Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-11-02
How We Adopted Johnny.

+. r. FLAGG.
Every body sa d it was absurd. or
nearly ever, body. There were some
exceptions. just enough to prove the
rule that If you Try to do good in an
uncommon way you may count on
having the majority OF your friends
and acquaintances against you. II we
girls had gone without sugar in our
tea, and fixed over our old hats every
season, and Earned our old dresses till
they reached the last verge of shabbi-
ne So. tn at we might save money to
help support an orphan asylum. no
one would have made the slightest OBJ.
jections. Everybody would have
thought it all + ght and proper; but to
adopt baby. take it right into our
home and hearts. who ever heard of
such thing? And then JOhnny's
father was an awful drunken brute.
Very likely Nc had the hereditary taste
for liquor. and would turn out bad.
But Rose sententiously remarked that
If nobody ever heard of such thing
before il was high time they had;"
while Mag wanted to know IF it was
poor JOhnny's fault that he had u
drunken father?" adding with toss
of her shapely head, What is the use
of our being minister's daughters # we
can't do as we likeP"
But though we thus threw down our
gage of defiance to Mrs. Grundy, it
was not without some mlsgivings that
we intrUded into our fathers study
with this startling plan. Our father.
who was writing a home missionary
sermon, paused n the midst of Ii 5
statistical researches and looked mildly
amazed. while Rue, being the eldest
and alread. engaged 10 teach the d,a-
trict school, took upon herself the part
Of laying it before him.
IL fear you do not realize the great
ness Of the undertaking, my daughters.
i would not wish to Il scourage you in
any good work. but it is great re-
sponsibility to take a child to bring up.
especially boy. and one who has"
Our father paused. but we knew
what was in his mind. Oh, that awful
law of heredity! and yet God is good
and even Nature is not all ineXOrable,
fatalic sternness. There is forgiveness
with her, that she may be feared.
"But father" finally answered Rue.
'you said yourself how you hated to
have johnny sent TO the almshouse;
that such children needed especially
the moral education aud the religious
restraints of a Christian home. ;"
y "a MI wa bava nj "a mad n all anon ~
ourselves" interrupted Mag. I'VE
shall make our old dresses last ever SO
long, and not lay out an extra cent
that we can help
"Well. my daughters, / will think
about it,
And our father returned to his list
of figures, thinking. no doubt, in his
secret heart that our wish to Adopt lit
tie Johnny Was = mere vagary of the
moment
"lt is great undertaking. know"
remarked thoughtful Rne. as we shut
the study door beh nj US. We ought
10 count the cost first.
las if we hadn't counted it n hun
dred times already" exclaimed impul-
sive Mag. Say. rls. | am going of
str~ight this minute to get him. I'll
tell the matron We want to borrow him
for the day."
Aud away she ran. soon appearing
with little Johnn,, for the almshouse
was was not tar of. We looked ask
ance for u moment, first at each other
and then Mt him. johnny put his fin
ger i'm his mouth and returned the
cOmpl ment. AS Mag had captured
him while engaged in testing the
plastic properties of Mother Earth on
the brink of the most convenient mud.
puddle. he looked good deal like a
very young pilgrim who had set out
for the Celestial City. but fallen into
the Slough of Despond Ivy the way.
Il should TN nix those things in the
bureau drawers upsta rs might just tit
JOHNNY" suggested Rue family.
oh" exclaimed Mag. but not an
other word did she say; and we all
went upstairs, Rue leading Johnny.
large eyed and wondering. There
they were in the bureau drawer, Just
as when our dear. dead mother folded
them up and laid them away, dropping
bitter tears, while we, in awe-struck
silence, followed her on tip-toe aud
looked in. There they were in their
fair, unwrinkled sinoothness, with that
f.tnt, sweet, shut-in order, which is
like no other that know of. For ten
long years that lt;lc brother. just
+. Johnny age, had been living with the
angles. He did not need the pretty
embroidered frock. nor the tiny shoes
lust worn little at the tip. nor that
CAV string of coral beads, yet it gave
us a prang 10 disturb them.
When we had washed and dressed