Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1907-01-02
AN ADVANCE PAYMENT
Mark Twain, His Good Brother aud
the Broken Sugar Bowl.

|
My mother had n good deal OF trou-
bic with me, but / think she enjoyed ii.
She had none at all with my brother
Henry, who was two years younger
than l, and think that the unbroken
monotony of his goodness and truth
fulness and obedience would have been
burden to her but for the relief and
variety which l furnished in the other
direction. j was a tonic. / was yalu-
able 10 her. j never thought OF Il be-
fore, but now l see IL. / never knew
Henry TO do vicious thing toward me
or toward any one else. but he fire.
quently did righteous ones that cost me
as heavily. IL was his duty to report
me when ! needed reporting and neg
lected TO do 1t myself. and he was very
faithful In discharging that duty. He
Is Sid In Tom Sawyer" But Sid was
not Henry. Henry was a very much
finer and better boy than ever Sid was.
1t was Henry who called my moth
! er's attention TO the fact that the
thread with which she had sewed nv
collar together to keep me from going
IN swimming had changed color. Nv
mother would not have discovered it
but for that, and she was manifestly
piqued when she recognized that that
prominent bit of circumstantial evil
dence had escaped her sharp eye. That
detail probably added a detail to nv
punishment 1t is human. We gener-
ally visit our shortcomings on some
body else when there is n possible ex-
cuse for 1t. But no matter. / took II ont
or Henry. There is always compensa-
ton for such as are unjustly used I
often took IL out of hlm-sometjmes "a
an advance payment for something
which 1 hadn't yet done These were
occasions when the opportunity was
too strong temptation. and I had to
draw on the future / did not need To
copy this idea from my mother and
probably didn't. Still, she wrought
upon that principle upon occasion.
III the incident OF the broken sugar
oowi Is in TON Sawyer"-I don't re-
member whether it is or not-that is nm
example OF it. Henry never stole sug-
ar. He took 1t openly from the bowl
bis mother knew he wouldn't take suo-
ar when she wasn't looking. but she
had her doubts about me. Not exactly
oouots, either She knew very well I
would. One day when she was not
present Henry took sugar from her
priced and precious old English sugar
bowl, which was an heirloom in the
FAMILY. and he managed to break @
powi. 1t was the first time had er
mad chance to tell anything on hun.
and l was inexpressibly glad. told
MIN L was going to tell on him, but he
was not disturbed. When my mother
came In and saw the bowl lying on the
Moor In fragments she was speecbIess
ior minute. / allowed that silence TO
work. 1 Judged 1t would Increase the
erect 1 was waiting for her TO ask
VINO did that?" so that I could fetch
out my news. But Ii was an error of
ejaculation. When she got through with
her silence she didn't ask onvtb,hg
about 1t. She merely gave me n craoi5
on the skull with her th.mhla tha+
Ieit oil the day down to my heels. Then
broke out with my injured Innocence
expecting to make her very sorry that
sne mad punished the wrong one. ex-
pected her TO do something remorsefu,
ana pathetic. I told her that I was nor
the one-it was Henry. But there WINS
no upheavaL She said without ono
ton; Its all right. 1t isn't any mat
ter You deserve 1t for SOMETHING
you've done that I didn't know about
and IL you haven't done It. why. then
you deserve 1T for something that Won
are going to do that shan't hear
about. From Mark Twain's Aufoh,-
ography In North American Review.