Year: 1875

As the dancing flames isapsd higher and hiaher
Flooding the room with mellow glow.


His chubby hand on his side was pressed,


And he turned for = moment, q listening ear!
| "Mo:bsr," cried he, "I'vs got watch


oan feel IL ticking right under here!-


"Yes Dick, 'us 9 watch that God has made,


To mark your hours, they ny away;


He holds ths key in his mighty hand


And keeps ID in order, night and DAY.


"should he put aside the mystic key,


Or lay his hand on the tiny spring,


The wheels would stop, and your watch run
down.


And lie in your bosom, a lifeless thing


He cropt W my side and whispered soft,


While his baby voice had An awe-struck sound,
| " l wish you would ask hn, mother dear,


To be sure and rsmsmber TO keep IL Ioou',d.-
Being a boy.


If i was obliged TO be a boy and a
boy in the Countrywide best kind of O
boy to be in the SUMMER would be
about ten years of age. As soon rs ]
got any older, 1 would quit it. The
trouble with boy is that just as soon
as he begins to enjoy himself he is old,
and has to be set to doing something
else. II country boy were wise he
would stay at just that age when he
could enjoy himself most and have the
least expected of him in the way OF
work.


OF course the perfectly good boy will
always prefer to work and do the
'chores" for his father and errands for
his mother and sisters rather than enjoy
himself in his own way. / never saw
but one such boy. He lived in the town
of Goshen-not the place where the but
ter is made, but much better Goshen
than that. And / never saw him, but /
heard of him; and being about the same
age, as 1 supposed, / was taken once
from Zoah, where lived, to Goshen to
see him. But he was dead. He had
been almost year, so that it was almost
impossible to see him. He died of a
most singular disease; it was from not
eating green apples in the season of
them. This boy, whose name was Solo
mon, before he died, would rather split
up kindling wood for his mother than go
a-hunting-the consequence was that he
was kept at splitting kindling wood and
such work most of the time, and grew q
better and more useful boy day by day.
Solomon would not disobsy his parents
and eat green apples-not even when they
were ripe enough to knock off with a
stick-but he had such longing for
them, probably; so that his example is q
difficult one to follow. In fact, boy is
a hard subject to get moral subject
from anyway. All his little playmates
who ate green apples came to Solomon S
funeral, and were very sorry for what
they had done.


John was very different boy from
Solomon, not half so good nor half SO
dead. He was farmers boy, as Solo
mon was, but he did not take so much
interest in the farm. If John could have
had his way he would have discovered O
cave full Of diamonds, and lots of nail.
kegs full of gold pieces and Spanish dol
lars, and pretty little girl who lived in
the cave, and two beautifully caparisoned
horses, upon which, taking the jewels
and money, they would have ridden of
together, he did not know where. John
had got thus far in his studies, which
were apparently arithmetic and geogra-
ply, but were in reality the "Arabiar
Nights" and other books of high and
mighty adventure. He was q simple
country boy, and did not know much
about the world as it is, but he had one
of his own imagination in which he lived
good deal. / dare say he found ou
soon enough what the world is, and he
had lesson or two when he was quite
young in two incidents, which 1 may "a
well relate.


If you had seen John ut this time yor
might have thought that he was only {
shabbily- dressed country lad, and yor
never would have guessed what bsauti
full thoughts he sometimes had as he wen
stubbing his toes along the dusty road
nor what chivalrous little fellow h,
was. You would have seen short boy
barefooted, with trowsers at once too biz
and too short, held up, perhaps, by on,
!, suspender only, checked cotton shirt
and hat of braided palm leaf, frayeC
at the edges and bulged up in the crown
1t is impossible to keep hat neat if yo,
use it to catch bumble-bees and whisl
'em 10 bail the water from q leaky boat
, to catch minnOws in I; to put over honey
bees nests, and to transport pebbles
strawberries and hens eggs. John usu
ally carried a sling in his hand, or boy
or timber stick, sharp at one end, from
which he could sling apples at a grea
distance. If he walked in the road h
walked in the middle of it, scufiiing VI
the dust or if he went elsewhere, he wa
, likely to be running on top of the fence
the stone wall, or chasing chipmonks.
, John knew the best place to dig sweet
, flag on all the farm it was in meade,
by the river, where the bobolinks sang 8
gaily. He never liked to hear the bobc
links sing. however, for he said it Away
reminded him of the whetting of scythe
and that reminded him of spreading hay
and If there was anything he hated
was spreading hay after the mowers.
guess you wouldn't like it yourself" sal
, John, with the stubs getting into you
, feet, and the hot sun, and the men ge,
ting ahead of you, all you could dc"


Towards evening, once, John was CON
ing along the road home with some stalk
of sweet flag in his hand there is sue
culent pith in the end of the stalk whic
/ is very good to eat, tender, and not s
4 strong AZ the root (; and John liked t
: pull it, and carry home what he did nc
eat on the way. AS he was walking alon
he met carriage, which stopped oppc
9 site to him he also stopped and bowed
1 as country boys used to do in John
5 days. A lady leaned from the earring