The Monitor., 1891-09-18

"H''PSA Ah"th hG, LIN 1sOuCthtf 1fttEu anu
Charles Manners perfect. That night I
met Charles Manners at lonely corner by
dark alley and slew hirn-in my mind.
after school, however, Charles Man
ners was so forgiving that the worst boy
in the school could hardly have picked a
fight with him, and for the matter of that
Cfarles was not fighting boy. One day
he sprinkled red pepper over everything in
Tobe Kenton's dinner pail, and Tobe
caught him at it and made ready to destroy
him. lie bit him one clip on the cheek
that wrung wild howl of boundless de-
light from a hundred throats, mingled
with shrill shrieks of Another one Just
like it III the same Ilaeem But Charles
Manners drew himself up, calmly folded
his arms, turned his other cheek and said
"Strike me as much as you will but l
will not fight. l promised my dying
mother that / would never fight, and will
not even if you kill me-
What boy could strike him after that?
We skunk away in very shame; Tobe
kenton apologized in a rough, awkward
way, and the whole incident so impressed
us that it was not until the next day that
We remembered that Charles Manners
mother wasn't dead. She was tall, sad,
respectable looking woman, with a thin
neck and paisley shawl. There was a
dark, awe-inspiring rumor floating through
the air, and whispered only with bated
breath, that she wrote poetry, and that
she had once seen and shaken hands with
the author of Webster's spelling book.
Hence, you can readily understand why,
when any boy, in the act of declaiming
Webster's reply to Hayne, or his great
Bunker Hill speech, felt Charles Manners
eyes upon him, broke down at once. We
all felt that Webster was in a sense, the
personal property of the Manners family.
Not many weeks after the red pepper
episode, when the school was wrapped in
that inexplieable, death like silence that
will sometimes fall upon even the best reg
ulated schools along in the afternoon
Charles Manners, who continued to be my
seatmate, suddenly mewed like cat, loud
and shrill. Laughter and uproar in an
Instant.
..Who did that?,' thundered Mr.. Hin.
man.
There was moments silence, for of
course no boy would tell, although dozen
of us knew. Then Charles Manners spoke:
II think, sir, he said pointing at me,
sit was that boy; do not know his name y
Oh, how mad / was! Come out herer'
roared the old man. 81 never done itr' /
shouted ''it was" sNot wordl' said
the teacher. Hope to die.'' l cried, il,
agony of fear, as | saw the kind old man
reaching for the knout. ..Cross my heart
l didn't do it! Honest injun, Mr.. Hinman,
1t was Charles Manners $50 it wasr'
shouted half dozen voices, Il seen him. .
Il beg your pardon" said Charles Man
ners, politely, ''but could not be mis-
taken. 1t was this boy" And again he
pointed at me-
'0f course it was. Come out here! You
want to NEW like cat, do you? I'll help
you then. I'll teach you 10 new louder.
I'll make you howl like dog. Now howl
will you?''
And he did as he said, and l did as he
requested, and the knont didn't hurt me
half as bad as ''Charles Manners pitying
looks
And so things went on. A whole vol
ume of the best kind of evidence could be
overturned at any tirne by Charles Mad
ners' ssexcuse me, or =" ! beg your pardon"
He would steal fellows marble, and say,
''pardon me, but | have not been near the
game" and that settled it. On one oeca-
sion, mindful perhaps of the termination of
the cat performance, he whisiled aloud in
school, but it happened that Mr. Hinman
was looking directly at him. Manners"
said the teacher in amazement, "whst does
that mean?'
II beg your pardon?" said Charles lift
ing his eyebrows. "Why did you whistler
asked the teacher. "0h sir, exclaimed
Charles Manners, did whistle? If did
was entirely unconscious of it," OF
course you were" said the old man. apo.o-
getically. Five minutes later Bill Haskell
dropped his state on the floor with crash.
"Gn-r.r" growled old Hinman. Come
out herer' Didn't 60 TO do it" pleaded
Bill Don't lie to me, said the old man.
Politeness begets suspicion. The year S
came and went, the public schools and the
gas works came in about the same time
and Humans S went out with the candles.
The old teacher went his ways and the
love of his boys followed him, for there is
no Ting in the knout now. The boys anc
the girls scattered abroad in the land One
day after had grown truly great ant
rather wealthy was lettering in Dayton,
o., waiting for train. A gentleman ap-
preached me and politely lifted his hat
"Pray pardon me. said, ''but have somt
men to pay off here and must catch
train that leaves very soon, and SO can
not go uptown TO the bank. Conld you,
if it is rot asking too much of stranger,
change this $50 bill for me?''
Atlast had him, That voice, that
manner, the tone, the style--everything
l had my enemy ON the hip at last