Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-02
THE GREED OF A BOY


"a friend Of mine. speaking satirically
the other day of chap who isn't much OF
a spender. said of the stingy one. Why,
that fellow doesn't think any more Of
nickel than he does OF his right eye Which
reminded me of an experience or two bear
ing upon my own youthful greed. l believe
that / am not regarded, now that I'm
grown up,- as close-fisted individual. But
when was small boy grieve to say that
once sacrificed a good tooth for two bits
that didn't get.
81 was about at the age when my milk
teeth were beginning to loosen-nine or ten.
or something like that. One day had
pretty bad toothache. and I told my dad
about it.
,"'Well, there's another one right under
meath the aching molar, and it's trying to
sprout,' my dad told me. Better go and
have the aching one yanked. Wait min.
ute and I'll write you note to the dentist
HE scrubbed a note to the family dem
fist. and raced over to the dentists once,
holding my throbbing jaw. The dentist
was fine-looking, white-bearded, benevo-
ient-looking old gentleman. friend OF my
dads for thirty years back. He read my
dads note, patted me on the head IN
kindly way, planted me in the operating
chair. and felt of the jumping tooth sup
pose that he really could have pulled II gu.
with his fingers. I was so anxious to nave
| it out that / didn't buck or vince, even
when he produced the forceps, and l sup
pose the old dentist imagined from that
| that l was rather spunky sort OF young
ster.@
| ANYHOW, as soon as he had pulled the
| tooth he patted me on the head some more,
| telling me that was fine, plucky boy anu
| just like my father. Then he reacneo GOWN
1 into his pantalOons, hauled out Dunoie
| strinned off 25-cent shinplaSter from 1t
and handed 1t to me.
| "It won't hurt any If you get a bit Of
candy into the void left by that tooth, son,
| he said to me- smiling benevolently, as ne
handed me the shinplaster, and then.
charging me to give his regards to my
| father, he turned to another sunerlng pa
! tient in waiting, and ran out
Il had wild and prolonged PERIOD OF rlot
with that 25-cent shinplaster, of course:
| NV folks weren't rich, and they Weren
| very strong on that small change thing 1or
| the boys of the family. A few nlckeis
year constituted the grab-out tnat
| achieved at home, and you are not to forget
| that I didn't do as well as that, either
| until I had far more than delivered the
goods in the way of splitting klndiing'
| cleaning up the back yard. trottlng errahos'
| hoeing the garden, and SO on.
| so that that 25-cent shinplaster struch
me as being pretty soft for me. The mem
| ory of it haunted me for couple OF weeks
| after the piece of money had Deen pio"h
! in. and the more 1 thought of it the more
| easy that benevolent old dentist seemed u
| me. Fact is, 1 began to get sore because
| l wasn't revisited by the toothache. was
| angry because all the rest of my teeth
| seemed as sound as rivets. wanted an
| other chance to visit that kindly OLD oen-
| fist, for was certain in my own mino .ii,.
| the giving of 25-cent shinplasters was Just
as much a habit with him as eatlng- 80 1
| was nit by an inspiration. l hadn't any
| tooth that needed pulling, but nobody else
| knew that. I could pretend that one OF
| them was jumping almost out OF It's socket.
| and who would be the wiser? How couid
| ANYBODY. even the dentist know that 1 was
| taking if l declared that one of my SOUND
| teeth was yelling murder?
| mo sooner thought out than acted upon.
| I chased over to the Old dentists office
| again. but this time without any NOTE
| hadn't said a word to my dad about my
| counterfeit aching tooth. was holding my
| jaw and had my face screwed into an imi-
| tation expression of anguish when the good
| old dentist received me.
| .Ha, my boy, another bad toothT he
| said, in his kindly way, when he saw me.
| and from his pleasant way 1 judged that
| that 25-cent shinplaster No was just as
| good as in my pocket.
| Holding on to my expression of great
| misery. I climbed into his chair and pointed
out one of my front teeth-a tooth that was
| as sound silver dollar and hadn't even
| the symptom of an ache in it. The good
old dentist felt of it,, examined it closely,
and then said that the tooth seemed to be
pretty soou-He couIuht MAKE out why ~
should be aching. / protested that 1T was
| alomst killing me, all the same. So he
pulled it out, and maybe it didn't hurt!
| when it was out and l had climbed out
| Of the operating chair. had the first nickel
| of that 25-cent shinplaster as good as
| spent. 1 stood in front of the good old
| dentist, gazing at him coyly.
| "'Fell better now, SOM he inquired, as
1 he busted himself with his tools. 'Ah, glad
| to hear that You'll be all right Now,
| run along, son, like a good boy, and don't
| forget to give your father my compli-
| ments
| Talk about being hit on the wishbone by
| a steamboat! / was SO stunned that
| didn't know what had happened until 1 was
| five blocks away from the dentists office.
| 1t was one of the most miserable expert
| ences of my life when 1 realized the full
force of the calamity. The 25-cent Shin
| plaster hadn't been forthcoming and l had
sacrificed a good tooth for nothing!"