, 1886-10-17
GOING A-GUDDLING.

! QaY aILeTnOOI. very Ohh - AAANoy
has always been my unlucky day, any
how. II fate, Is frequently happens,
has any unpleasantness in store for me.
1t is sure to reserve it till Friday.
But Dominic Forbes a as we boys
phrased it, -in a tear on that particular
Friday forenoon; something had gone
radically wrong with him. Everybody
knew that the dominic was deeply in
love with a farmers fair daughter, and
that the courtship OF Duncan Gray was
nothing to his in vicissitude, for at n
time bonnie Jeanie tombstone smiled on
him. and at another she laughed at him.
And whatever Jeanies mood was, we
poor pupils became the resultant; it was
fog-fog-hog all day when Jeanio was
saucy. but when Jeanne was kind every
thing we did pleased our dominic.
As a rule. at all ordinary times DOM
inie Forbes was a tartar. Squeers was
a saint to him. And the piece
of leather bride cut at the end into two
fingers and hardened in the fire-got lit
tie rest. When it wa put away for a
time the -spengie' cane. or rattan. took
its place. and I do not know which
makes the palms and fingers tingle the
most.
A bit of a mashR was Dominic Forbes,
especially on a Sunday. when he wore a
swallow-tailed coat, with a morsel OF
crimson silk handkerchief sticking out
Of the pocket-he kept an ordinary white
m in a breast pocket for nasal duty
and his club-foot boot with its extraor-
binary thickness Of sole. shining like half
a-yard of polished Whitby jet Tho
dominie's hair was as black as his boot,
and his side whiskers glittered, like boat
men beetles.
Now Saturday WAS a kind Of mixed
day with us boys at Bellfield school; q
day of grief in the morning. because the
work of the week had to be ~recapitu-
lated. and we wero all sure to be
thrashed; and of joy in the afternoon,
because 1t was a half-holiday and the
morrow was Sunday.
But 10! to- great establishment, on
this particular Saturday the dominic
was N sweet in temper as a tabby cat
with five young kittens-
Jeanne had been kind. That was the
solution Of the riddle.
But there he was, dressed in his Sab
bath clothes, silk handkerchief and
polished club-foot boot. and positively a
white necktie!
And he frequently smiled softly to
himself-wandered a little In his talk
but looked generally angelic.
1 Numbered = good deal over my ir-
regular verbs. l gave single verbs to
plural nominatives and murdered my
past participates. But dominic merely
smiled and corrected me.
l went back u my seat, walking on
feathers, seemingly.
had a f~avorits fiat mahogany ruler.
and l got round to my table in time 70
nnd mischievous Davis Law burning
n end of 1t between the bars OF the
CRATE.
Ny Joy was turned to wrath. drew
forth the ruler and smote Davie with
the frey end Of 1t, javelin fashion 1t
went half way down his throat, l sup
poso. and loosened some Of his teeth.
Davie yelled. and tho dominic appeared
and found Davie splitting blood and
cinders- But even this did not disturb
his equonimity. He merely said, You
shouldn't nave lone that. Gordon"
Such IL love-whsn Chloe Is kindi
We were not q bit surprised to get
away that day two hours sooner han
usual
We rushed peH-mell, almost breaking
saoh Others ribs in the doorway.
We yelled and shouted for Joy, and
flung our Highland bonnets high in air.
When the exuberance of our ecs tasy
had somewhat subsided. Willie Jamie
aNn-rNpr Ia1f h. -. Lnlal anNn aftor
this by his fathers horse falling on him
stood up on the top OF 4 stone and
shouted:
Who will go a-guddlingi"
What no really did say wns: Fail
gag guddlin'7- But you see / am polite
enough to translate his words into Eng
lish.
Now. Willie was the biggest boy In
u set, and we respected him accord
ingly and looked up to him almost rever-
entially. Even a box on the ears from
Willie was considered an honor ana q
condescension on his part.
Who will go a-guddling7"
Fifty arms waved In the air at once,
Atty treble voices rang out -Iu gangi
I'll gang! I'll gang!"
But Willie had no intention Of invit-
ing the small-fry-ths nippers from 0
to I.
He rushed through their ranks,
dnshing them aside in all di-
rections. hk q sturgeon in a
zhoal OF haddocks, and made his
way to the spot where Davic Law and
], with our jackets off, were having it
out in downright
He soon settled the business by pitch
ing into us both, and when we arose
from the ground
Now, viii ye gang guddlin'Y' said
Willie.
Gang %guddlin'? Wouldn't we. Just p
On went our jackets, and of after
Willie went Davie and 1; my arm round
Davies waist; his arm round my neck;
he telling me he liked me better than any
other boy in the school, and | assuring
Davie that / had always quite loved
him.
On IL way to Den burn, where We
Intended to guddle. we met daft Willie
Wilson. Willie was q wheelwright-or
his brother was; for l don't suppose he
himself did a great deal in that way.
But Willie wasn't q fool. mind you
Not a bit OF it; only u little daft; he
wanted a feather in the wing,
twopence in the shilling-call it
what you please; only he was a
very great favorite with us boys.
A boy himself at heart, though he could
not have been less than 80. he sympa-
thized with us In every way, and en-
tered with heart and soul nto all our
games and all our schemes.
willie" we said: will We 20 a-gud-
ilingfT We're all GOING