Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-11-07

IN the direction OF habits tastes and opin-
ion. He is not, however, evenly precocious
He unites taste for jcwelry with a
passion for candy. He combines a pene-
tration into the motives OF others with
an infantile Indifference to exposing them
at announcement times. he has an adult
decision IN his wishes, but he has youthful
shamclessncss in seeking their fulfllment-
On OF his most exasperatlng peculiarIties is
the manner IN which he querul0usly harps
upon the single string Of his wants. He sits
down before the refusal Of his mother and
shrllly beseiges it. He does not desist for
company. lie docs not wish 10 behave well
before strangers. He desires TO have his
wish gratiied and he knows he will prob
ably be allowed 10 succeed IL be insists be-
fore strangers. he is distinguished by
brutal frankness, combined with cynical
disregard for all feminine ruses. He not
seldom calls up the blush OF shame to the
cheek Of scheming innocence; and he fire.
quently crucifies his female relatives. He
is generally an adept in discovering what
viii most annoy his family circle and he is
perfectly INSCRIPTIONS in avenging HIM
self for all injuries, of which he receives,
in hlsopinion, large number. lie has an
accurate memory ofpromises made to his
advantage, and he is relentless in exacting
payment TO the utterncst farthing. He
not seldom displays singular ingenuity in
Interpreting ambiguous terms for his own
behoOf. A youth of this kind is reported
to have demanded land received) eight APP
Piles from his mother, who had bribed him
to temporary stiffness by the promise of
few of that fruit, his ground being that the
Scriptures contained the sentence: " Where
in few, that is eight, souls were saved by
water"
The American small boy is possessed
moreover of wcll-nigh invincible aplomb.
He is not impairment, for il never enters
into his heed to take up the position of pro-
testing infG?,oriiy which impertinence i'm
plies. lie merely takes things as they come
and does not hesitate to express his opinion
of them. An American young gentleman
of the mature age of ten was one day over
taken by fault His father, more in sor-
row than in anger, expressed his displeas-
ure "What am TO do with you, Tommyi
what an | to do with your Il have no
suggestions to offer, sir, was the response
OF Tommy, thus appealed TO. Even in try
ing circumstances even when serious mis-
fortune overtales the young American
his aplomb, his confidence in his own opin-
ion, does not wholly forsake him.
Such d one was found weeping in
the street. On being asked the cause
of his tears he sobbed out in mingled alarm
and indignation: I'm lost; Hammy's lost
me; | told the darned thing she'd lose me-"
The recognition of his own liability to be
lost, and at the same time the recognition
of his own superior wisdom, are exquisitely
characteristic. They would be quite incon-
gruous to the son of any other soil. In his
intercourse with strangers this feeling ex-
hibits itself in the complete Self-possession
and sang-froid of the youthful citizen of the
.T.Ns.
curiosity which he dare not openly
seek to satisfy by direct questions,
and he puts his questions accordingly
on all subjects, even the most private, and
even in the case of the most reverend
strangers. He is perfectly free in his re-
marks upon all that strikes him as strange
or reprehensible in any ones personal APP
pearance or behavior; and he never dreams
that his victims might prefer not TO be critl-
cised in public But he is quick to resent
criticism on himself, and he shows the most
perverted ingenuity in embroiling with his
family any outsider who may rashly attempt
to restrain his ebUllitions. He is, in fact,
like the Scottish thstle-no Que may med
die with him with impunity. Il is better to
''never mind him. as one of the evils under
the sun for which there is no remedy.
Probably this development Of the Amer
lean small boys is due in great measure to
the ABSORPTION of their fathers in business,
which necessarily surrcnders the former to
a too undiluted regimen Of women. For,
though Thackery is unquestiOnably right in
estimating highly the influence of refined
feminine society upon Youths and young
men, there is no doubt that small boy is all
the better for contact with some one whose
physical prOwCss commands his respect.
Some allowance must also be made for the
peevishncss Of boys CONDEMNED to prolonged
railway journeys and TO the confinement
OF hotel-hfe in city and scenes in which they
are not old enough to take an interest. They
would doubtless be more genial IL they were
LETT behind at school. Possibly, too, incipi-
ent dyspepsia has something 10 do with it