The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-03-15
! BOYHOOD DAYS !
BY Kenneth F. Harris.

neer. He took the glass from the
tray as he spoke, held it critically to
the light and then set it down on the
table beside him.
''What is it?" Intercepted the sash
factory owner, anXiously, with refer
ence to the glass. IF there's any
thing wrong with it have him take it
back
Nothing at all; it's all right. I've
got in the habit of looking in that
way at any liquid I'm about to turn
into myself, in mush the same way
as some women are said to look under
bed before they trust themselves
in it. l don't expect to find anything.
It's a mere form, but l invariably do
it. Maybe it's the esthetic pleasure
derived from the Utilization of the col
or sense"
Seems to me that's pretty steep"
remarked the satisfactory owner.
ut isn't anything to some l get off, -
said the civil engineer. Say, don't
you remember the joy of looking
through piece of colored glass when
-y:oE were a kid? | had a prism from
a chandelier when l was about ten
years old, aud that was about the only
thing they could never get me to
trade. We had little greenhouse in
the back yard that had a door with a
large red ceuter pane and little blue
corner panes, and I'd spend hours in
there just looking at the landscape
through the red glass-taking a rose
colored view of life. 1 was walking
along Clark street the other day and
saw window with red glass. 1t was
in a saloon, but for a minute | seemed
to smell rose geraniums and warm leaf
mold, and l was back again in the
little old greenhouse scraping the
paint blisters from that door with a
piece of broken flower pot"
"Those were happy days, if we only
knew it." observed the satisfactory
owner, pensively; the happiest in our
lives, if we only knew it. We were in
nocent then, unspoiled and unspotted
by the sordid passions of later years,
uncalloused by the unremitting strife
of a-well, you catch my meaning,
anyway"
Il guess | do, but at the same time
/ don't agree with you" said the civil
\engineer. This is probably the hap
piest period in our lives, if we only
Knew it. Looking back, and taking
a dispassionate view in so doing"
ga view undimmed by the soft
pearly haze of fond remembrance, !"
suggested the satisfactory owner.
81 guess so-or words to that effect"
said the civil engineer, impatiently. 81
what was [ saying when you inter
rupted me? Oh, yes. l say, looking
back, l can see that my days were full
of grief. | had a brother two years
older than | was, and | had to wear his
clothes when he grew out of them,
and he could lick me, and he didn't
overlook that circumstance. | had to
work like d mailer for any money /
got, Just the same as | do now. only
more so, and | never could come any
where as near getting what | wanted
for what | had as | can now. | remem-
Der saving up for two months to buy
me pair of skates and the first time
] went down to the ice with them they
broke. Do you think I'd feel half as
bad if | was sold up tomorrow and
had to begin over again? Not much,
j wouldn't. If / get broke know how
! can make raise, but | didn't know
where l could get another pair of
skates. Same way when | played
hockey two days and they kept me at
home the day the circus was in town.
There isn't any sort of pearly haze that
is going to dim the recollection of my
emotions when | heard the band play
and couldn't as much as get glimpse
of the procession from my bedroom
window. Can't feel my eyes swollen
now and the lump in my throat and
the fever in my face and the snuffles in
my nose? 1t isn't the cares of to-day
that is bringing the gray hairs and
the anxious wrinkles. It's the half
forgotten sorrows of childhood, the
pain and the blank despair of those
golden days just getting in their
Nrk"
seems to me that you are looking
aseamy side said the sash-fac-
tory owner as the civil engineer
paused to look through the glass
again. Il suppose you saw the cir
Gus some time or other. You had
some fun, didn't you?"
Il never had a good time that l can
remember that | didn't get an all
fired whaling for it," replied the civil
engineer. THE better the time, the
worse the lambasting."
81 wouldn't wonder if your idea of
a good time was to perpetrate some
meanness a boy can be guilty off,
"You are right enough there I'm
not going to try to disguise that fact
When l happen to think what l COM
mitted between the ages of five and
fifteen I'm at a loss to figure out how
escaped meteoric career of crime
I've disappointed lots of good people.
want to tell you. All the same. if
had kid that promised anything like
di5 I'd consult a good, safe medical
msn as to the means of putting him
quietly and painlessly out of mischief
Talk about being unspotted! | was