Ellsworth American., 1912-07-24

tempted to command him by frown.
II he was man he would stand by me,
whether ne knew how to ride or not.
There was brief struggle within him,
and | won. He went out to the stable
to select the horses and give his in
structions. | ran upstairs, donned my
riding clothes. and when l came down
John appeared in an immaculate riding
suit-he had never worn It beforehand,
going out to the porte-cochere, we
mounted and rode away.
John had provided himself with a
horse that could not be driven out of
walk. and even then the poor fellow
had hard time TO keep his balance
But had made beginning and made
up my mind that before / had got
through with him he should be jump
Ing logs and bitches. | was tempted
to prick the animal he rode with pin
and get my pupil dumped on the turf,
but didn't wish to try too much at
once, so | refrained. / gave him a
short lesson of an hour, then permitted
him to return to the house, take a
bath and put on his evening clothes
before dinner. He was quite exhaust
ed. but seemed to be very proud of
having ridden horse.
1t required only this much to con.
vince me that John was man, like
other men, He had been deprived of
the elements of development. How
can plant thrive without sunlight?
My old playmate had grown to man
hood In obedience to natural law.
He was like boy who had been taught
to swim by reading swimming instruc-
tions from book. In other words. he
had not learned at all.
The next morning l came down to
breakfast in tennis suit, John in i'm
maculate morning costume.
Go straight upstairs" said to him,
"and come back in your shirt and
trousers. Do you suppose you're going
TO entertain me sitting on the piazza?
Not on your life! You'll play Tennis
He gave sickly smile. marched up
stairs. came back in sporting costume,
and after breakfast we went out to
the court. He played the game. though
he had begun too late to make much
| of a hand at 1t. When we had played
one set he was tired. but / kept him
at II till an hour before luncheon, and
he went In to the tub reeking with
perspiration.
At the end of the week great
change had come over John. He had
/ got some of the soft" out of him and
had entered upon new career. had
been link for him between his moth
er and freedom. Before the week ex-
pired he had declared his independ
ence and developed natural taste for
athletic sports. He was like a plant
brought from a cellar and placed In
the shower and sunshine of an April
day. He wouldn't hear of my leaving
! / must stay on indefinitely, as long as
, would
His mother needed some one to take
him from her influence as much as he
( She had followed a habit and was not
sorry when she saw that I was trying
/ to undo what she had done, for there
I Is no mother who does not wish to see
/ her son manly, even though she be the
/ cause of his effeminacy.
| remained at the Perkinses for
month and even then found 1t hard to
get away. had nearly killed Johnny.
but he said "he liked it." His mother
didn't approve of that part of it and
asked me II a taste for athletics neces-
sarily involved breaking persons necks
| replied that an occasional neck was
necessarily broken in athletics. as well
as In other less strenuous pursuits.
A year passed, during which l was
constantly spending short or long
terms at the Perkinses, Athletics were
TO Johnny ike new toy to child.
In the winter he learned to skate and
in the summer to swim. He was great
ly handicapped on account of learning
those accomplishments late in life and
had he not had strong natural taste
for them would not have learned them
at ALL AS II was, he became fairly pro-
ficient in them.
was repaid for all my trouble-if IL
can be called such-by John himself.
Among other sports. was fond of
canoeing. 1t seems TO me the most
dangerous Of all outdoor sports, even
for those who can swim-that is, II
they go too far from land, One day
Johnny and were padding In canoe
on bay of the Atlantic ocean. We
ventured too far out and were caught
In a squal. We saw it coming and
death in il. In John the nature of
strong man triumphed over the disad-
vantages he had so long endured. He
became the anchor, | the Ginger. He
ordered me to lie down in the bottom
of the boat in order to preserve its
equilibrium, while he crouched as low
as possible and still worked paddle.
Watching the wind coming over the
water, he kept the canoe in position
to be struck on the stern instead Of on
h. ell