Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-03-11

Because. rather guess,
Thou'rt cheap to dress.
--Faek's Annudl
THE WAY0F THE WORLD.
Man Longs for Boyhood and the
Boy for Manhood.
II the boy had been IN Indian and If
the hallway which led from the sitting
room 10 the little bedroom at the head
OF the stairs had been tracklcSs for
est. the vcricst idiot in woodcraft in all
the world-a boy who had read only
one dime novel, or perhaps had never
read any mt all-cOuld have tracked
him To his lair by the trail Of clothes he
had left behind him. lie was only u
little boy, and he was very tired. AT
the dinner table he had dOzcd over his
soup and had dreamed out loud while
his elders were finishing their coffee. So
u NdN np NOllu'l liiNt Ah' t-oo" i'n''"'
tions he had made that morning about
himself were broken ut 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 chair. Stretched out on
the lounge lay the boys father, and in
front Of the lire in an easy chair sat Il
bachelor friend Of middle age.
"Billy, observed the parent to his
friend. "Mcn arc 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?"
"lt doesn't seem possible that we
over were small enough to wear such
clothes as thosc," replied the friend
irrclcvantly, after pause.
"No, it doesn't. Yet we dill. rc-
member YOU when YOU wore trousers
that didn't come below your knees.
You were the irrcklcd-iaccst boy in the
ncighborhood. They were in your skin
and all the bleaching in the world
wouldn't get them out. | remember
the first pair Of boots you ever had.
''Do YOU? So do /. | remember
licking YOU too because you said they
were cowhidc. You never had boots
and you We're jealous clear through"
"Ycs, rccolcct it too, now that YOU
mcntion it. Those were happy days,
Billy. IL YOU did not know it,"
Know it, Jack? should say | did.
There are times when 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, used To look forward 10 my
summer vacation for months, and
whenever was bad-no bad enough
to whip but just bad enough to scare
mother used To tell me shouldn't 90
To grandfathcr's next summer. Then
| used To lay awake and cry all night,
and 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 an angcl-so they said. Every
thing is changed now, though. have
been back to the old farm. but the
place had changed so much 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
Iwould rather have lost most any thing
had than to have that old barn 20
back on me in that fashion. Ii was q
fairy palace in my boyhood, and after
L grew into manhood the memory of its
spacious dimensions was one of the
plcasantest rccollections Of my life.
No. Jack, wouldn't want to wear
those trousers unless | could feel Just
,hc same rs used to when they would
have been three sizes too large for me. T"
"You are right, Billy. We must feel
the same way to appreciate the fun we
used To have. and we had lots of it.,
too, though we used to complain of
hard times IKE couple of young
idiots"
"Do you remember" interrupted tho
bachelor, "thc old fishing hole under
the biz sycamorc9"
"Do remember it9' repeated the
parent in disgust. "Do you think
have lost my mindp"
"Do you remember how those little
rninnows we used to catch used to taste
when they were cooked in butter and
flour? They were swecter than tho
best fish that you can buy In ten Fulton
markets. There was flavor about
them that you can't get nowadays II
you use all the cook books in creation.
don't know why 1t is unless 1t is that
fishes have changed the same us we
have and the same as the world does.
The last time l was down on the old
farm got mother to cook a few of the
fish that a neighboring boy had caught,
but, bless your heart, they tasted like so
navy smelts."
"Do you remember" interposed the
other, "the day we ran away from
school and went down to the brook and
caught that big bass' What whoppcr
1t was! actually believe it was nearly
Us large as small whale. / caught it