Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-11-16
How a Little Boy ca,nped out

Once there was q little boy wFb oil
summer long had been very anxio te
camp out over night. Behind his NTH
er's house was large gardcn-as lege
as q whole city block-and at thdfa1
end of it was a little knoll, or Hi,
with rocks cropping out. 1t was behk 3
this hill that little Paul wished ko
camp, for from there the house wo{d
be out of sight, and it would be .s11st
like truly camping" So his mtshe1
gave him a large old crumb-clotl for
tent; pair of blankets and asofa-
cushion for bed; tin pail fill of
bread, cold meat, and ard-boilei eggs,
and some gingerbread and apes for
his breakfast: also bottle of milk, a
tin cup, wooden plate, and { small
package of pepper and salt. Sic then
gave him some cotton to put in lis ears
to keep out little bugs and things.
She had the hired man help hin drive
the stakes and fasten the crunb- cloth
over them. The hired man, of lis own
accord, brought from the barna large
bundle of hay to spread over th blan-
kets. so as to make comfortable bed.
By twilight everything was really, and
Paul kissed his mother, his amt, and
his big sister good-by, and shoudering
his cross-bow, marched awayIto the
Rocky Mountains he called the
little knoll.
He pinned back the doors ofkis tent
with big catch-pins, and then at down
on the ground. Everything wa dread
fully still; but the bright tin Iail and
the bottle of milk looked vdy COM
Portable in the soap-box cupbo4d; the
brave cross-bow, with its pins,ointed
arrows, promised safety: While the
blankets, sofa-cushion, and the bft hay
were all that any reasonable hamper
could ask for.
But it was SO dreadfully stil! Not
even the smallest baby breeze WIS stir
ring: through hole in the trumb-
cloth shone star, and the sta. made
outdoors seem stiller yet. Pail I'M
buttoned one shoe then the othir, and
sat for while listening. Thel sud
denly kicking off his shoes, he .cram-
bled under the blankets and lay quite
still. He was very small boz, and
somehow camping out wasn't delight
full in every way. NJ
1t was nearly half-past eight. Nam
ma was knitting, the aunt was sewing,
and the big sister was standing on The
dictionary, rehearsing her elocutionex-
ercise. Nobody but mamma heard the
back hall-door softly open, and the tiny
feet go stealing upstairs. When the
elocution exercise was over mamma said
she must go and find the mate to the
stocking she was knitting.
So she went upstairs; but, before
looking for the stocking, she went into
Pauls room. There, in the starlight,
she saw the brown curly head cuddled
into it's customary pillows. She was a
good and faithful mamma, and so she
did not laugh-out loud. She stopped
over the half-hidden head and whisper
ed, "Were you lonesome, dear?" and
Paul whispered back "kinG OF lone
some-and 1 heard something swallow
ing, very close to my head. And SO I
came in. And-you won't tell, will YOU.
Faithful mamma didn't "tell"-not
until long afterward when Paul had
grown to be so old and so big that he
went truly camping" far away to the
Rocky Mountains.
And what was the swallowing that
Paul heard SO close to his head? |
think it must have been an imagined
noise. Don't you ?-Enlily II. Leland,
IN st. Nicholas.