things bobbins
around, tat looked as though the
might be a school of muskrats that hat
been frightened away from the shore
What was my surprise when they be
gan to shout to me. and | learned tina
the black punches were the heads of m,
boys. / just screamed and ran homl
as fast as l could, sure that every ra
Of them-boys of them I mean-woul,