UTILISING SISTERS.

Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 41, 16 August 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

UTILISING SISTERS.

(From the New York Times.) The West Philadelphia small-boy who launched his sister from the second-storey window, equipped with a pair of wings and an open umbrella, deserves a great deal ot credit in spite of the failure of his experiment. There is a popular idea that the ordinary amall-boy is lacking in caution. This is an error. The small-boy is pre-eminently cautious. Look for a moment at his attitude towards the parachute. It is one of the traditions of small-boyhood that anyone can safely jump from the top of the church steeple if he hold an open umbrella in his hand. No boy doubts that this is strictly true, but where is the small boy who has ever entrusted his neck to an umbrella parachute 1 Now and then a small-boy borrows an umbrella and in strict privacy tries the experiment of jumping from a fence with an umbrella in his hand but the utmost urgency on the part of comrades can never induce him to try the experiment from a second-storey window. The small-boy is willing and anxious that others should incur great risks in almost any cause, but he is very slow to risk his own personal neck. There is not the least doubt that the West Philadelphia small-boy firmly believed that his sister, when buoyed up with an umbrella and provided with turkey's wings, could fly. Indeed, he even now attributes her failure to accomplish anything except the fracture of her leg, to her foolish omission to flap her wings. Still, with the caution characteristic of his kind, he himself did not try to fly. He is evidently an earnest student of science, and only those who are grossly ignorant of the characteristics of the small-boy will for a moment class him with reckless mischief-makers. The remarkable thing in connection with the West Philadelphia siuallboy's experiment is the evidence which it affords that at least one small-boy has discovered that a sister can be made use of in scientific experiments. The utter and complete uselessness of young sisters has always been recognised as an axiomatic truth by small-boys. Now and then a grown-up sister has redeeming traits, and is reasonably useful in helping her brother to escape the paternal rod. But a younger sister has always been thought to be beneath notice. If, however, sisters can be made available in scientific researches—if they can be used in experiments like that tried by the West Philadelphia small-boy—they will suddenly acquire importance. It will be conceded in' time that a sister may have some slight excuse for being, and that although she can never be taught to

fight, to etijoy int-lcWing, or 'to"<"iigrtge in any other lvnlly manly occupation, she limy, in the hands of :m able brother, be made useful up to a certain point. Hardly anyone except a Bmall-boy can appreciate the boldness displayed by the youthful West Philadelphiau philosopher in utilising a sister. It is point of honour among small-boys to have no dealings with sisters, aud the small-boy who remains at homo to play with his sister is an object of great scorn and unanimous derision. Here, however, we have a small-boy who, careless of public juvenile opinion, undertook, in his own home, and in the company of no one except his sister, an important scientific experiment. Bis was the boldness of the true student of science. He was ready to accept, in his search after scientific truth, the assistance of even a very small sister. It Is probable that if sisters should be used to any great extent as aids in investigating tho problems of juvenile science, the wear and tear aud general waste of sisters would be very large. The small boy attaches so little value to a sister that he cannot be expected to handle her with the utmost care. Still, sisters should be satisfied with the honour of these recognitions at the hands of small boys, and should bear breakages and death with fortitude sufficient to compel even a small boy's admiration.