Year: 1874

When Johnny is all snugly curled
up in bed, with rosy cheek resting on
one of his scratched and grimy little
hands, forming altogether a faultless
picture Of peace and innocence, il is
hard to realize what busy, restive,
pugnacious, badly ingenious little
wretch he is. There is something
so comical in those pygmy shoes and
stockings sprawling on the floor
they look as if they could jump and
run off, if they wanted to--there is
something so laughable about those
little trousers, which appear to be
making futile attempts to climb up
into the easy chair-the said trousers
still retaining the shape of johnny 5
active legs, and refusing to go to
sleep--there is something. say,
about these things, and about Johnny
himself, which makes il difficult for
me TO remember that, when Johnny
is awake, he possesses the cunning of
Machiavel and the sang froid of the
Captain Fracssse.


am sure | do not know how he
came by such unpleasant traits. |
am myself the least diplomatic and
audacious of men. OF course | do
not mean to imply that Johnny inheri-
ted his disposition from his mother
She is the gentlest of women. But
when you come to Johnny-he's the
terror of the whole neighborhood.


He was meek enough at tirst-that
is to say, for the first six or seven
DAYS of his existence. But | verify
believe he was not more than eleven
days old and twenty two inches long
when he showed a degree of temper
that would have been respectable in
an aged giant. On that occasion he
turned very red in the face-he was
superfluously red fore-doubled up
his ridiculous hands in the most
threatening and finally, in the
impotency of rage, punched himself
in the eye. When think of the life
he led his mother and Susan during
the first eighteen months of his arri-
val, ! shrink from the responsibility
of allowing Johnny to call me father.


Johnny's aggressive disposition
was not more early developed than
his duplicity. BY the time he was
two years Of age ] had got the follow
ing bitter maxim by heart: ''When-
ever Johnny is particularly quiet,
look out for squalls He was sure
to be in some mischief. And | must
say there was novelty, an unexpect-
edness, an ingenuity in his badness
that constantly astonished me. The
crimes he committed could be arrang
ged alphabetically. He never repeat
ed himself. His evil resources were
incxhaustiblc. He never did the
thing expected he would. He new
er failed to do the thing was unpre-
pared for. ! am not thinking SO much
Of the time when he painted my writ
ing desk with raspberry jam, as Of the
occasion when he perpetrated an act
of original cruelty on Mopsey, fa-
vorite kitten in the household. We
were sitting in the library Johnny
was playing in the front hall. In view
Of the supernatural stiffness that
reigned. | remarked, suspiciously:
"Johnny is very quiet, my dear" At
that moment series OF pathetic
news was heard in the entry, follow
ed by violent scratching on the oil
cloth. Then Mopsey bounded into
the room with three empty spools
strung upon her tail. The spools
were removed with great difficulty,
especially the last one, which fitted
remarkably tight. After that, Mop
sy never saw work basket without
arching her tortoise e-shell back, and
distending her tail to three times its
natural thickness. Another child
would have squeezed the kitten, OF
stuck pin in her, or twisted the tail
it was reserved for the superior gen.
ius of Johnny to string rather small
spools upon it. He heightened expec-
tation by never doing the obvious
thing.


1t was this fertility and happiness.
if may say so, of invention, that pre-.
vented me from being entirely defect,
ed over my sons behavior at this per.
iod. Sometimes the temptation te
seize him and shake him was toe
strong for poor human nature. Blu,
l always regretted it afterwards
When l saw him asleep in his tiny
bed, with one tear dried on his plump
velvety cheek, and two little mice
teeth visible through the parted lips
| could not help thinking what lit
tie bit Of a fellow hs was, with hi.
funny little fingers and his funny lit
tie nails; and it did not seem to m,
that ha was the sort of n vorsop IN hs