Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-10

that liked to answer questions. l think he
knew something about everything.
Well, when l came to live with Aunt
Jane I'm afraid l wasn't much of COM
fort to her. l missed papa and mamma
and then too. everything in Aunt Jane
house different. Nothing could be
moved out of its proper place The chairs
might as well have been glued to the moor.
There wasn't a speck of dirt, no places to
lounge be comfortable in, no place to
toss your hat and mittens. no place in the
whole house to keep your playthings. There
hadn't been any boys In the house for
twelve years. No matter how hard tried
to take care of my face and hands and
clothes. l felt rumpled and dirty every
time / stepped into Aunt James frightfully
clean sitting room.
Then / began to find out how Aunt Jane
meant to bring me up. Papa had taught
me how to skate, and play ball, and swim.
and wrestle, and run. And he showed m6
alls'the crack strokes and turns and mo-
lions. The first week, almost, Aunt Jane
had what she called ian understanding
with me. She told me the things L could
do. and the things 1 couldn't. / mustn't
skate. because she had read once of a girl
who had fallen and cut her head while
skating: she had also known of people
drowning while out skating: mustn't play
ball. because she once knew a boy who had
been hit with a bat; mustn't ever wrestle
with any boy. even in fun, because
should grow up a prize fighter II did;
mustn't climb trees, because il would only
spoil my clothes: l mustn't coast down hill
''belly-whopper." only she said ION my
stomach instead of "belly-whopper,' be-
cause it didn't look pretty, and it wore out
my boot toes; l mustn't fish, because 1t
made boys cruel to take the dear little
wriggling fishes off the hook above all. l
mustn't swim, might drown. Now l ask
you, honestly, what there Is left for boy
to do?
1t was pretty tough to have all these
things to come at once. and l just little
kid, only seven years old? Well, l tried to
H. e. 4 a.
true soldier always did. 1 tried to remem-
Der what else papa said about the true SOL
der. but there were times when i almost
wished could forget that being true SOL
der meant obeying my superior officer. for
/ didn't like Aunt Jane for a superior Of
fcer. l used to wonder If papa couldn't
be my superior officer. still, If i remem-
bered all he said, and tried to grow up as
he would have me; the more / thought
about IL the more l was afraid that the
first thing papa would expect me to do
would be to mind Aunt Jane, but if
minded Aunt Jane / would just grow into
a sissy. and not be the strong brave boy
papa wished me to be. You see what a
puzzle IL
AT last made up my mind I'd do just
exactly as Aunt Jane said. and yet try to
grow into strong. brave boy such as papa
would want me to be. l say, 1t kept me
busy for awhile thinking up things to do
that would make muscle, and yet not be
disobeying Aunt Jane l walked fence rails.
turned somersaults. swung clubs, sawed
wood walked stills, ran races. and in
vented new games and tricks. When a boy
dared me to fight l dared him 10 do some
thing ten times more scary than fighting,
and 1 did 1t first whether he took the dare
or not. The boys jollied me terribly when
they found i wasn't allowed to fight or
skate or do anything. but l taught them
lot of new things to do, and so after awhile
they found that l wasn't coward a
sissy.
But Ii was hard. sometimes, and l expect
l was a coward, winters, the way / used
to skip half mile out of the straight road
the pond. i did love TO skate, and our
pond was smooth glass and safe as a
parlor floor, except way down by the dam,
where the ice was always thin and full of
airholes on account of the current.
wanted to skate much that used to go
out on the crust behind our house and go
through all the skating motions on a pair
of wooden things / had made. / cut figure
Fights, and skated backward, and did
all sorts of things, all by myself, so as not
to forget how.
But this isn't the story. About a week
ago / was starting to go home the long
way round. for II was tiptop skating on the
pond, then il struck me all of sudden
that / wasn't half man If couldn't enjoy
watching other boys having good time so
pond to see the fun. Well just hated to
do it, so / started of kind of slow. the long
way round thinking about IL every step of
the way. Then l came to a place where
could easily cut through to the dam and
watch the skaters at the lower end of the
pond without being seen myself.
So l did It.. When l got in sight of
the pond. with the bonfres along the edge,
and the boys and girls skating and laughing
and shouting and playing hockey and rae
ing, i can tell you l wanted awfully bad to
be on the ice with. them, and II it hadn't