Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-02-06
THE REVISED EDITION,
He Looked Like Sammy But Was St
Different.
txce''ed in Everything But Love and Nov
Sammy's Sorry.


semblance. He remarked with tn,
critical infallibility of a three-year-olt
that the kid (meaning the white
starched and embroidered divinity VIII,
made the household gods tremble) ha(
not even Moosey's claims to good looks
Moosey took this as a personal insult
and after protesting chorus of bark.
and growls seized Sammy by his tartar
skirt and bit Of his plump little leg
Sammy then concluded that the cir
cumstances warranted a reconsidera
ton of his decision, and he conveyed Il
Moosey his regrets that his diagnose.
had been hasty and his judgment pre-.
mature. He even went further, ant
acknowledged that he had not beer
wholly unbiased in the matter
Moosey handsomely relinquished his
hold and the case was settled, and
Moosey spent the rest Of the day pos
ing in, as nearly as possible, the atti-
tude of the white china dog in the cab
met, which he admired extremely.
And Sammy went and poked the baby
while the nurse was having it out with
the parlor maid. The baby howled,
and then spent the rest of his life pay
ing back that poke.
But still the baby was Sammy's
and every one said, "How
like.' and Sammy had rage in his
heart.
The days went on and the baby,
after the manner of his kind, got big
ger and older. And as he grew, he be-
came so much prettier, cleverer.
stronger and better behaved than
Sammy that the family called him the
Revised Edition.
Then it was that Moosey sneered at
Sammy with his tail and that Sammy
began to loathe the Revised Edition.
At five years of age, Sammy was
busy acquiring miscellaneous informa-
ton. At two, the Revised Edition eyed
Sammy and took notes. Sammy blum
dered painfully into the knowledge that
a chair will not balance itself with a
person of Sammy's size sitting on it's
back; that coal oil as beverage can be
improved upon; that there are less I'M
pleasant ways of learning the alphabet
than by tracing with the forefinger the
letters on hot stove. And the Re-
vised Edition appropriated this dearly
bought knowledge, and displayed no
desire to prove the conclusions by per-
sonal demonstration.
Sammy tried to break down the brick
wall Of nursery rules by repeated at
lacks, and then howled to the winds Of
heaven his opinion of personal chas-
tisement and those who administered
it. But the Revised Edition. conscious
that his own undeveloped powers of
speech would prevent his having the
satisfaction of subsequent vitupera-
ton, kept the rules and avoided the
All this was very trying to
Sammy. No elderly brother patronage
was possible, nor was his brief show of
authority impressive, since he himself
was usually in durance vile, and the
Revised roamed free as air.
Through boyhood, as through baby
hood, Sammy acted as an experiment
to be improved on. After he had
coouetted with the different attrac-
tions of school life, he finally settled
down to sums and base ball. The Re-
vised Edition took, the prize for arith-
metic and got on the first nine.
Sammy's reputation as a scholar and
an athlete might have been brilliant if
he had not had a younger brother who
outstripped him in everything. Was
anything ever so maddening?
What made Sammy rage and foam
at the mouth was the fact that he was
the originator and basis of the Re-
vised's successes. It was Sammy who
schemed for the jerseys and knicker-
bockers, but it was the Revised Edi-
ton whom the family fell down and
worshipped when the suits were tried
on. 1t was Sammy who begged for
canoe. but it was the Revised who won
the small boys single in the canoe
race.
T. So at college. Was it Sammy who,
amid the wild yells of a madly en-
,busiastic crowd, was borne on the
shoulders from the field, after a grand
w won game Of Rugby foot ball? Did
sammy get the largest vote ever polled
for president of the debating society
Was Sammy the youngest member OF
the graduating class? No! These
.t,iumphs belonged to a younger men,
Der Of his family.
The younger member came to be
called. 1.-The 'clever Mr.. Soldan." This
distinction brought Sammy's gathering
usefulness to a head. People SHOULD
600 which was the clever Mr.. Sedan
and away he swan with strong strokes