Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-26
When his sixth birthday o,z-

ing W3thlt q pair of r%ed-topped hoo7.
IRON Jack, an old iack-knife with
broken blade from Bob, an ulster w;.a
huge pockets from pa, and q na;ra
warm red mites from Sally, TedSa
thought the momentous time had arr;!
ed. He Was q man at last!-hut. sod ~
say, a dwarf. 70
Perhaps Sally was rather cross th..
day; but l think she had reason to h"
if any one had. Sally was very oir,;sI
and slender to keep house for throa
rough, big men and one troublesome
little one.
She was baking, and felt hot .na
tired. She needed wood for her fr"
and told Teddy to go out into the wood
house after some.
Teddy was building a snowman o,,+
on the clearing. He had on the now
ulster, the new boots and the new NIT.
tens. With the knife he was CUTTING a
stick, which was to be the snow-man,s
nose.
He marched into the wood-house. feel. :.
ing very indignant with Sally for order.
ing him about as if he were a little bow
him, a grown-up man. She never
spoke that way to Bob or Jack.
AS Teddy entered the wood-house h;s
eyes lit on Bob's skates, carefully pol.
ished and sharpened, hanging on a Deg
over the grimy pane of glass, called byy
courtesy a window. Happy thought!
he would go a-skating, no matteri if fthey
were rather large. He was a man now.
and had some rights of his own. Let
Sally go for wood herself if she wanted
it. rg
So Teddy buckled the skates on, then
and there, and stole softly behind the
wood-house. After he got into the
woods, it was very easy, indeed, to get
away from Sally's sharp eyes.
The skates hurt Teddy's feet ter
ribly, for they turned over and almost
twisted his feet off. He had to take
them off and carry them at last.
though he thought it detracted much
from the dignity of his manhood.
About a mile from the Whittiers,
clearing was a tiny, picturesque lake.
now entirely frozen over. After a very
tedious tramp, Teddy reached it.
On the way, he had lost one of the
pretty red mittens, wei which Sally
had worked so lovingly and patiently.
But, as he was a man now, he did not
mind such a trit1e.
If any "truly'' men are reading this
story, l wish they would notice how
very much like some of them Teddy
was all through his naughtiness.
He found that there were two bovs
on the ice before him-a white boy and
an Indian boy. Not n%ice-looking bows
at all, but dirty and lazy.
Teddy had seen the Indian boy be.
fore, and knew that his name was Jim.
Ha had hoon oo,,prG% =, Az 80 - 49,
ing from the settlers more than once.
and had been in Jail twice. 1t is to be-
presumed that the white boy was not
nSlch superior.
They had built a fire at one end of
the lake, and were both smoking very
short, very dirty cay-pipes. The sigh.
fascinated our Teddy. You must re-
member he was a "a If he hadn't
been, l am sure he would have turned
away from it in disgust.
He seated himself beside them, at the
boys polite invitation, and began to tell
them all about himseif-that his name.
was Teddy Whittier, and that he was
SIX years old and q man to-day. He al |
SO showed them the presents he had q
ceived.
The boys seemed very much amused,
and laughed up%roariously. Teddy won
dered why.
''Ho, ho!" cried the white boy, whose,
name, as Teddy had discovered, was
Sam, ''what long curls fer IL man to-
have! Why don't yer cut 'em off es
short es mine?" and he took off his,
cap to show his head, which was very T
closely shaven.
Teddy felt very small and much
abused.
"Nly sister won't let me-" he saied.t
Il wish l could do it myself"
"Lemme take year knife, an I'll do
it fer yer" said Sam, amiably.
So, nothing 10th, Teddy handed Sam
his knife. 1t wasn't very sharp; but
after much Juggling, and a great deal Of
laughing on the part of Sam and Jim,,
all Teddy's beautiful curls, which Sally
had taken so much pleasure in arrangg-
ing every day, lay scattered over the
ice. Sam forgot to return the knife.
Then Jim offered to let him smoke
out OF his pipe. This mistaken young
Indian declared that every man smoked,
and that Teddy ought to.
OF course Teddy agreed with him.
At first our hero pulled away content
eddy, feeling very important and manly
indeed. Then a queer, sick feeling
came over him. The ice seemed to be-
heaving before him, and the trees SEEM
ed to be dancing like mad around him.
When Teddy at last began to feel bet
ter, darkness was slowly settling over
the gloomy forest, making it still
gloomier.
The two boys were gone, and so were
Bob's skates and Teddy's knife and pas
best comforter"
Poor little man! His shorn, yellow
head felt as if it would split, while his
logs We're so weak and unsteady that he
could scarcely stand on them.
How Teddy managed to reach home
is a mystery; but he did reach it, very
much bruised, very cold and very sick.
go Sally" he said, when he was at
last cuddled snug and warm into his
own little bed; 81 don't want to be .
man any longer. 1t amt a bit nice
Sally
Late that night Teddy woke, after q
| Il Irr