Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-30

you," said I. 'That's the son of his
rather, and he speaks for himself. Did
you ever hear such lung power? lie
shows what country air will do for a
boy. Only five, and he weighs-ho\'
much does he weigh, Jenny-ffty
pounds"
| mo: forty corrected my wife.
And then that Mr.. Williams began to
blow-literally to blow-about his child.
| well. country air has done little
more for my boy. for he is only four
and a half. and he weighs forty-five
and 1 think he's little taller"
1 changed the subject, to avoid get
ting more rolled. 1 do hate to hear a
man vaunt his own flesh and blood un-
duly. r!s 5a.ts
"Plantagenet goes to the kindergar-
| ten. and he knows every single letter in
the alphabet l said. Don't you,
Planty?' .
YES" said the dear little chap, rails
| ing his shoulders and drawing long
| breath. And then he began to say his
| letters. and got as far as L without a
single break. M, N, and o are rather
confusing to a child, and 1 helped him
out, but after that he went through I'M
til he got to s, and then his mother fin
ished it for him. because she hates to
have him "show off," as she calls it.
Now. if Williams had been man
| with an eye for merit in others, he
would have patted Plainly on the head,
and said. well done, youngster. I
couldn't say my letters as well as that
when 1 was your age" for I don't be-
L. lo 90 l,,n II
ing man.
Instead of that, however, he says:
well. he'll learn them in time. Don't
push him if he seems awkward. He'll
come out all right in the end. My boy
Sam learned to read all by himself. Not
five yet, and, by George, he can read
the history of Robinson Crusoe in words
of one syllable. Been with older chill
dren and picked it up. My wife wants
to push him along, because the doctor
says he has an unusually large head,
but I say let him take his own gait,
and he'll pass any boy of his age when
he's fourteen. You're boy may take
race by the time he's ten. Better to
have him healthy than smart. My Sam
is both we'll and smart, but I think it's
because he comes of pretty brainy
people on both sides of the house."
Mrs. Hardy took umbrage at this,
and said:
well. folks say there's nothing like
the mixture Of the Dutch and the Puri-
tan, and that's what Planty's lineage
is. Mr.. Hardy's mother was a Van
Pelt, and my people We're all from Bos-
ton"
THE Dutch blood" broke in Mr..
Williams: would account for your
sons comparative backwardness. The
Dutch are sure, but they're dead slow.
Now my Sam is solid Puritan on both
sides for three centuries, and there's
no blood like it in the world"
l was getting hot under the collar SO
l said: ,ao,
| If you don't say it's the finest one on the
Shore I miss my guess, and dom mean
| it in a boastful way. You see, / dont go
in for golf, or for anything of an athleuc
nature, but l do put in my spare time in
| the garden, and as was raised on a
farm, | know Just what's what, and the
| best way to secure quick results III
venture to say that my garden is a week
they employ a gardener or not.
On the way out to the garden L hap
pened to think of a clever thing that
PLAINLY had said the day =. before re-, 90 ,,;no
| is always getting off quaint sayings, I'd
give good deal to find out just where 1t
| is that children pick up their queer ideas.
Yesterday | was reading and Plainly came
| between me and the window. Get out of
my light, said l, and the little, shaver
pipes up, 'Tain't your light: it's Gods
| light
| Now everybody else who has heard that
story has said, What smart little boy!
| And you say he's only fve? But williams
merely nodded his head and said:
That's a variation of a better remark
| that my Sam made. His was humorous.
| One day, when he was four, / said Get
out of my light and he said, with sober
| face, I'm not in the light, or I'd feel it
burning me- Fact. Sam has a great
| sense of humor, an unusual thing in a
| child Now it isn't at all likely that your
| boy understood the significance of what
he said, but Sam knew he was making a
| Joke Hello, did your tomatoes get a
| touch of frost? Mine are nearly twice as
big
| / appeal to the reader to tell me if he
| ever heard such conSummate boastful-
| mess! In a garden that l told him was
| the most forward in these parts, and he
| had the assurance to tell me that my
tomato plants were puny.
| | turned it off as joke.
| Yes" said |, they were frosted every
| night for week and l haven't given
Them any attention. Just flung the sets
in carelessly, and they've come up any
IhOW."