The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1886-12-17
Bill Nye's Boyhood.

oy~rmastering passion as / did before,
but loUking at it as ! do now. would
be- wiser. Boys. cannot. however. have
the mature judgment Of manhood
without the sxpeneneeiof the rheuma-
tism that 20 Sith IL. 30 that IL Is bet
ter that In our childhood we may be
able 10 eat raw turnip with safety.
and know something later on In life.
| notice "A great change In myself
while comparing my present condition
with that of joyous boyhood. Then |
no sense. but ! had good digestion.
now haven't even the digestion. The
hurrying years have eavorted over nv
sunny head until they have worn 1t
smooth. but they have left a good deal
yet for me TO learn. am still engag.
ed m learning during the day and put
ting arnica on my experience at night.
Childhood is said TO be- the most glad.
some period In our lives. and In some
respects this statement may be regard.
ed as reliable. but IL is not all Joy. /
have had just AS much fun in later
years as did In my boyhood. though
the people with whom | have been
thrown In contact claim that their ex.
perience has been different. | hone
they do not mean anything personal
by that
My parents we're blessed with FIVE
bright eyed and beautiful bows. three
Of whom grew up and by that means
became adults am In that condition
myself. | was the eldest Of the family
with the exception Of my parents.
am still that way. My early life was
rather tempestuous in places. accasion-
ally hecked with sunshine, but more
frequently with rettibution. was not
a very good roadster when young. and
so retributlon was Just always In the
act Of overtakiug me. While outraged
justice was getting in its work on me.
the other boys escaped through an ap-
erture in the fence.
A just retribution has never had any
difficulty IN overtaking me and walk
ing up aud down over my wishbone.
When party of us had been engag-
ed IN gathering taster eggs In a barn
of IA gentleman who was away from
home at the time and he returned Just
as we had filled our pockets with the
choicest vintage of his sun kissed hens,
the other boys escaped while was oc-
cupylng the attention of the dog, and |
had To slide out of the second story of
the barn. 1t is still fresh in my mind
as | write. | wore my fathers vest at
the time and II was larger than 1t was
necessary. My father WAS larger than
at that time, for was only nine years
of age and mad not attained my full
stature. In sliding down the batten !
discovered that the upper end was loose
and that my flowing vest nad slipped
over it, so that when l got down about
four feet hung with the board but
toned inside my bosom and The scram-
bied egg oozing out Of my knickerbook.
ets.
The batten had sprung back against
the barn in such way as to prevent
my uIbOttoniug my vest, and while |
hung there on the side of the barn like
u coon skin. the proprietor came around
aud accused me of prematurely gather
ing his eggs.
had heard truth very highly spoken
of by people who had dabbled IN it
more or less, and so | resolved TO try 1t
on in this instance. So admitted that
such was the case. and 1t was the best
thing that could have done, for the
man said had been 50 frank he would
take me down as soon as he got his
work done. and he was rs good as his
word. After he had milked nine cows
aud fed nine calves he came around
with ladder and took me down. He
also spanked me aud set the dog on Inc
but did not mind that, for WAS &C
ustomed to that But to hang me on
the side of barn however. like an
autumn leaf. trying to kick large holes
in the atmosphere, is disagreeable.
This incident cast gloom over my
whole life. 1t has also reconciled me
to the awful decree that can never be
u boy again.-Bill Nye.