Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-08
GOT WHAT HE DESERVED

In one Of the upper corners OF the down.
town 9th street car the lively little FOUR
year-old boy was giving his weary-looking
mother about all she could attend to. First
he would want to stand on the seat ana
hammer on the window until 1t seemed as
if the glass would just have to smash. Then
he would stand on his mothers lap with his
muddy little Shoes and twist her veil up
into knots, and push her nose the wrong
way. and make a fork Of his fore and mid
die fingers and jab them into her eyes, and
pull down her back hair, and tug at her
collar, and loosen her breastpn, and pull
down her lower lip to make 1t ."snap," and
yank at her ears. and divert himself IN
other little comfortable ways of the sort
Then he would demand to be set down On the
floor, In the aisle where he would pound with
all his might his mothers knees and
sing at the top of his lungs, until she would
stop him with a warning "Sh-sh, Wlllie!
Whereupon he would seize his mothers UNI
brella and attempt to open it in her face,
and bawl Justify when she attempted to
take it away from him. When she endeav-
ored to effect cessation of his bawling
he would kick her on the Sims.
The other passengers glared at the angel
child and secretly hankered to own him for
about forty-two seconds. in order to put
him next to a few little things which he
seemed not to understand. The pale, tall
man. however, who was sitting right along
side the angel childs seat, seemed to be
paying no attention whatever to the young
ones deviltries. He looked straight ahead
of him out of the window, nor did all OF the
wrigglings noise of the youngster cause
him to remove his gaze from point
straight ahead 1t might have been
ing from stiff neck, and that it was there
fore impossible for him to turn his head
either one way or the other.
The angel four-year-old continued to en-
joy himself as the car reached the down.
town section. He began to make comments
upon the personal appearance of entering
passengers-loudly calling attention to the
big nose of this one. to the big mouth
of that one, and the "funny-lookin' face
of the other one. His mother said "Sh-sh!''
great many times, but the kid apparently
didn't hear her, or didn't want to hear her.
The passengers went right on longing to
have the celestial infant in a woodshed for
varying periods of time, but the pale, tall
man right alongside the young one kept
right on looking straight ahead
The personal characteristics Of the pas
time, and he looked around for other ways
OF amusing himself. Finally, he climbed up
on the seat again, and slyly reaching
around back Of the pale, tall mans head,
he clutched one end of the latters mus
tache and gave 1t a good. hard tug. The
pale, tall man didn't even vince. He didn't
remove his gaze from the point directly
ahead Of him. But he carefully and DELHI
erately gathered the young one In his arms,
placed the young one across his knee and,
still looking out Of the window, and appar-
emily totally uninterested in what he was
doing, he let the young one have round
dozen on the spot where they would do the
most good with an amount of resounding
force that caused the young one to howl
like fun.
That's just what the kid needed in his
business thought all of the other passen-
gers. and I'd like to have been the one to
hand him what was coming to him-but
cracky! won't his mother more than lay
that fellow out, thought
They looked at the mother waiting for
the explosion. However she seemed to
take 1t all as matter of course. She didn't
utter word of objection. When the pale
tall man was through spanking the young
one, and had deposited him in his mothers
lap, the other passengers couldn't under
stand why she didn't open up on the spank
er and tell him many things after the lash
Ion OF mothers in such cases made and
provided. The kid bowling
1ou got Just what you deserved from
papa! was the way the mother comforted
the yelling one. and then. at l. street. the
pale tall man signaled the conductor q ~.
stepping Off assisted his wife and recaici-
trant son and heir to alight, while the other
passengers looked sheepshly at each other
after the manner of folks who feel that
somehow or another. they haven't got their
moneys worth