The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-02-27
THE WAYOFT Fl r
Man Longs for Boyhood and the
Boy for Manhood.

III If the boy had been an Indian and
## the hallway which led from the sittin
room to the little bedroom at the hea
n OF the stairs had been q trackleSs fol-
est, the veriest idiot in woodcraft in al
. the world-a boy who had read onl
one dime novel, or perhaps had neve
VI read any at all-could have tracket
II him to his lair by the trail of clothes h
\ had left behind him. He was only
little boy, and he was very tirod. A
the dinner table he had dozed over hi
soup and had dreamed out loud Will,
his elders were finishing their coffee. 81
it was no wonder that the good resolu
tons he had made that morning abou
himself were broken at night, and this
accounts for the signs of disorder which
marked his journey, and it also ac,
counts for the patience with which his
mother picked up his scattered ward.
robe and laid the garments together in
a pile on a chair. Stretched out on
the lounge lay the boys father, and in
front of the fire in an easy chair sat a
bachelor friend of middle age.
Billy" observed the parent to his
friend. men are only grown-up boys
after all, and the names of boyhood
are not easily forgotten. What would
you give to be able once more to wear
those little trousers on the chair?n
at doesn't seem possible that we
ever were small enough to wear such
clothes as those replied the friend
irreleyantly, after a pause.
"No, it doesn't. Yet we did. l re-
member you when you wore trousers
that didn't come below your knees.
You were the freckled-facest boy in the
neishborhood. They were in your skin
and all the bleaching in the world
wouldn't get them out. l remember
the first pair of boots you evor had"
'Do you9 So do l. | remember
licking you too because you said they
were cowhide. You never had boots
and you were jealous clear through"
Eyes, | recollect it too, now that you
mention it. Those were happy days,
Billy, if you did not know it,"
know 1t, Jack? should say | did.
There are times when l would give all
I've got in the world to be back on the
old farm in Western New York where
grandfather lived and feel the same
way that | did then. Do you know,
Jack, l used to look forward to my
summer vacation for months, and
whenever was bad-not bad enough
to whip but just bad enough to scare
mother used to tell me / shouldn't 90
to grandfather's next summer Then
l usod to lay awake and cry all night,
n for the next fortnight | was so good
that the boys used to lick me every day
at school at recess to keep me from
being ali angel-so they said. Every
thing is changed now, though. l have
been back to the old farm, but the
place had changed so much l hardly
knew it. The meadow had shrunk into
half its size. The house had grown
smaller, the barn had shrunk too-that
big old barn where the hay lofts were
and the grain bins and the thrcshing
machine was kept. Why, do you know
! would rather have lost most any thing
l had than to have that old barn 90
back. on me in that fashion. 1t was a
fairy palace in my %boyhood, and after
| grew into manhood the memory of its
dimensions was one of the
pleasantcst recollections of my life. /
No, Jack, l wouldn't want to wear
those trousers unless l could feel Just
,hc same as / used to when they would 9
lave been three sizes too large for me-" S
You are right, Billy. We must feel {
he same way To appreciate the fun We
ised to have, and we had lots of it,
90, though W. used to complain of IL
lard times like a couple OF young u
II
''Do you remember" interrupted the
bachelor, "the old fishing hole under d
he big sycamorep" g
"Do l remember itp' repeated the u
aren't in disgust. ''Do you think l q
ave lost my mindp' !.
'Do you remember how those little =,
lipnows we used TO catch used to taste r
then they were cooked in butter and
ourp They were sweeter than the
est fish that you can buy in ten Fulton
larkets. There was q flavor about G
hem that you can't get nowadays II fl,
use all the cook books in creation. o.,
don't know why it is unless 1t is that Il
shes have changed the same as we 10
ave and the same as the world does.
he last time l was down on the old
lrm l got mother to cook a few Of the So
sh that a n~cighboring boy had caught, hi
ut, bless your heart, they tasted like SO ea
larry smelts."
do you remember" %interposed the
her. ..the day we ran away from th