The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-11-28
That Boy.

LOU IVY
He is human, of course, but all the same
he moves in qaeer little world of his own.
Grown-up folk in general he regards as a
discipline, and not friendly on the whole
to his personal interests His parents are
necessary; so much is obvious to him.
But they have extraordinary ideas about
right and wrong, theorize preposterously
on wet feet and holes in trousers, and hold
unaccountable opinions about school and
the washing of faces and hands. He sub
mits to all this as far as he must, and con-
soles himself with the reflection that some
day he will be old enough to do without
parents, and then he will not wash his face
oftener than he chooses, nor go to school.
In the meantime he plays truant as fire.
quently as he can, and especially when
Autumn, with her mellowing fingers, has
been busy among the wild fruit is he to be
found afeld What happy little wretch
it isl Everything about him excites him
to activity; everything affords him pleas
ure. Whistling, throwing stones, chasing
butterflies, eating blackberries, he wanders
about, thoroughly careless, irresponsible,
gladstone urchin. Nothing hurts him.
He triumphs over the miscellaneous food
he Grams himself with; comes up smiling
after every accident. His body is all elias
tic and hinges, and it does not matter much
how he tumbles. [ saw some time ago an
account of boy who sat on the blow-hole
of a stranded whale. and was suddenly
snorted off by the indignant behemoth 50
feet up in the air and as many yards out
to sea. 1 do not say the story is true, but
hope it is. So too, quite recently, boy
going along in a field in Cornwall was
suddenly snatched up by whirlwind and
whisked over the hedge. But in each
case he came back quite unhurt. There Is
one catastrophe, however, to which he seems
particularly liable, and that is the wasp.
Where he finds so many it is difficult to
say, but the fact remains that he has a
positive genius for getting stung. This
demoralizes him altogether, and he has
been known to run prodigious distances to
report the calamity to the domestic
circle, roaring all the way. For one
thing the wasp is like the boy, rummag-
er in hedgerows; for another, it is very
fond of blackberries. Moreover, it is CIV
en- to concealing itself, especially in fruit,
and as the urchin, with sweet trustfulness
in things in general, seems to think it a
reflection upon Providence that he should
examine what he is going to eat before he
puts it in his mouth he does not, as rule,
detect the insect upon the berry or inside
the plum till it is too late and the wakp
has made its protest The boys eonf-
dence in nature is so complete, so generous,
that he disdains anything that has the ap-
pearance of caution, and when one sees him
in the middle of bramble bush picking
with both hands and popirr N the berries
without the least exam son it is perfect
ly awful to think of the chronological odds
and ends that he must consume in the
course of a days debauch. The wasp, on
ON the other hand, is of a suspicious sort
quick to take offense and prompt in reprl-
sails when liberties are taken with it. 1t has
only one argument, but that is stinging
one, aad the boy therefore holds the
"wops" in abomination. Contempo-
rary ReUieac.