AN OBJECT LESSON.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9162, 20 July 1895, Page 2

AN OBJECT LESSON.

By John Kbndbics Bangs. It was early in tho autumn. Mr and Mrs Perkins, with their two hopefuls, had . returned from a month of rest at the mountains, and the question of school foi Tharideus junior came up. " He is nearly six years old," said Be88le» " and I think he is quite intelligent enough to go to school, don't you ?" " Well, if, you want my honest opinion," Thadaeus answered, "I think be'fl intelligent enough to go without school for another year at least. I don't want a hot bouse boy, and I have always been opposed to forcing these little minds that we are called upon by circumstances to direct. It aeems to mc that the thing for us to do U te hold them back,- if anything. If Teddj goes to school now, he'll be ready foi College when be is twelve. He'll bi graduated at sixteen, and at twenty he'll be practising law. At twenty-flve he'll b« leader of the bar; and then—what will there be left for him to achieve at fifty I Absolutely nothing. Mrs Perkins laughed, " You havo greftt hopes of Teddy, haven't you ? " "Certainly I have," Thaddeua replied}. " and why shouldn't I f Doesn't he combine all my good qualities plus yourst How can he be anything else than great?" " I em afraid there's a touch of vanity In you," said Mrs Perkins .with a smile, " That remark certainly indicates it." "No—it's no, vanity Jα mc," s»H Thaddeua "It's confidence Iα you, You'vre assured mo 10 often of m] t perfection that I am beginning to bellev* in it; and as for your perfection I'vi always believed In it. Hence, whetf I see Teddy combining your perfect qualities with my own, 1 regard him as a supernaturally promising person—that Is, I do until he begins to how the influence of contract with tat » hired man, and uses language which hi - never got from you or from mc." " Granting that he ia great at twenty, five," eaid Mrs Perkins, after a few moments' reflection," is that such a boriblc thing?" " It Isn't for the parents of the successful youth, but for the successful yoatb himself It's something awful," returned : Thaddeua, with a convincing shake of the head. " If no one ever lived beyond the age of thiry-flve itt wouldn't be so bad, bub think of living to bo even so young as sixty with a big reputation to sustain through more than halt of that period! I wouldn't . warst to have to sustain a big name tot twenty-five years. Success entaili conaplcuousneaa, aad eonepicuousness makes error almost a crime. Put yoP» mind on It for a moment. Think ol Teddy here. How nervous it Would make him in everything he undertook to feel that the eyes of the world were apon him; and take Into consideration that other peculiarity of human nature which leads us all, you and mc as well as every one else, to believe that tho man who does not progress Iβ coing backwards/ that there is no such thing 6* standing still; then think of a man illustrfow enough for 70 at 25-at the limit o! •. • success, with all those yearn before him and no progress possible t No, my. deafc - Dan'fc let's talk of school for Teddy yet.^ " 1 am sure I don't want to force him," said Mm Perkins, "bnt It sometimes seemt to mc that he needs leeeons in discipline. I can't be after him all the time, and it eeemt to mc some days that I do nothing but find fault with bi<o» I don't want him to think I'm a stem mother; and when he tells mc, ac he die _ yesterday, that he wishes I'd take » vacation for a month. I cants blame him." " Did he tell you that ?" asked Tα addeoe, . with a chuckle. "Yes, he did," replied Mrs Perkins. I'd kept him in a chair for an hour because he would tease Tommy, and when finally Hβ* ■ him go I told him that he was wearing nw out with his naughtiness. About an hour later he came back and said, * You have »n awful bard time bringin' mc up, don't you* I eald yes, and added that he might spare mc the necessity of aoolding him so offiefli .__ to which he replied that he'd try, buß fchouKhb it would be better if I'd take e> vacation for a month. Hβ hadn't mucb hope for his own improveiuent." Thaddeus shook internally. " He's perfectly wild, too, at times," M« Perkins continued. " He wants to do such fearful tblnge. I caught him sliding dowa

the balusters yesterday head foromoit, and you know hovr he was nt the Profile House all summer long. Perfectly irrepressible." "That's Tcry true," si;id Thaddeiis. "1 wftS Npenkiiiß of i! to the doctor up there , , ( od a*ke:l what lift thought I'd better do." "A»d what did he oay t" asked Mri Pfikiiis. "lie sta'cd hi? llmi belief lhafc there wa» nothing ynu or I cuiWi do to %.-t him do*" to a >ja»ii. bji thought Magcnbeck ,ni«t>t .".c onipli-ih some! binj;." "No doubc lie thought thaf," cried jjjjjkl.. "No doubt everybody thought tint; bat it. wasn't entirely Teddy'a f;iul'. If 'h-re in anything in the world that is vvcii c.uciikvt'd to d<MHor::li*a an t,ciirs> iiiimi' (J, able bodied child if. H hotel life. 'iVdrl*' »'hs fjiijed cij to all sorts of indiectsU" , " o hy evervhndy in the hotel, from t l,e holi bovH t;p. If he'd etoad on his bead o;i '1.-c cashier's Oesk, the cashier would lnUtfh first, and l.h«n to got rid of him would euagoet that he go into the tiiulnz-j-CJi" * n( * Pa ? vy ith the head waiter ; and w [,fn he upset the contents of bin bait h:?x In Mr* llaikaway'ri lap, she interfered w hen I scolded him, and «aid she liked it •\Vliit can you do vrlien people talk that wet ?" "Get him to upseb lite btifc box in her jap again," said Thaddeuv. "I think if he had been encouraged to do that as a regular thing every morning for a week, she'd have changed her tune." "Well, it all goes to prove one thing," said Mrs Perkins, "and that is, Teddy needs more care than we can Rive him personally. We are too lenient. Whenever jou etarfc in to punish him it ends up •with a game ; when I do it and ho aays ■omelhlng funny, as ha alway3 doe 3, I have to Jaufth." "Host about the ounce of pri'venlion Idea?" eusrK'eittd Thaddcue. " We've let him go without a nurse for a year now, why can't we employ a muld to look after him—net to boas him ground, but to keep an eye on him—to advise him, and in case tie declines to accept the advica to com* inuulcate with ua at once? All he needs is directed occupation. Aβ he Is at present he directs his own occupation, with the result that the things he docs are of an Iroposilble aort." "That means another servant for mc to manage," sighed Mra Perkins. "True—hut—a servant i* easier to noanaße than Teddy. You can discharge « servant If. she becomes impossible. We're got Teddy for keeps," said Thaddeu«. •," v"cry well—so bs it," said Mrs Perkins. "You are right, I guas», about school. He's too bright to be forced, and I"d be worried about him all the time lie vras j •nroy." And so ifc was decided that Teddy ehonld have a nurse, and for a day or two I the aubjeet waa dropped. Later on Mre Ferkln3 reopened it. "I've been thinkinp; all day about Tedrij'e nuree, Thaddeus," she said one evening after dinner. "I think it would be nice if we got him a French nurse. Then ho could loam French without any forcing." "Good scheme," said Thaddeut. "I approve of that. Wβ might lccrn a little French from her ouracl res." | "That's what I thought," said Bessie, I and that point was decided. The new nuree was to be French and the happy parents drew beatific visions of the ease i with which they ehonld some day cope wUb Peristal) hotel keepers nnrl others in that longed-for period when they should find themselves able, financially, to visit \ the French capital. Bat ! "Ah! Those but a that come into onr lives! Conjunctions they are called 1 Are they nob rather terminals} Are they not the forerunner of chaos in the best laid plane of mankind ? If for every ", but '* that destroy* pur plan of action there were ready alwayaeomo better succeeding plan, then might tfielr conjunctive force eeom more potent •; as life goes, unhappily,. they are not always bo provided, and the Eng-' ll»h " but" takes on its Gallic aiftniQcauce, | which leads the Frenchman to define it as meaning >" the end. ,. There was an object lesson Iα store for the Perkinses. ! On the Sunday following the discussion with which this story opeiiH the Perkinses, always hospitable, though distinctly unsociable ao far as the returning of visits went r received a visit from their friends the Bradieys, Ordinarily a Visit from one's town friends is no very great undertaking for a suburban host or hoatesa, bat when the town friends hate (children from Whom they are inseparable, and ' have riiareee vrha, jwhither- '•; lafve^ go. (to there also, euch f- proportions the stupendw It being myself a 1 en't&taincr, would prefer.uot to lesfe some of my friends ! * ; yUii,:, families, recalling these words, ; . 1 inlght consider my remarks of a personal ! nature, Let'tie be content with saying, ( therefore, that when tho Bradleys, Mr and \Mra, plus Master and Miss, plus Harriet, the English nurse, came to visit the Perkins homestead that Sunday it was a momentous occasion far the host and , hostess, and furthermore, like many t ft&other momentous occasion, wae far teaching in its results. In short, it provided the Perkins family with that object lesson to which If have already allude*. '. Theßradleys arrived on Saturday night, •ndet they came late, little Harry Bradley tad the slill smaller Jennie Bradley were tired, and hence not at all responsive to the welcomes of the Perkinses, large •nd email. They were excessively reticent. - When Mre Perkins, kneeling before Matter Harry, asked him the wholly ttaneceaaary question, " Why, Is this Harry V he refused totally to reply, t tor could the diminutive Jennie be induced to say anything but "Vamps ,, in rteponse to a similar question put to her, M Tumpe" being, It is to be presumed, a jttvenillsm for "Yes, ma'am." Hence it ■ was that the object lesson did not begin to ; . dwelop until breakfast on Sunday morn- . ln«f. The first step In the lesson was . itiken at that important meal, when Waaler Harry observed, in stentorian yet *weetly soprano tones, " H'l wants a glarse o* milk.* To which his nurse, standing behind his Chair to relieve the Perkinses' maid of the necessity of looking after tho Bradley hopefuls replied: '"Ush, *Arry, 'nahl Wite till yer •rskod." Mrs Bradley nodded approval to Harriet, and observed to Mrs Perkins that Harriett was such a treasure; she kept the children so well in subjection. The incident passed without making any Impression upaa the minds of any but Thftddeus junior, who, taking his cue from Harry, vociferously asserted that he too *Wied a glass of milk, and in such terms as made the assertion tantamount to an ttltlmatttm. Then Miss Jennie seemed to think it. *m her turn. ■ "H'l don't care for slike. H'l wants • Shickin," said she. " I'n't there goin , ter fcnoklkee?" Mrs Perkins laughed, though I strongly jospect that Thaddeus junior would have i wen tent from the table had he ventured » *• express a similar sentiment. Mrs f J blushed; Bradley looked severe; / P'rkine had that expression which all n i P*ents have when other people's children ' . *w involved, and which Implies the th oight, "If you were mine there'd be . troible, but since you are not mine, how *t»nUng you are!" But Harriet, the *«», met the problem. Said she: "fjpper , * goin , ter have etike, Jlnnie; to, jbj Mr Perkine 'il give yer lote o *nn Hit Isn't time for the kike«." Perljps I oughb to cay here to those

who have nofc studied dialect as "she is spoke" that the word m'yby is the Seven Dbla idiom for m*ybe, itself more or lea* an Americanism, signifying "peihapV while "kikes" ia a contiovertiblc term for cake. Arter breakfast, as a matter of couree, th« senior members of both families attended divine service ; then came dinner, and after dinner the uiual matching of the children came. The horefols of were matched r.gain&t tl;e acion-i of brad ley. All four were brought down stairs aud into the parental presence iv the library. " Four Harry i<? a fine fellow, Mra Bradley," said Thaddeus. "Yea, we think Harry is a very nice boy," returned Mr,-, Bradler, with a fond glauce at the youth. "Wot djer si about mc, mar?" asked Harry. " Notliiug, dear," replied Mrs Bradley, raising her eyebrows reprovingly. " Ye, yer did, too," retorted Harry " Yer s id as 'o«r h'l were a good boy." " Well, 'c isn't, then," interjected Jennie. '"Es a bloorniu' mean un. *E took aknoife an'cot open mc doll." " 'Usb, Jinnie, 'ush !" put in the nurse. "Dan't yer tell tiles on 'Arry. 'E didn'c mean ter 'urt yer doll. Twaa a haxident." " No, 'twasn't a haxident," said Jennie. U 'E done it a-purpice." " Well, wot if hi did ?" retorted Harry. "Didn't yer pull the tile off mc rockin' orse ? " '•Well, never mind," said Bradley, seeing how strained things were getting. " Don't quarrel about it now. It's all done and gone, and I dare say you were both a little to blame." *• H'l warn't," said Harry, and then the subject was dropped. The children romped iv and out through the library and halls for some time, and the Bradley.-; aud Perkinses compared notes on various paints of interest to both. Afcer a while they «gain reverted to the subject of their children. "Does Harry go to school?" asked Bessie. " No, we think he's too young yet," returned Mrs Bradley. "Ha learns a little of something every day from Harriet, who is really a very superior girl. Siie is a good servant. She hasn't been in thin country very long, and is English to the core, as you've probably noticed, not only iv her way of comporting herself, buo in her accent." " Yes, I've observed It," said Bessie. " What does she teach him? " '■ Oi, abe tells him stories that are more or leHH instructive, and she reads to him. She's taught him oue or two pretty little songs—ballads, you know—too. Harry has a sweet little voice. Harry, dear, won't you Ring that song about Mrs Henry Hawkins for mamma?" . j " Doa't warn't ter," said Harry. " HTm I sick o , that bloomin' old aong." "Seems to mc I've beard it," said Thaddeue. "As I remember it, Harry, it was very pretty." "It is," said Bradley. " It's the one you mean—' Oh, Lizar I dear Lizar ! '—Mrs { 'Enry 'Awkin*. Harry sings ie well, too ; but I cay, Thad., you ought to boar the \ nurse sing it. It's great." " I should think it might be." "She has the accent down fine, you know." "Sort of born to it, eh?" "Yea, you can't cultivate that accent and get it just right." j "HTII do 'Dear old Dutch* for yer," i suggested Harry. " H'l likes thet better'n j Mrs 'Awkins." So Harry deserted Mrs 'Awkins and sang that other pathetic coster ballad, "Dear Old Dutch," and to the credit of Harriet, the nurse, it must be said thai he was marvellously well instructed. It could not have been done better had the small vocalist been the own eon of a London coetermonger instead of tbe scion of an American family of refinement. Thus tho day pasted. Jenny proved herself quite aaproflcient in the dialect of Seven Dials as wae Harriet, and when she coneanfed^WJW^S , on a chair and recite » '*^|a^^*?7^'-}y.' uß9 » there waa not an UpTt she did not eooner or later abd attach to somo other word as she alonf?. - ' r , Iα ehort:, iw far as their' Speech, twesM concerned, thanks to association with Harriet, Jennie and Harry, were ac perfect little cockneys as ever ignored an aspirate. The visit of the Bradleye, like aU oifejtr thing*, came to an end, aud Beasle,lj|i«wldeue, and the children were once more lefc to themselves. Teddy junior, it was observed, after his day with Harry, developed a ftlight tendency to misplace the letter h in his conversation, but it Was coon corrected, and things ran smoothly as of yore. Oniy—the Only being the natural sequence of the But referred to | some time since—Mr and Mrs Perkina changed their minds about the French j nurse, and it came about this way: j «'Thaddeue," said Bessie, after the Bradleya bad departed, "whatis the tile of a rocking horse ?" j "I don't know. Wiir?" asked Thaddeus. " Why. don't you remember," said she, " youus Harry Bradley accused Jennie of pulling out the tile of his rocking horse V ' " Ob, yea 1 Ha, ha 1" laughed Thaddeus. "So he did. I know now. Tile is cockney for tail." "Did yon notice the accent those children had V "Yej." ♦• All got from the nurse, tdof* "True." •• Ah—Teddy—what do yon think of our getting a French maid, after all ? Don't you think that w'd run a great risk I" "Olwhatr "Of having Ted eoeak—er— cockney French." ; • " H'm—yes. Very likely," said Thad-, deus. " I'd thought of that, and I guess we'd better stick to Irish." "Sodo I. We can correct any tendency to a brague, don't you think f " "Certainly," said Thaddeue. "Or, If we couldn't), it wouldn't be fatal to the boy's prospects. It might even help him if "Help him? If whatf "If he ever went into politics, ,, said Perkina. And that was the object leaeon which a kindly fate gave to tho Perkinses ia time to prevent their engaging a French maid for the children. As to its value as a lesson, as to tbe value of its results, those who are familiar with French a» spoken by nurae instructed youths can best judge. • I am not familiar with that or any other kind of French, but I have ideas In the matter.— Harper'a Baxaar.