Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-10-20
HE WAS NAMED HAROLD.
Fond Mother, However. Was Shocked at
His Nickname

Fond Mother, However, Was Shocked at
His Nickname
''Where's the boy?" inquired Mr..
Spadina, cheerily, and it occurred to
him that it was about time for his
seven-year-old son to bid him good
night;
severely, 'Sis in bed"
ssNot sick?''
.'No, be is not sick, said Mrs. Spa
dina, in tone that implied something
even worse. Owe been waiting for an
opportunity to tell you all about it.,
but have not had chance until now
It means just this-that we must
move away from this neighborhood.
It's no place to bring up boy, and
I just won't stand it. We must get
house in some part of the city where
Harold viii have nice children to play
with
"But what's the matter" asked the
husband, with concern. "What has
happened?"
''Well, I'm telling you just as fast
as I can. This afternoon Harold had
just got home from school when the
doorbell rang. I was in the hall and
answered the door myself, for l saw a
boy there. On opening the door the
boy said to me: please, can Mike
come out and play ball?' told him
that we had no Mike here, and said
that he had called at the wrong house.
No. he said, Z mean Mike, you know
your boy, Mike. I'guess you call
him Harold he said.
'Now, what do you think of that?
Well, you may be sure l told that boy
what 1 thought Of him, and he began
to whimper and said that Harold had
licked him-that's just what he said
Harold had licked him yesterday
for not calling him Mike, and every
body called him Mike at school. And
it's worse than that, for they call him
Mike Spad-not Harold Spadina, but
Mike Spad."
'Wel1, upon my word!" exclaimed
Mr. Spadina.
ri marched out into the dining
room, where Harold was eating some
bread and butter" continued Mrs.
Spadina, '|and ! went for him, and
do you know that child sat up in his
chair and said that he'd rather be
called Mike than Harold, and that
since his chums had started to call
him Mike Spad the other gangs
afraid Of him. Well, l just sent him
off to bed at five o'clock, and he's there
yet. Mike SpadY' she added, with in
tense feeling on each repulsive word.
'The little scamp" exclaimed Mr..
Spadina.
owe have been talking of getting a
better house in some other part of
the city for a long time," said Mrs.
Spadina, ''and I'm sick and tired of
this place. We can't send him over
to that school any longer, with his
rowdy names and its gangs and its
fighting Harold has clearly been
fighting, for the boy said as much"
The father was looking silently at
the ceiling and putting at his evening
cigar. He generally thought matters
over before giving his decision, and
Mrs. Spadina cautiously went up
stairs, where she found the formidable
Mike Spad sound asleep and with the
clothing kicked off him
And Mr.. Spadina blew Whit from
his cigar and said: CAT school they
used to call me Bump" And pres
emily he smiled, and, knocking the
ash off his cigar, he chuckled;
''There's good stuff in Mike. Iwon-
der how big the boy was that he
walloped?"
And the important point is that Of
the son, the mother and the father
one was as true to human nature as
either of the others.-Toronto Satur-
day Night.