The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-07

|
asked.
| I'LL done that getting over the
| fence" the boy innocently replied.
| The mother knew that was a story
| but she thought her little boy deserv-
ed to go free for his smartness; so she
only said:
You must be careful in getting
over fences or you might tear all your
clothes Off"
And the boy promised her he would.
A great many years ago boy of
this city was shot while trespassing
upon a gentleman'S premises-steal-
! ing fruit or Watermelons. His legs
| were filled with bird shot. When he
went home he told his mother that he
and another boy were out rabbit hunt
| ing, and the other boy seeing rabbit,
shot at it just as it was running be-
| tween his legs. and the mother never
knew any better. The only strange
part of the story to the mother was,
the boy couldn't remember what boy
it was that did the shooting.
| Boys and girls too, are smarter than
they were when | was a boy; or the
mothers are not quite SO strict with
them and don't always keep their word
as mothers did in those days. If my
mother said | must not go to a place,
/ understood that to mean | must not
ego" nor come; but keep well away
from that place. And l do not remem-
| Der that my mother ever told a story
about whipping her children. If she
promised to whip one he knew he'd
get it in due time and in full measure.
Knowing how true she was to her
promises, on the whipping question,
we children were very careful not to
run any very great risks in going con-
trary to orders. If she said go" we
went; if she said come" we came,
and asked no questions as to why's and
Wherefores.
l notice nowadays that some moth
ers may tell their children a dozen
times ito go" and even threaten to
whip them, but the young hopefuis
don't go; neither do they get whip
pings. They are smart enough to
know that their mothers don't mean
to whip them. Many children have
no respect for their mothers authOri-
ty, for they have no confidence in
them. Some mothers tell their chill
dren~a hundred stories II day, saying:
IF you do that again, I'll whip you!'
but it has no more effect on the aV-
erage child, than the chirping of a
| cricket in the closet The child don't
believe a word of it; therefore docs
Y so again. and keeps on doing SO"
| Whereupon, with an air of despair, the
mother declares she's got the worst
children in the world. although shes
done all that a mother could do ito
raise them right" The truth is she S
done nothing but scOld; and sColding
never made anything, (much less a
child, any better. My experience as
a boy, taught me, there was more Vir-
tue in the rod than i'll the tongue. /
didn't mind a lecture now and then,
but, when mother took me by the col
lar. and, without saying a word,
marched me toward the pantry where
she kept her switch, | began at once
to feel like | ought to be a better boy;
and when she was through with me,
| had fully made up my mind that I'd
never run up against that hickory
again. And so, when at times / was
tempted to do forbidden things, or to
leave undone things | had been told
to do, that pantry and that hickory
warned me to beware and / generally
needed the admonition. No, my Moth
er never told me a lie: if she said she'd
whip me, 1 knew ia get it, and so,
tried to be a very dutiful little boy.
81 y. II ~
l heard a strange story a few weeks
Iago. 1t was, that a cat with three or
| four young kittens, had added to- her
family two young rabbits and the
question with the gentleman, who told
me about the matter, was: Did the
cat find two motherless rabbits and,
children pr, did she bring them in to
fatten them, to have them on hand
when some of the kinfolks should
come to see herr" 1t would be a
strange affair." indeed, if the families
of "Old Tom Cat and "Old Bre' er
Rabbit entered into family relations
and dweIt together in unity. !, But,
since the gold bugs and the silver bugs
have come to terms, and, like the lion
and the lamb, are lying down togeth-
Ell, and Cleveland and Bryan, Hill and
Tillman, and all their friends, are
agreeing to live in harmony, | can t
see why cats and rabbits may not be
friends / don't think the cats are
i'll any danger as rabbits are not
c&rniverous animals? but the rabbits
may suffer after awhile, for it is well
TknoWn that underneath a velvet pad
(Jhe cat has fearful claws | don't
know how it will be in the wind up,
with the gold bugs and the slverites
They may not scratch and bite each
other, but, as both have good sWaI-
lows and large capacities they may
swallow each other, and the outcome
may be like Corinthian brass-a COM
bination of all the metals, which can't
be improved upon nor initiated.
"A thing happened fifty or sixty years
ago that raised a question, which l
Will state, and then turn it over to
scientists. The foxes and the owls de-
stroyed all my mothers turkeys eX-
cept one old gobbler. He was q mean
the gObbler), a fOrlorn, chickless
IWidoWer, and, to him, it was very clear
that the race of turkeys would be eX-
tlnct when Christmas came, and his
head was chopped off. | don't know
how long he studied the matter over,
nor how he arrived at a conclusions;
but this he did: Going out back of
the garden he made him a nest. in a
corner of the fence, rolled into it a
half dozen dry cymlins, about the
size OF goose eggs, and with all the
dignity of a turkey hen, he went to
setting. We did not know how long
he'd been setting when he was found
OF the nest; but,Nit was true that it
was difficult to break him up. The
Question is, if he had Matched those
cymlinS what would have been the