The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-02-04
THE HOME CORNER.

of it!' cried candid Master Tommy,
holding his hand over his mouth. =,
every well, then, Pm going to call
that big old bogeyman out OF the nall
He's coming to take you away"
Tommy thus reasoned with, sat up
in his little cot and prepared to take
the medicine, but when the spoon ap-
preached he rebelled again and threw
himself down on the pillow with
bowls of despair.
"Come on, old bogeyman, come and
get himp' called the mother, going
out into the hall, and making an lml-
tation of hoarse voice and shutting
of heavy feet. Tommy's mother was
nothing if not realistic. -,,
"Don't let him come, mamma IN
take the medicineW screamed the
thoroughly frightened child.
And that was Tommy's third lesson.
Nv
Tommy had been standing at the
gate for more than an hour watching
for his mother. The day was cold,
and the wind blew upon him merci-
lessly, but still he waited, his eager
little face pressed against the bars OF
the gate. At last he saw her coming,
away down the street, and then how
he went rushing out to meet her, his
cheeks glowing and his eyes shining.
"Give it to me, mamma! Oh, give
it to me!' he said, holding up both
hands.
"Give you what, Tommy" asked
the mother, pushing past him.
"Why, my candy. mamma-the
candy you promised to get me-"
~ forgot it, Tommy. You'll have
to do without it this evening"
"But, mamma, you promised it?'
cried Tommy, in the widest of copious
tears-as though that were reason
enough.
"But didn't you hear me say / for
got it?" asked the mother-as though
that, also, was reason enough. And
then Tommy was sent to bed supper
less, because he cried.
There were several lessons for
Tommy in this; L really cannot tell
how many.
~
"Mary,n said Tommy's father one
day, in a grieved voice, chow does it
come that Tommy is growing to be
such coward? | wanted to send him
up stairs after my slippers last night,
and nothing could induce him to go,
because it was dark. [ find that he
keeps a lamp burning in his room all
night, and Jane tells me that all that
screaming the other night was be-
cause the lamp went out, and he
awoke and was afraid. The idea of a
boy being afraid of the dark! He's
going to be a perfect milksop, and
was so anxious for him to be fear
less, manly boy"
And then the mother said that she
couldn't account for it, any way in the
world. She was sure there had never
been any cowardice in her family. She
had never dreamed of such thing as
being afraid in the dark when she
was a child, and it was a mystery to
her how Tommy got such notions into
his head.
-.
"Mary," said Tommy's father again
a few days later, "twice lately | have
caught Tommy in q deliberate lie and
1 have suspected him of lying half a
dozen times in as many days. Now
lying is one thing l positively can't
stand, / have tried so hard to teach
the boy to be perfectly frank and hon
est, and to tell the truth at whatever
risk. [ think my father would almost
have died at the very thought of one
of his family condescending to the
meanness of a lie"
AndTommy's mother said that she
IrpctorI 1,of
Tommy's training had been so careful;
but she thought Tommy must have
learned to tell falsehoods from that last
servant girl. AS for herself, she had
never told lie in her life.
Whereupon Tommy was called up
and WAS lectured and talked to and
talked at until his brain was in a
whirl. He did not say anything in
his own defense. He might have said
a great deal, but he was no orator,
and besides he did not understand
the whole situation himself. Even if
he had understood it all, it would not
have been very polite-would it?-for
Tommy to say that his first lessons in
cowardice, and meanness, and selfish
ness, and falsehood, and deceit were
taught him by his mother.
~
The above is merely little series of
pictures. They were not taken with
a Kodak, but the camera was a very
good one, and has taken vast num-
Der of such pictures. Have you ever
seen anything like them?
JULIA TRUITT BISHOP.
.----------.-------
CEEN CATO