The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-10-27
By 81. A. Keays.

of notice is Little Lords of Creation" by
H A. Keays, published by Herbert S.
Stone & Co., Chicago. 1t is the story of a
baby boy, or rather two of them. and the
author must certainly have raised a large
family to have secured such an insight into
baby boy nature as he gives his readers.
The parents of the first one. a young min
lister and his wife, find their new joy a
greater tribulation In many ways than the
cares of a congregation. There is, of
course. a love story with a happy ending
in the book, but the center of interest is
the babies. Any proud father or mother of
a new boy will appreciate the following
taken from the first chapter Of the book:
1t was a boy.
And really, after he was once there,
it seemed impossible that they could
ever have faced the prospect of his
being anything else. That surprised
them a good deal when the came to
think of it seriously. Fol by the time
he was an hour and % minutes old.
they were fully alive to the fact that
he might have been a girl. And that
would have been-well. different. 1t
was wonderful what a narrow escape
they had had. And they were his
parents. That was the most eXtraor-
binary thing about it all. There was
suddenly a new and exquisite dignity
in themselves of which they had never
dreamed before. Years of feeling sep
arated them from the yesterday when
there was no link between them and
posterity.
BY the time the baby had owned
them for two hours, they had devel-
oped a profound pity, which was per-
ilously like contempt. for all the IN
happy beings who had no babies.
To be sure. in their secret hearts
they were a good deal surprised at
his looks, for he certainly was Iot
the infant Adonis they had every
right to expect their child TO be. Any
man caught loose on the streets with
such a complexion would u~ndoubted-
~ have been considered 'beery." And
he had discovered how 10 make the
nost frightful faces. His mother
grew quite anxious about it. At last
she plucked up courage to say eau
tiously to her husband: DO they all
look like that, Douglass"
81 don't know, I'm sure" replied the
young man, thoughtfully. Il never
saw them before"
We'll. l don't think it will do to
let him keep on wrinkling up his face
like that. \ tendency is almost Ger
tain to develop into a liked habit I'M
less it is checked in time. you know,
Douglas"
81 should think it might be due
to the unaccustomed action of the
air on his skin" said Mr.. Bell. He'll
probably conquer that himself. But
we can ask Mrs. Coddle about his
looks"
Like most other babies? Well. I
should say mott" declared Mrs. Cod
die with an emphasis which terrified
her innocent hearers; and then quite
unaware of the effect she was Great
ing, the good woman paused long
enough to stick nearly a whole paper
of safety-pins all over the baby be-
fore she ven on.
Hes Just about as much like EN-,
I should say, as chalk's like cheese"
She meant to say a good deal more,
but the baby. who had not yet re-
covered from his surprise and delight
at finding himself the owner of a
voice. began to exercise it powerfully.
"There now! Just listen to them
bellusl" said Mrs. Coddle. enthusiast
ticallv. between the gusts.
But after Mrs. Bell had listened to
them for an hour or two, she SEN
to the study for her husband. who
had been snatching a nap there and
dreaming that 10000 bands were play
ing the same tune over his grave. each
in a different key.
what do you think about it, Doug
las?" she asked, :earfuIly.