Chapter C: The Training of Children 323 (2)

The benediction having been pronounced, all the sinners were asked to leave the room. Only church members are allowed to remain for these “after meetings.” When the room was cleared of all “the goats” a pompous-looking individual, perhaps a deacon of the church, arose and said:

“Bruddah Pastur, de house is in ordah an’ ready fur business.”

The pastor then asked the little girl who was seeking admission to come forward. She gave her name to a one-eyed man seated at a table in front, who, after a laborious effort, passed it up on a piece of paper to the preacher. The preacher, readjusting his brass-rimmed spectacles, looked at the piece of paper for a long while, and then raised his head and said:

“Bruddahs an’ sistahs, dis is little Queen Victoria Davis, who comes to tell us what de Lawd has done fur her soul.” Then, turning to the girl, he said: “My daughtah, we wants you to tell us what fuss started you to prayin’, and how you foun’ de Lawd, an’ so on an’ so fo’th. Speak loud so all kin hyeah.”

The little girl began as follows:

“Well, bruddahs and sistahs, what fuss started me to prayin’ was dat I knowed dat I had a soul to save, an’ ef I didn’t git religion hell would sho be my home.”

“True! True!” exclaimed a number of men and women in chorus.

“An’ den,” continued Queen Victoria, “I wanted to start to servin’ de Lawd while I was young: I wanted to give Him my bes’ days.”

“Amen,” said one old brother.

“Well,” asked the pastor, “how did you feel while you was seekin’ de Lawd?”

The girl hesitated a moment, evidently in doubt as to the exact purport of the question. Finally she said:

“I felt like I wanted to be saved.”

This answer not exactly suiting the parson, he put the question in a different way. Said he:

“Did you feel light er did you feel heavy while you was a-prayin’?”

“I felt both,” said the little girl in unaffected innocence. Funereal groans of pity swept through the congregation. The preacher tried again. This time he asked:

“Did you feel light de mos’ er did you feel heavy de mos’?”

When Queen Victoria responded, “I felt heavy de mos’,” a wave of approval greeted the remark.

“W’en did dat heavy load leave you?” asked the parson.

“Las’ Friday night,” said Queen Victoria; “las’ Friday night. I kep’ on a-prayin’ an’ a-prayin’, an’ I didn’t feel no bettah untell I made up my min’ dat I was a-gwine tah fin’ de Lawd er die a-tryin’. An’ las’ Friday night de Sperrit met me an’ spoke peace to my soul. I hyeahed a little voice, but I saw no man, an’ de little voice said to me, ‘Go in peace an’ sin no mo’: yo’ sins is furgiven an’ yo’ soul sot free’.”

At this everybody shouted assent. “Glory! Hallelujah!” exclaimed an elderly sister.

“Now, my daughtah,” said the preacher, “how did you feel atter dat?”

“I felt light ez a feathah,” said the child. There was another shout of approval, Queen Victoria having hit upon the regulation answer.

“Ef you was to die now, whar would you go?” inquired the examiner.

“To heaven,” was the reply.

“Ef you had ’a’ died in yo’ sins, whar would you ’a’ went?”

“I would ’a’ went to hell,” said the girl.

“Would Gawd ’a’ been jest in sendin’ you to hell?”

“No, sah!” exclaimed the applicant. Many of the hearers laughed. The preacher raised his hand and said:

“Don’t laff; don’t laff; de chile is young yit, an’ she’s got to learn.”

Then by a series of leading questions, mainly concerning parental government, the old pastor brought the child around to the point where she saw, or where she was willing to say that she saw, that it was just for God to send people to hell.

“Do you want to jine dis church?” continued the questioner.

“Yes, sah,” said the applicant.

“Dis is a Baptis’ church, you know,” explained the pastor; “we baptize hyeah by putting people deep down undah de watah. Ain’t you sheered uv cole watah in de wintah time?”

“Watah can’t git too cole fur me,” said the little girl, “I got de grace uv Gawd in my heart.”

The people fairly whooped at this (as in their superstition they supposed) supreme manifestation of faith.

The pastor then turned to the congregation and said:

“Is dah any uddah questions?”

An old brother near the stove arose and said:

“Bruddah Pastur, I ain’t hyeahed de chile say whar she was at w’en de change took place.”

Queen Victoria responded:

“I was at de Bridge Street church las’ Friday night.”

The old brother nodded, as if completely satisfied with the answer. Then he asked:

“How long is you willin’ to trus’ dis hope?”

“Tell I dies,” said the applicant. Down sat the questioner.

“Any mo’ questions?” asked the pastor.

A sister stood.

“Honey,” she said, “is you got any parrunts livin’?”

“Yas’m,” was the reply; “my ma an’ my pa is both livin’, an’ dey’s both out in de ole fiel’ uv sin.”

“Lawd ’a’ mussy!” exclaimed several of the hearers. The sister who asked the question sat bathed in tears.

A brother in the rear arose and said:

“I has a question dat I wants to ax: I wants to know, daughtah, ef you was convertid at de Bridge Street church, huccom you wants to jine dis church?”

“De Speerit sent me to dis church,” exultantly exclaimed the girl.

“Glory to Gawd!” said the pastor. “Bless de Lamb!” exclaimed someone else. “Honah! Honah! Honah!” hallooed many others, and there was a general shout.

The examination ended, two sisters came forward and took Queen Victoria into the anteroom. When the applicant had been carried out a brother arose, the same pompous individual who had originally announced the house in “ordah an’ ready fur business.” Clearing his throat, he said:

“Bruddah Pastur, I sho b’lieves dis is de works uv grace.” There was a loud chorus of “Amens.” “An’ I motions,” continued the speaker, “ef I kin git a secon’, dat she be ’ceptid ez er candidate fur baptism, an’ on baptism ’come a full membah uv dis church.”

“Secon’ de motion!” “Secon’ de motion!” exclaimed several at one and the same time.

The motion was put and carried. Queen Victoria was brought in once more. The pastor informed her of the unanimous vote of the church, and instructed her to be ready for baptism the following Sunday night. Then the meeting adjourned, the members singing as they dispersed:

“Ole sheep, you know de road,
Ole sheep, you know de road,
Ole sheep, you know de road,
Young lambs mus’ learn de way.”

XIV.
GOING WITH THE CROWD.

“But all the girls went, mother. I didn’t like to be the only one left out. Besides, when I said I wouldn’t go they all laughed at me and said that I was a coward.”

It was Wednesday morning, before school time, and Anna was dreading to go back to school—dreading to meet her teacher. The day before a circus had been in town. At recess, while the children were on the playground, they heard the noise of the band, and one of the girls said:

“Let’s go and see the parade.”

“All right,” said Anna. “I’ll go and ask the teacher if we may.”

“No; don’t ask her—she might say no. We can get back before the bell rings, and she will never know that we left the grounds.”

Anna and one or two other girls held back. They all knew that it was against the rules to go off the playground at recess without permission.

“Oh, come on! Come on!” insisted one of the girls. “You’re afraid; you’re afraid! Come on! Don’t be such a coward; all the rest are going.”

And so Anna went.

When the girls saw the parade pass one point they wanted to see it once more, and away they went through the cross street to get to another corner ahead of the procession. School was forgotten; and when they did remember, recess time was long past and it was too late to go back.

The next morning, as Anna stood in the kitchen talking it over with her mother, her little heart was very heavy. She knew she had done wrong; she dreaded to go to school; and she was very unhappy.

“Perhaps,” said her mother, “if you had been brave about not going, the other girls would have stayed on the school grounds too. Or, if you had asked the teacher, I think she would have let you all go. But whether she did or not, it is never safe to do a thing just because ‘all the rest do it.’ Going with the crowd is not a good plan unless you are sure that the crowd is going in the right direction. The only wise thing for you to do is to be sure you are right, and then stick to it and never mind what the crowd does.”

“I didn’t mean to do wrong,” said Anna, as the tears started in her eyes.

“I know that, my dear,” said her mother, “but you were more afraid of being teased than you were of doing wrong. I hope you will remember from this day forward that the brave girl is not the girl who dares to do wrong, but the brave girl is the one who does what she knows to be right, in spite of the taunts and jeers of her playmates.”

“What shall I tell my teacher?” asked Anna in a low voice, as she dropped her head.

“Oh,” said her mother, kissing her, “you go right straight to your teacher and tell her that you have done wrong, and that you are sorry for it. Ask her to let you say so to the whole school. Be sure to beg her pardon, and promise not to do so again.”

Little Anna did as her mother told her. That afternoon, when she came back from school, she ran into her mother’s arms and said:

“Mother, I’m so happy. Teacher forgave me, and I mean to be good.”

And the smile on Anna’s face spoke plainly of a happy heart.

XV.
MARY AND HER DOLLS.

Was there ever a time when the first doll was born? Was there ever a time when little boys and girls, especially little girls, did not love dolls and did not have something of that nature to play with? It would appear that dolls, or playthings somewhat like unto dolls, are as old as babies themselves—that is to say, boys and girls, that ever since there have been little children in the world there have been little things for them to play with. And I never saw a sane person in my life who regrets that it is so. It is not only amusing, it is inspiring to see the little children making merry with their dolls and their toy animals and their little express wagons and their wooden guns and their toy steam engines and their whistles and their balloons and their brownies and their jumping-jacks and their hobby-horses and a hundred and one other things.

Mary had put away her dolls for the night and was cleaning the doll house when papa came in.

“How many doll babies have you now, Mary?” he asked.

“I have five dolls now, papa,” said Mary, “but only one is a baby—that is little Flossie. Robbie and Nell are three years old now; Mattie is two and Jerusha is one year old. Flossie is now the only little baby.”

The Rev. Dr. Smithson smiled.

“Well,” he said after a time, “five dolls make a big family, I think.”

“I don’t,” said Mary quickly. “Rolla Mays has thirteen girls and two boys in her doll family, and I haven’t but five in all!”

“I shouldn’t think,” said Dr. Smithson, “that Rolla would know what to do with so many.”

“Why, papa, of course she does!”

“Mary,” said Dr. Smithson, looking thoughtfully at his little daughter, “I have a little girl in my Sunday school class who hasn’t a single doll. I thought you might like to give her one of yours. You could spare one—couldn’t you?”

“Oh, papa, I couldn’t—not a one,” exclaimed Mary.

“Not one—when this poor little girl hasn’t any?”

“Oh, papa, I love my dolls so—how can I give them away?”

“You’d have four left—wouldn’t that be enough?”

Mary thought a long while before speaking. She looked distressed.

“Papa,” she said at last, “Mrs. Grant was over here the other day, and she said that she wished you and mamma would give me to her because she didn’t have any little girl of her own. You’ve got five children yourself, papa—but would you give any of ’em away just because you would have four left?”

Dr. Smithson took his little daughter in his arms and kissed her.

“No, dear,” he said; “papa wouldn’t give any one of his children away. You may keep all of your dollies, and we’ll think of some other way to help poor little Hattie.”

The next morning Mary said:

“Papa, I have thought it all out for Hattie. You know I have been saving up a little money to buy me a little iron bank—but I can wait for that. I have saved up fifty cents—don’t you think that will be enough to buy a nice little dolly for Hattie, and let me keep my babies?”

Dr. Smithson knew that Mary had long been planning for the bank. So he asked:

“Are you quite sure that you want to spend your money in this way?”

“Yes, papa, I’m very sure,” said Mary with a smile, though there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Dr. Smithson and Mary bought Hattie a pretty doll. Hattie was overjoyed when she saw it. Mary went back home, glad that her papa had understood how she loved her dolls, and glad to find that not one of her beloved children was missing.

XVI.
JAKY TOLBERT’S PLAYMATES.

“Well, Johnnie, where are you going this morning?” asked Mrs. Jones as her little boy started towards the gate.

“I’m goin’ over to Jaky’s, mamma; you know I must go over to Jaky’s every day.”

“What do you find at Jaky’s to make you so anxious to go over there every day almost before you are out of bed good?”

“Oh, mamma, Jaky has the nicest playmates over to his house you ’most ever saw.”

“Who else goes over to Jaky’s besides you?” asked Mrs. Jones.

“Jaky don’t have no reg’lar visitor but me,” said Johnnie proudly. “Me an’ Jaky is the whole thing.”

“Well, you are saying a good deal for yourself when you say that Jaky has the nicest playmates in the world—don’t you think so?”

“I didn’t mean me,” explained Johnnie. “Jaky’s playmates ain’t folks at all. Jaky’s playmates is animals—just animals, but I do believe that they have got as much sense as some folks I know.”

“What kind of animals?” asked Mrs. Jones, becoming interested.

Then Johnnie went on to explain. He said:

“Jaky’s got chickens and dogs and cats and birds. He’s got names for all of ’em, and they all know their names and they just run to Jaky when he calls them. The chickens and birds, too, will just walk right up and eat out of Jaky’s hand. And his trained dogs and cats are just the funniest things I ever saw. His little dog, Trip, can carry a gun and obey the commands, “Carry arms!” “Present arms!” “Parade rest!” just like a little soldier. One time at a fair he saw trained dogs and horses, elephants, and even lions. Then he decided that he would train some animals himself. And, mamma, he has done well. Why, he’s got a cat that can spell some words. Jaky printed some letters of the alphabet on separate cards, and he’s got a cat that will pick out the right ones every time. One of his little dogs can play the fiddle. It may seem strange, but he certainly can do it. He can hold the fiddle, and draw the bow across it just the right way, and he can play a little tune. Jaky calls it a dog tune, and I think he ought to know.

“You just ought to see Jaky’s chickens—he’s got six of ’em. He calls them and they all come running. Then he holds out his arm, and calls them by name, and they will jump up on his little arm, one after the other, and will sit there until Jaky tells them to jump down. And Jaky is so kind to his two birds that they won’t fly away when he lets them out of their cages for a little while. He can take them up in his arms and pat them gently, and then he puts them down, and they will lie still right by Jaky until Jaky calls them by name and tells them to go into the house—that is, I mean, into their cages.

“By the way, mama, I forgot to tell you. Jaky is getting up an animal show, and he says that I am to be his manager. He’s going to print the cards to-day. He’s going to call his circus, “JAKY TOLBERT’S GREAT ANIMAL SHOW—THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH,” and he’s going to make me the manager of his circus. Won’t that be fine? You’ll come and see it—won’t you? We’re going to charge only one cent for you to come in. Oh, it’s going to be great, and I don’t want you to miss it.”

“To be sure, I’ll come,” said Mrs. Jones. “Tell Jaky I’m glad to hear about how much he loves the dumb animals—every manly boy ought to love and protect them.”

“I tell you,” said Johnnie, as he hurried out of the gate, “Jaky will fight anybody who hallooes at one of his pets or mistreats one in the least. He’s just as kind to them as he can be. Don’t you forget the show. It’ll come off next week.”

XVII.
A VALENTINE PARTY.

It was one week from St. Valentine’s Day, and the Berry children had already provided a number of the tokens, comic and otherwise, which they meant to send to their friends. Jack produced a grotesque and awfully exaggerated caricature of a withered, stoop-shouldered old woman, with some cruel lines of doggerel printed beneath it.

“I’m going to send this to old Mrs. Gray,” said Jack, as he exhibited the comic picture.

Nearly all the children laughed, and said that the picture and the words beneath it would just suit the old woman. Mrs. Gray was an old and poverty-stricken widow woman, and many of the children of the little village took delight in playing tricks on her on Hallowe’en and Valentine nights. In this way, the children, especially the boys, had made her life so miserable that the old woman often said that she hated even the sight of a boy. In the midst of the merriment over the proposed venture of Jack Berry, it was Lillie Berry who spoke up, saying,——

“Jack, I tell you what I think. I think we ought to give Mrs. Gray a genuine surprise next week. She has had so many ups and downs in this life, I really believe that we can give her a little pleasure if we give her a true—true surprise. Of course, all the boys and girls will be invited to join in, but it is not going to be like a regular party, but something like the ‘surprise’ parties or donation parties that we sometimes give the preacher; we’ll just put the things on the doorstep and run, the way we do with valentines, you know. What do you say to that, Jack? And what do the rest of you think?”

Very quickly the Berry children agreed with what Lillie had said, and immediately they set about planning for the valentine party.

The night of February fourteenth was clear, cold and moonless. Across the fields in the darkness, a throng of merry young children, with a wagon or two (little goat wagons) piled high with baskets and bundles and wood, slipped silently toward the little house where old Mrs. Gray sat shivering over her scanty fire. A sudden knock at the door aroused Mrs. Gray from her musing. She hobbled painfully to the door. Opening it, she saw by the light of the tallow candle a basket of rosy apples and another of potatoes. Nothing else was in sight.

A second knock followed almost as soon as the door had closed on the two baskets which were hurriedly drawn inside. This time a can of kerosene oil held a lonely vigil on the doorstep.

“I haven’t had a drop in my lamp for two weeks,” Jack heard the old lady say, as she peered out eagerly into the darkness before closing the door.

As she was busy filling her lamp, she was interrupted by a third knock, which resulted in a basket filled with groceries in parcels in all shapes and sizes. Great tears stood in Mrs. Gray’s eyes, and a great lump arose in her throat.

At last knock number four revealed the real Saint Valentine—a group of laughing boys and girls, every one of whom carried an armful either of pine or oak wood for the stove.

“Where shall we put it?” asked Jack Berry, as eager now to help as he had been the week before to tease. Mrs. Gray was rubbing her eyes, and wondering if she could possibly be awake and in her right mind.

“Wish you many happy returns of Valentine’s Day!” said Lillie Berry, as she slipped into the withered hand a small purse containing the valentine money of the boys and girls; and before the bewildered woman could say more than a fervent “God bless you,” her guests had melted away in the darkness, and she was left to weep tears of thankfulness among her new possessions.

XVIII.
“NO MONEY DOWN.”

Boys and girls, I suppose you are quite familiar with what is known as buying things on the instalment plan. You have seen people in your own neighborhood—perhaps in your own homes—buy things that way. Chairs, tables, bed-steads, rugs, pictures, things for the kitchen and things to wear, and many other things are bought that way. Most people think they are getting a great bargain when they are able to buy things by paying a small amount in cash as the first payment—say fifty cents or a dollar—and then pay the balance in small weekly or monthly payments. And especially do some of our mothers and fathers think that they are getting a great bargain, if they are able to buy things they want for “no money down” and so much a week. In such matters, my dear boys and girls, your parents are making a terrible mistake and are setting you a wrong example. They lose sight of the fact, when they fall into the habit of buying anything and everything on the instalment plan or on the “no money down” plan, that a day of reckoning is sure to come; that the time comes when they must pay for everything that they have been led into buying. Thoughtful people—wise people—prefer to pay “money down” when they buy anything; and this habit of paying as they go helps them in at least two ways. First, it saves money in their pockets, and, secondly, it keeps them from running in debt.

Children, these men who come to your homes with great packs on their backs always charge you double for whatever they may sell you on the “no money down” plan—no matter what it is! That is why they are willing to make the terms so “easy,” as they say. In the end they profit by their schemes, and nobody else does profit by their schemes except these peddlers. You ought to avoid them as you would a wild beast. You do not know now, boys and girls, what a terrible thing debt is. I honestly hope that you may never know, and if you will take the advice of older and wiser persons I am sure you will always be free from the bondage of debt.

Not long ago, I saw two women standing at the window of one of these “no money down” or “hand-me-down” stores. One said to the other—

“I just believe I’ll get me a new cloak this winter. My cloak didn’t cost but three dollars, and it is so old and shabby that I am ashamed to wear it in the street. Look at that beauty over there in the corner. Only ten dollars and ‘no money down’.”

“Yes;” said her companion, “but I guess the money will have to come down sometime.”

“Oh, of course; but, you know, I won’t have to pay it all at once. I could probably get it for fifty cents a week.”

“Well, why don’t you just save the fifty cents a week until you have enough to pay ‘cash down’ for the cloak, and in that way you would save, I am sure, three or four dollars; because you can buy that same cloak for six dollars or seven dollars in cash.”

“Oh,” said the woman, “I’d never save it as I would if I had the cloak and knew that I just had to pay for it.”

“But, Delia, the cloak would not really be yours until you had paid for it, and I would feel kind of cheap wearing a cloak that didn’t belong to me. If I were you I would stick to the old cloak until I could pay the money down for a new one. That’s what I would do.”

And that is exactly what anybody should do who wants a new cloak. It is what people should do, no matter what they want. I know a boy fifteen or sixteen years old who had the courage and the manliness and the honesty to wear a very shabby old overcoat all of last winter rather than buy one on the “no money down” plan. It is his plan always to “pay as he goes,” and be debtor to no one.

I heard the other day of a young fellow who goes two or three blocks out of his way to avoid passing certain stores because he owes the proprietors of those stores money that he cannot pay. That boy, I know, is miserable night and day. Mr. Longfellow, in his “The Village Blacksmith,” tells us that the honest old blacksmith could look “the whole world in the face,” because he did not owe anybody anything—he was out of debt. And boys and girls, if you are level-headed, you will fight shy of the “no money down” plan. By choosing the “money down” plan, you will save your self-respect and your good name.

XIX.
TOMMY’S BABY BROTHER.

For several months Deacon Tadpole’s little son, Tommy, had made constant and repeated reference to the fact that he had no little baby brother or sister to play with. One day, when he was feeling unusually sad over his misfortune, he said to his father,——

“Papa, I ain’t got no little baby brother to play with—you might at least buy me a little pony.”

“Papa can’t buy a pony, son;” said the deacon. “A pony costs too much. I thought you wanted a little brother or sister.”

“I do,” said Tommy, “but if I can’t get what I want I’m willing to take what I can get.”

“But, you would rather have a little brother than a pony, wouldn’t you?” asked Mr. Tadpole.

Tommy thought awhile and then said he thought he would rather have a little baby brother than to have a pony.

“You see,” he said, “it costs so much to keep a pony, and we would have to build a stable for him, wouldn’t we, papa?”

“Yes,” answered his father, “and we haven’t got any room in the backyard for a stable.”

“And we’d have to buy hay, too,” said the child.

“Yes,” said his father.

“Well, I’d rather have the little brother.”

So the matter was left in abeyance until a month ago when little Tommy was told one morning that a little brother had come to him.

He was delighted. He danced around in the hall and made such a racket on the stairs that the nurse threatened to have him sent away. When he was permitted to see the baby, Tommy went into ecstasies. He asked a thousand questions about the little one, and was very anxious to know why God had taken so long to send him down from heaven. He wanted to kiss the baby, and cried because they wouldn’t let him hold it in his arms.

But Tommy’s enthusiasm for the new baby began to wear off in about a week’s time. It was always, “Sh-sh! Sh-sh! You’ll wake the baby,” or “Tommy, you must be more quiet!” or “You can’t come in this room, now!”

In fact the little baby brother seemed to be interfering with little Tommy’s fun to such an extent that he decided to go to his father and see if some new arrangement could not be made. Tommy found his father in the library. He ran to Deacon Tadpole and climbed upon his knee, and said,——

“Papa, I don’t believe I want my little brother any more. I can’t have any fun with him. I’ll tell you what let’s do. Let’s trade him for a pony.”

“Oh, we couldn’t do that,” said the deacon.

Tommy was silent for a time. Then he said,——

“Well, I don’t suppose we could find anybody that would want to trade a pony for him, but don’t you think you could trade him for a goat?”

XX.
KEEPING SCHOOL.

Every boy and girl in America ought to go to school. The public school is one of the best institutions connected with the life of our nation. But did you ever hear of a little girl who went to school to herself? I have, and I want to tell you about it.

We will call her Tootsie.

There was no school house, and no teachers; nothing only just little Tootsie; not even her dolls; just simply Tootsie sitting all alone on the couch near the window. That was all there was to this little school, so far as anybody could see.

But Tootsie said she had a large school, with some sixty pupils. Sometimes she would say that her scholars had been naughty and that they would have to stay in at recess; and then again she would say that they had been promoted to a higher grade; she often talked to her pupils as if they were real live people, telling them how they should stand and how they should sit and giving them permission to be excused, and so on. So you see it seemed in Tootsie’s mind very much more like a real school than it could to us.

Every morning, when Tootsie’s sister would start for school, Tootsie would watch her until she was out of sight, and then she would go and sit down on the couch. Not having a true-true school book, she would take her Christmas story books. At first she would only look at the pictures and try to think what the story about them must be. Then she would ask mama or grandma, or whoever happened to be nearest, what the words of the picture-story were. She would then say the words of the story over to herself, and look at the picture. Next day she would read over the words of the same story as far as she could remember them, and when she came to a word that she did not know, up she would jump and go and ask some one what it was. When she had learned a story herself, she would then talk to her sixty imaginary scholars about it, showing them the picture and explaining the story to them just as though the children were all there before her in her little school room.

In this way Tootsie went through one after another of her story books, picking out the stories that had pleasing pictures.

But the nice thing of it all was that Tootsie was really learning to read, and she did get so that she read real well; for she knew just what she was reading about, and often, when she would find a story that was funny, she would laugh right out even if she was at school, and then she would find mama or grandma and read the funny part to them.

Maybe one reason why Tootsie learned so fast was because her school was just like play to her and not like work. Of course, it is easier to play than it is to work. But could you think of any better thing to play than to play keeping school? Why not try it? It helped Tootsie wonderfully, and I believe it would help many other boys and girls. What do you think about it?

XXI.
THE SCHOOL OF THE STREET.

Little Joe, ten years old, had followed his business as a newsboy and bootblack in Smutville for three or four years, and, of course, had turned out to be a first-class little citizen of the street. He could curse and swear, and drink and smoke, just the same as any old hardened sinner.

One day, after Joe had finished one of his daily fights with some other small boy, a kind-hearted gentleman stepped up to him and said,——

“My little man, do you go to school?”

“Nope,” said Joe.

“Do you go to Sunday-school?”

“Nope.”

“Well,” said the gentleman, “what do you expect to do when you are grown?”

“I ain’t going to wait till I’m grown—I’m going to be a jockey; that’s what I’m going to be.”

“How would you like to be bank cashier or president of a great bank? Wouldn’t you like that better?”

“Yep,” said the boy, “but a poor boy can’t get no job like that—now you know he couldn’t.”

“Oh, yes; he could if he were to prepare himself for it. But a poor boy, and no other boy, will ever be a great business man if he is going to live forever in the street—cursing and swearing and fighting and, it may be, stealing, and having no higher ambition than to be a jockey.”

“Are you a parson?” asked the boy, becoming interested.

“No, but I am interested in little boys. I am the secretary of the Young Men’s Christian Association and we have a boys’ department. I want you to join it. I have found out about your habits and your surroundings; I was told of the death of your mother and father; and I made up my mind to come and ask you to come over to the Young Men’s Christian Association and live with us. You may continue to sell your papers and black boots, but, you see, living with us, you can go to school at night, and some day you will have a good education—and you might be a bank cashier.”

Little Joe took this good man’s advice and went to live in the Y. M. C. A. building. He did not turn out to be a bank cashier or president, but what was better, Joe turned out to be a General Secretary of one of the largest Y. M. C. A.’s among the colored people of this country, and in that way has been instrumental in saving a great many other boys from the gutter.

But Joe would never have amounted to anything if he had not been taken away from the wicked influences of the street, and placed on the road to higher things. The worst school in this world that any boy can go to is the school of the street. The school of the street turns out the most impure, the most dishonest and the most illiterate boys, and those boys and girls who ever rise to be anything or anybody in the world are the ones who leave the influences of the street in due time, as Little Joe did. The street offers most of its work and most of its attractions at night, as many boys can tell. The life of the street leads to no career that is worth following. The good careers are made by those whom the street has not had a chance to spoil, or by those who are taken out of the streets before they become hopeless cases.

There is no greater error than the common notion that it is a good thing to let a boy run the streets and become “hard” and “tough” and “have his wits sharpened” and make “a little man” of himself, as some foolish people say. A boy learns more downright mischief in one night in the street than he can unlearn in the home in six months. And so, what will the teaching of the home, the public school and the Sunday-school amount to, if we are going to give our boys in their young and tender years the freedom of the streets? If now and then a street boy—that is to say, a boy hardened in the ways of the street—does get a good place, in most cases he will lose it and fall back to the old, free life of the gutter. The boys who succeed are the boys who get away from, or who are taken away from, the influences of the street and who are surrounded by better and more wholesome influences. Those who remain under the influences of the street become in the course of time members of the great army of beggars, tramps and criminals. It is a great pity that there should be so many stories going the rounds which tell about newsboys and messenger boys and so on rising to be bank clerks and telegraph-operators and so forth. On the whole, these stories are misleading, and for the reason that they seem to give the impression to many innocent boys and to many thoughtless parents that the surest way to give a boy a good start in life is to send him out into the streets to “rough it” and fight his way to the front over beer bottles, games of chance, the race-track, and the pool room, to the accompaniment of vulgar jokes, profane swearing and evil associates. I repeat: The school of the street is the worst school in the world, and the sooner boys get out of it the better it will be for them.

XXII.
THE FOX HUNT.

Uncle Hambright used to pride himself upon his ability to invent amusing games for the children. Sometimes he found it hard to think of anything new, but the demands of the children were so insistent and his desire to please them always was so intense that it often happened that Uncle Hambright could almost make a way out of no way.

Dinner-time was fast approaching. All the morning, the half-dozen little children, who were spending the day with Uncle Hambright at the Sunday-school picnic, had been playing every conceivable sort of game and had been enjoying every imaginable kind of story told in Uncle Ham’s inimitable way,—but still the children were not satisfied. “Just one more story,” or “Just one more game,” or “Give us your best game now for the last before dinner,”—the children clamored one after another.

“Very well,” said Uncle Ham. “You all wait until I come back, and then we’ll play fox-hunting.”

Uncle Ham went and told his sister and her husband, the parents of the little children, to take the dinner-baskets far into the woods to the place which they had already agreed upon as the spot where the dinner-table should be spread. Coming back to the children, Uncle Ham said,——

“Now, we are ready. Come close and listen while I explain.”

With anxious hearts and eager faces, and clapping their glad hands, the children gathered around Uncle Ham.

“Now,” said he, “I have a piece of chalk here in my hand. I am going to make something like this wherever I go along.” While he was speaking he made a round ring on the fence close by. He put marks for the ears and feet and a mark for the tail. Then he continued: “This is the fox. I’m going to make foxes along the path that I take into the woods—sometimes these foxes may be on fences, sometimes on trees, sometimes on rocks, or anywhere I wish to place them. Whenever you find a fox you will know that you are on the right road, and you must be sure each time to follow in the direction that the head of the fox points. Then you won’t lose your way. You must give me a little start, because I must be out of sight before you all begin the hunt. At the end of the hunt, if you follow carefully, you will find a large present waiting for each one of you. You may help yourself to whatever you like, and then we shall all come back together, because, you know, I will be at the end myself waiting for you when you come.”

It seemed that the ten minutes start that the children had agreed to give Uncle Hambright would never come to an end, so eager were they to begin the hunt. By-and-by the time came, and they were off. The first few foxes had been drawn on the board-walk, so the hunters had easy sailing for a little while. Pretty soon, however, one of the girls discovered a fox on a tree, and the head of the fox pointed right into the woods. At first the children halted. The eldest girl said finally, after studying a few minutes,——

“Let’s go on; Uncle Hambright wouldn’t take us where anything could hurt us, and, besides, he said he would be waiting at the end.”

Thus reassured, all of them plunged into the woods. Once in the woods the little foxes drawn on trees and stumps carried them right along by the side of a babbling brook for a long distance. Sometimes they would find one fox, and then they would find it very hard to locate the next one. It was great fun for them to scurry about in the woods, examining trees, stumps, rocks and everything, hunting for the foxes. Finally one of the little girls found a fox on a fence. The head of the fox pointed upwards. The little child said,——

“This little fox seems to be pointing to heaven; I’m sure we can’t go up there.”

“Oh, no;” said the oldest girl, again coming to the rescue,—“I think that that little fox leads over the fence—that’s all.”

So, over the fence they jumped and continued the chase.

The course proved to be zig-zag now for a few minutes, and the children found the foxes more and more difficult to locate. They felt safe again, when the foxes were found on stones or rocks leading up the side of a hill. The woods began to thin out, and the children were no longer timid. Up the hill they went with a merry laugh and a shout. Once on top of the hill, they lost their course again. After a time, they found a fox, though, and that fox pointed straight down the hill. The children bravely followed. At the foot of the hill, they came suddenly upon an open space, and close by there was a great big fox marked upon a piece of black paste-board and standing right over a bubbling spring of water.

“Uncle Hambright must have meant for us to stop here,” said one.

“Maybe, he meant for us to stop and get some water,” said another.

One or two of the fox-hunters stopped and drank some water. Then the oldest one said,——

“Come on now, let’s look for another fox; I guess we are most through now.”

About twenty yards away from the spring, the children came to another open space that was well shaded. What was their delight and surprise to find there stretched out before them on a large white table cloth, laid on the bare ground, a sumptuous picnic-dinner. And in the middle of the table there was a true-true stuffed fox with a large red apple in his mouth. For a few moments the children stood around the table in bewilderment. But they were not to be kept in suspense a great while. Pretty soon, Uncle Hambright and mama and papa came out of the woods near by, and such a laugh as went around that picnic-dinner was never heard before or since!

At the close of the meal, the children all voted that that was the best game that Uncle Ham had played during the day.

XXIII.
A BOLD VENTURE.

“Mr. Slocum, good morning, sir; I came around to ask you to lend me five dollars.”

Mr. Slocum, Manager of the Harlem Steamboat Company, looked up from his desk in surprise when he heard this abrupt announcement.

“What’s that?” he asked curtly.

“Lend me five dollars,” said the little boy who had first addressed him.

“Who are you?” demanded Mr. Slocum.

“I’m nobody,” said the boy,—“nobody, but I want you to lend me five dollars.”

Mr. Slocum, who was generally said to be a hard man to deal with, was surprised at the boy’s presumption, yet, nevertheless, he was secretly pleased at the boy’s frank and open manner.

“Do you know what borrowing money means?” asked Mr. Slocum, rising and looking down upon the diminutive figure standing before him. The boy was barefooted, held his hat in his hand, and his hair was nicely combed. Mr. Slocum continued: “Don’t you know when a person borrows money he is supposed to pay it back?”

“Oh, yes;” said the boy, “I know that. You lend me the money, and I’ll pay it back all right. I only want it for three months. I’ll pay it back.”

There was something about the boy’s face and general deportment that won Mr. Slocum’s favor. He ran his hand into his pocket, pulled out a five-dollar bill and handed it to the boy.

“Thank you, sir;” said the boy, as he turned to go,—“thank you sir; I’ll pay it back.”

Three months later, the same little boy entered Mr. Slocum’s office.

“Here’s your five dollars, Mr. Slocum,” said the little boy. “I’m much obliged to you, sir.”

“Who are you?” asked Mr. Slocum, as he reached out and took the money.

“I’m nobody,” said the boy.

“Well, why do you bring me this money?”

“Because I owe it to you,” explained the little fellow.

The boy told Mr. Slocum of the loan made three months before, and made Mr. Slocum recall the transaction. Mr. Slocum asked him to have a seat.

“Well, what did you do with that money?” asked Mr. Slocum.

“Well,” said the boy, “I was hard up when I called on you. Me and my ma had been selling papers for a living up to that time, but somehow we had got behind with our expenses. House rent was due, and we didn’t have nothing to eat. I had to find a friend somewhere. So, after trying two or three places where I was known and failing to get any help, I decided to drop in here and see you. You know the result. Well, I paid my rent for a week; rented a little stand for my ma to sell papers on the corner, while I continued to hustle in the street. That five dollars you lent me give me good luck, and I’ve been going right up ever since. Me and ma are living in a better place now; we’ve got a plenty to eat; and we’ve got a plenty of fine customers. I told you when I came here before that I was nobody then, but I’m somebody now, Mr. Slocum,—anyhow, I feel so—and I want to thank you again for the help you gave me.”

The boy’s story pleased Mr. Slocum very much. It is needless to say that he took an interest in that boy, and continued to befriend him.

This happened many years ago. To-day Tommy Tolliver—that was the boy’s name—is the Assistant General Manager of the Harlem Steamboat Company, and a very well-to-do man. Mr. Slocum says that there is nobody in the world like him. Tommy’s mother died some years ago, but she lived long enough to see her little boy taken out of the streets, put to school, and started on his career of usefulness.

XXIV.
A HERO IN BLACK.

I read some years ago, boys and girls, a story in McClure’s Magazine, which I think should be of interest to every boy and girl in the world. The story was taken from the records of the Royal Humane Society of Great Britain. It told about an obscure negro seaman whose brave deed was discovered and honored by two of the great nations of the earth.

One tropical night, the steamer Dolphin rested almost motionless off the Cayman rocks in Nicaragua. Crew and passengers, some twenty in all, were asleep about the deck, for it was too hot to go below. Then came such a squall as comes only in those Southern seas. The sails, all set, furnished ample leverage. Within ten seconds, the Dolphin was bottom up, her passengers and crew struggling in the water.

Wilson McField, a negro and a subject of Great Britain, was the first to come to the surface. All his twenty-seven years of life he had known these waters, and he swam like a fish. He soon succeeded in climbing upon the bottom of the vessel. Then he shouted to the others, and one by one pulled up five of the crew.

Fortunately the squall was soon over, although the sea was high. After they had drifted two hours the men heard strange sounds, like pounding within the vessel. Some thought they heard voices. The more superstitious were afraid. The night dragged on, and by daylight the sounds had grown fainter. The crew concluded that men were imprisoned within the boat, but none could devise a way to save them. Then the negro proposed to dive under and into the ship. They assured him he would never get out again, but carrying between his teeth one end of a rope that had been dragging from the vessel, McField dived, passed under the gunwale and rose in the hatch.

It was pitch-dark, and the interior of the vessel was full of the floating cargo, but he kept on steadily. Finally concluding that he had reached the cabin, he rose, and in an instant his head was above water. Yet so foul was the air, and so narrow the space between the water and the ship’s bottom, that he could hardly breathe. He could see no one, but he heard the knocking again, and called out. Then came voices faint but familiar.

Swimming in the direction of the sound, he found two men braced against the cabin sides and holding their heads above water. One was a young rubber cutter, named Mallitz, the other a native Spanish-Nicaraguan, called Ovando. Both were panic-stricken, and McField was obliged to threaten them with instant death if they did not obey him. He fastened the rope round Mallitz and gave the signal to pull. McField dived into the water along with his man. In his fright Mallitz entangled himself in the hatchway, and precious time was lost in freeing him. When they reached the surface Mallitz was unconscious, and McField more dead than alive.

They pulled Mallitz aboard but McField would not follow. As soon as the rope was free he took it in his teeth and went under, found the hatch and entered the cabin. Ovando was almost uncontrollable with fear and exhaustion, but McField finally secured him with the rope, and gave the signal to pull up. This time the trip was made without accident, and both men were drawn on board. All the men were saved.

The United States government awarded McField a medal and a sum of money in gold, and the Royal Humane Society of Great Britain gave him a medal of silver.

XXV.
THE ROAD TO SUCCESS.

The world is constantly looking for the man who knows the most, and it pays little regard to those who are proficient in the usual degree in the same things. One must excel, or, in other words, know more than his associates in order to succeed notably. The world will bid high for you if you know more than other men.