The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-18
IT AID I.

We'll, if you really want to-" Ber-
tina said, with more than a hint of
doubt in her manner, you might mind
him for a few minutes while I go and
see TO things downstairs.I should advise
you not to touch him, uness-
Why do you always insist on my
treating it as if it were a high ex-
plosive2' 1 interrupted, rather piqued.
nave handled all sorts of things that
needed eare.gqinea pigs. old china,
Not to touch him." pursued my sis
ter, disregarding this. unless he gets
hold of some small thing and tries to
7 will put it on a CHAIR said, 'and
watch it Closely
He" rejoined Bertha, with a faint
emphasis on the pronoun, will be
much safer on the floor. shall put him
down here, where he can't bump his
head against anything. and you must
keep him amused. If he bowls, ring
the bell and send for the nurse at
once"
It was not in any respect an unusual
looking baby, so far as L could see. 1t
was, 1 know, slightly more than one
year of age, but 1 had been pressed to
wish it many happy returns of the day
on my last visit to Bertha, only a few
weeks before.
It's figure was small and somewhat
dumpy-In fact, it was fat There is no
other word for it. Its head, which was
only slightly smaller than its body, was
of much the same general shape as that
of the present lord chief justice, having
an extraordinarily high and prOmin-
ent forehead. Its hair, worn much in
the manner of an Irish terrier, was of
a pale yellow. It's nose was short, and
altogether too vulgarly moulded to be
hattered with the epithet ''retrousse.'
Upon its mouth. which it habitually
carried open, was stamped a curious
! expression of eager greed. There was
no visible chin.
1t wore on this occasion a blue gar
ment reaching to the feet, one wOollen
ninepin. This object, which was of
plain, implanted wood, it had for
some weeks refused to relinquish,
waking or sleeping, for any consider
alton. The ninepin was carried about
in its hand all day, accompanied it in
its excursions out of doors, and was
clasped to its bosom in the night
watches. This treasure it always re-
ferred to as Google, or in moments of
supreme emotion as Gog-gog-gog-
and so ad infnitum.
Bertha and her husband Ga man
Of cultivated tastes) had named it
Ernest Ambrose.
It sat and eyed me with the mo-
tionless unwinking scrutiny that is
peculiar to certain reptiles and to all
babies. 1t made neither sound nor
movement, and the silence, which be-
gan by being awkward, soon grew
horrible. I felt as if it and 1 were in
an act of one of Maeterlinck' plays.
Still the silence persisted, still the
immobility. still the hypnotic stare of
the two circular pale-blue orbs. I am
fairly strong man, and not, I hope,
of a neurotic temperament; but I be
gan to feel as if must scream.
was quite certain the baby was going
to-
At last, by a supreme effort of will.
managed to look away from the
ri
chair, gazed into the fire. What was
TO doH 1t must be amused, or it
would summon assistance. Should I
reclte to it? Should dance before it,
like the daughter of Herodias?
Should 1 display the contents of my
pockets? Should should
''Wel. stupid"
Shocked suddenly out of my drowsy
reverie, l turned sharply round What
was this? Surely that could not nave
been the baby speaking. And yet-the
voice. I noted too an traordinarv
change in it's face. Could it be?
All doubts fed as it showed its three
teeth in what was Enthusiastically
sardonic grin
Didn't expect this. eh?" it said.
/ We'll, know it's against all the rules,
but really you were making me des-
perate- It's a jolly hard job. let me tell
you, for US babies at all times to keep
our feelings under control: and now
and then I can't help boiling over.
Here are you, put in this room for the
express purpose of amusing me, and
here am I, come down from the nur-
sery especially to give you a trial,
when 1 and my friend''-it waved the
ninepin-''were quite happy as we
were; and what happens? You sit glar-
/ ing at me for ten minutes likeZlike
that brute of a Golliwog I keep up
stairs, and then you begin doing over
the fire for all the world as if you'd
/ just had a couple of ounces of food.
And you expect me to say nothing"
! During this harangue, which it deliv-
cred with great heat I am afraid I sat
i looking at it with an air of stupefac
| ton not calculated to raise me in its
esteem; for. after pausing to take
/ breath, it went volubly on. in itsqueer.
hitch-pitched voice:
rs there anything at all wrong with
/ my appearance? or why are you star
i ing like that? Upon my word I seem
to have come into a peculiar world.
/ All lunatics-every single one I real
i ly thought my father took the rusk
/ for weakness of intellect: he sits grin
ming at me till 1 feel as if 1 never
wanted another tooth in my head But
he can make himself useful now and