Year: 1874

brain;


The skeptic's peering, analytic ways,


That dry the tender juices of the breast,


| And put the thunders Of the Lord to test,
So that no marvel must be, and no praise,
/ Nor any God except necessity.


| o earthly days, that have served SO true!
| o arid husks! o bare and fruitless tree!
| Take back your doubtful wisdom, and renew
Ny early foolish freshness Of the Ounce,
| Whose simple instincts guessed the heavens a
once.


| Richard Reaif in Harper's Magazine.


OUR BOY AND WHAT BECAME or HIM
| Our boy!


Now perhaps some people of philo
| progenitive proclivities may be led tC
| imagine that tender gush Of paternity
| is to follow just here. Not bit of it
Three years ago, when ! first clapped
eyes on "our boy" suppose he was
fully twelve years old. Who might have
been Clarence's father l have not the
least idea about. ! suppose some one
cared for the boy, because occasionally
had noticed pale young woman in a
dingy black gown come furtively to the
front door of the office and pass in to
"our boy" package done up in bit OF
newspaper and, from the fact that the
parcel was greasy, l Twas sure it contained
food for our boy. But who the woman
was was no business of mine, nor of the
Office. Clarence got three dollars week,
and was the errand boy. When he was
not running about the streets he sat in
the darkest part of the dingy Office, before
a ramshackle table, on which stood a
copying press, for making copies Of our
correspondence was one of his functions.
/ wish ! could make the boy an OBJ
ject of sympathy, but if tried my very
best | could not When it was bitter
cold some three winters ago, and our boy
had on miserably thin jacket, a size too
small for him, and when the snow was
knee-deep, and his shoes were out at the
heel and toe, | never committed great
er piece of stupidity in the world than
when lent him my overcoat and arctics.
Snch rank inGrafitnde on the part Of the
boy! Would anyone have believed it?
In the side pocket found bit of cheese,
and Of course a grease spot came from
it, and my shoes were run down at the
heel.


OF course l rarely exchanged any
words with our boy. Between the fourth
clerk in our office and an errand boy the
gulf of demarcation in the social scale
could not be too strongly accentuated.
OF course was forced, from time to
time, to point out to Clarence his line of
duty, and had to explain to him that a
tendency to whistle surreptitiously in
the office, or even on the landing, or to
wet the leaves of his copying book too
much, or to blur the correspondence, or
to put a three-cent stamp on foreign let
ter, would inevitably end in becoming a
forger or murderer.


If Clarence had been even cookbook
ing might have expatiated on that. l
am not, suppose, much Of judge of
beauty, and suppose that some lads have
curly hair and blue eyes; but Clarence
WAS uOt 81 1AFOICo. LIS CyNS WVlC uuil
and heavy and in chronic state of red
ness, and the hair Of his head looked to
me like mildew and hay. One thing that
was commendable was his punctuality
as to luncheon. Exactly at twelve o'clock,
when not running about, he commenced
his repast His food was invariably dry
bread and lump of putty-like cheese.
What the boy ate or did not eat made, of
course, no difference to me, though the
monotony of Clarence's midday meal
irritated me. From the zest with which
he ate it l was led to suppose it was
breakfast and dinner Of course to a
growing boy, with plenty of exercise, il
made little difference how, when or what
he ate. l am no Spartan myself, and a
sandwich and piece of pie suffice me
any day in the year, but ! must acknowl
edge to be singular as to pies and vary
that portion Of my luncheon with the sea
son. Ten cents, for fourth clerk Of
an economical turn of mind who de-
spises waste, is sum of money not to
be carelessly thrown away. | knew it
was weakness of mine when once
gave our boy the aforementioned
amount, and ordered him in the most
positive terms to lay out the whole
amount in cakes. Separated as we were
from one another by sheet Of ground
glass, as l used to be busy over my books
l could not help watching the boy, as the
shadow of his head often came in my
way, obscuring the light. l sat at exactly
the same table some fifteen years ago
and, suppose, was an annoyance to the
clerk who used to occupy my present
desk, just as Clarence was to me. Over
the d-boy's table there hangs day
Just as there had, suppose, for the last
fifty years, colored print of brig
with all sails set, skimming over the seas
bound for Funchal, in the Madeiras, that
port being visible in the distance. You
can't see the picture very distinctly now
owing to storm Of dust, dirt and cob
webs which have obscured it as long as
can remember. / sometimes wondered
whether Clarence ever was in imagination
on the deck Of that brig, as have been 9
hundred times when was a boy, career
ing over the bright seas, and whether tht
whole thing ever became to him, as it was
to me, kind of pictorial flying Dutch
man. When I wanted Clarence had
hardly ever to rap on the glass for hin
The boy seemed to anticipate my
wishes, and would Jump up when I ever
moved my finger. This alacrity on hi
| part was kind of servility which de
spised. / should have liked to have seer
myself when / was in that boys place
trying to be quick and obliging. o.
course I did my duty thoroughly when
was our boy. If was treated then will
contempt perhaps it was best for me
and Is l always had plenty Of spirit
returned exactly what ! received. I d.
not think / have altered much as t