Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-09-05


small daughter Katie is treated with
more or less sternness, according tc
circumstances, fact which she is quite
shrewd enough to appreciate. One day
recently Mrs. Y. was reproving Katie
in rather fretful tones, when the child
looked up from her seat on the floor to
observe with the preternatural gravity
of years:
ooh, take more comfer'ble chair,
mamma. Boston Courier.
There Was Bigger Fool in the House.
Somebody had left an unlocked trunk
in the garrett, and somebody had left a
loaded pistol in the top of it. What
more natural than the family boy, aged
S, should go into the garrett and disport
himself, lift the cover of the trunk, take
out the pistol and play with it? At all
event that was what he did. Presently
there was an explosion and yell. The
family rushed, white and breathless,
into the garrett, expecting to see the
boy bleeding on the floor. But he was
not bleeding. He was surprised, and
he stood staring at the smoking der
ringer as if wondering how it had hap
pened. Not until the weapon was taken
away from him ana EXPLANATIONS of
warning and sympathy and reproach
began to stun his ears did he realize the
danger he had passed through. Then
he began to cry and to dance up and
down, shrieking, "I'm fool! l know
I'm fool! Railways was fool What
did they leave that thing there for
when there was fool in the house ?"
The anxious family could not restrain
a laugh at this outbreak, but the ver-
dict was that somebody else had been q
bigger fool and culprit than the boy.
Courage.
1t is an old story, but still worth re-
Numbering and repeating, that of the
solder who cried, derisively, to his
comrade in battle, you're afraid" and
received for reply sturdy:
Eyes, am afraid! and If you were
half as much afraid as I am, you'd
run!'
1t is to be hoped that many of the
boy readers of the Companion followed,
through the daily papers, not long ago,
the story of the slow and painful death
of young Jack" Lincoln. Surely, all
who did so must be the better for it, for
courage such as he displayed, through
all those weary weeks, cannot die.
The force which he had, and which
enabled him to overcome in that last
contest, did not come to him suddenly;
it was the beautiful flower of long
growth. One who knew and loved him
said of the boy as he was before this SUI
preme trial:
He was honorable and manly, the
companion and defender of his sisters. "
Think Of this, boys; contrast it with
the sneering speeches about girls"
with the brutal disregard of the comfort
of mothers and sisters, which, with too
many boys, count as signs of manliness.
Without a particle Of anything dog
matte or dictatorial in his disposition,
he was yet born leader
Then the loud, self-assertive voice.
the swagger, the bullying manner, are
useless as we'll as offensive.
Through all his life at Washington.
and in spite of all the attentions that
had been showered upon him, he was as
unselfsh, as honorable, as manly and
lovable as boy could be-"
There is the word again, companioned
by the qualities which make its mean
ing. He had goodly heritage of char
acter, and, young as he was, he had en-
tered into it, and taken possession.
We are told that, as his face grew
pale in death, he saw the look of appre-
hension in the dear eyes gazing into his
own, and answered it with CHEEKY,
"It's all right"
One thinks OF Sir Galahad:
4To me is given
Such hope, know not fear"
Those who are truly ready for life here
are ready as we'll for that life beyond,
whose portal we call death. "-Youth's
Companion.
''.Just Your Little Girl.''
SSlo al.