Morning journal and courier., 1885-06-16
WHAT SHOULD HE HAVE DoNEa
A Difficult Question for the Stern Dis cIplInarIan of the Household.
 TFrom RabvhOod7

A Difficult Question for the Stern Dis- cIPlInarIan of the Household. From Babyhood.] John, senior, is papa, atat 30. John, jun for, usually addressed without the prefix, was two years old December 13, 1884. Wis itors exclaim over him as a Glove of a child" his mother secretly believes him to be per fectly beautiful; mulatto Sally, who has nursed him from his birth, pronounces him "a cheruphim, if there ever was one on earth" Since certain day last month John, senior, considers him "a handful"
 On that day junior, who had hitherto been obedient to the ukase prohibiting him from touching anything on his fathers writing table, entered the library, where that person. age was at work, marched audaciously up to the desk, snatched an open letter from under the busy fingers and threw it upon the floor.
 s'Nowl 'Ook, papal" ejaculated the cher uphim, locking his fists at his back and put ting up his lower lip in defiant pout that made him into the loveliest picture his moth CT had ever looked upon.
 ''Junior is 8 naughty boyl" said the father iudicially. ssNo, mammal' for she stopped to recover the paper-s'Junior must pick it up and put it back on the table"
 "'Ont!" uttered the angel smilinglv.
 "My lambl" (deprecating) frsm the mother
 ''Pick it up, sir!' (magisteriaD from the father.
 Both Johns have bright brown eyes. They met now with dangerous flash as when two rapiers strike full on the edges of the blades
 'Junior-ont-pick-it- The pout was angry; small heel rang sharply on the hearth.
 John, senior, pulled open 8 drawer and took therefrom strip of whalebone that might have been tossed there after the fall dressmaking was over. Mother and child had seen it once before, on dreadful No vember afternoon neither had forgotten. They recognized it immediately, the one with paling, the other with reckoning cheeks. A sibilant sign cut the awful hush that fell upon the three at it's appearance. The father answered it:
 esMy dear" Gin ominous composure) ssI am going to see this thing through. You had better leave the room"
 "John. dear, am sure the darling will-'
 ''Obey mel Sc am I. It is mere ques- tion of time. For your sake-and his-you would do well to leave us. He thinks you sympathize with him.
 Did shes Her anguished gaze devoured him, standing erect before the parent trans formed into judge and ictor. The beauti- ful eyes were wide and ablaze; the baby feet were planted firmly and far apart on the floor; the baby mouth was shut in 6 hard line. She fell on her knees beside him, gathered him into her arms; her vail was out of the depths of wrung heart.
 "Oh, my boyl do what papa tells you to do! Pick up that paper for mammal
 Then twill she ever forget it?) he twisted himself loose from her embrace and struck her full in the face, his own inhamed with rage: ,
 1EGo way, bad mammal Junior 'ont"
 Weeping loud as she went, the mother fled to the 1emotest recesses of the house, shutting the doors behind her, not to hear the pursuing shrieks.
 'fNow," persisted the father, suspending the punishment and speaking with slow dis tinctness, "pick up that paper and lay it on the tablet Do you hears"
 A mighty breath of relief escaped him as the child moved towards the letter.
 'A sharp fight, but short one!' he murlnured.
 Junior put out-not his hand, but little foot Catching the toe under the edge of the paper, he pushed it along to his fathers chair, there gave it dexterous firt that nearly landed it on the seniors knee, and de- lighted at the exploit, laughed out gleefully, the tears arrested at their fount.
 John, senior, put the paper back on the very spot where it had lain before.
 ''That won't do, young mani Take it up with your fngers!"
 Again brown eyes struck fire against brown eyes, The chubby hands clutched one an- other behind the stiffened spine and between locked teeth came:
 ''Junior thay he 'ont!"
 The mother, through all the closed doors, heard the outcries that ensued, then the stern tone of command intermitting the ground swell of sobs.
 ''Papa" (the blood yelling unseen with ev- cry stab the parent dealt himself will whip-his-boy-until- = he-picks = that paper-up-with-his- hands-and- lays it-on-the-tab1e!"
 Victory at lastl Down dropped the boy on his hands and knees, crawled up to the hateful object of contention, deliberately bent his head, picked up the letter with his teeth, crept in the same doglike fashion to his father and laid the prize on his boot!
 May the writer submit a question to the readers of this true story?
 What ought John, senior, to have done!