OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 767, 12 November 1886, Page 5

OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

MOTHERS IDEA.

Mr Atherton has been the master of the Centreville Academy ever since I can remember. A few months ago, ® we .J er> - •was offered a better position in the city, and he decided to leave Centreville. Wc were very sorry, for we all liked him ; and no that he has left, it really seems as. if a part of the building itself had been taking away. We were to have a public examination during the last two days of his stay, and Florence Grantley had thought of a beautiful project. She always has good ideas, though 1 must say they are generally expensive. But then her father is rich, and I suppose *he never has to think twice before spending a dollar, as some of us are obliged to do. Her plan was to buy an album, put all our pictures in it, and present it to Mr Atherton before the company, after he had closed the school. The girls wished me to make the presentation address. Of course I was enthusiastic about it, and went home ' ing over what I should say and should wear, and all that. There are fifteen girls in our class, and Florence said she Knew of a lovely album, one we wouldn’t be ashamed to give him. It would cost only eleven dollars and twenty-five cents ; and that, you see, would be only seventy.five cents a-piece. I went in to dinner full of the new project, and began to talk about it at the table. But Father vetoed it at once. He said he didn’t believe in it at all, It would be too expensive for some of us, and he did not wish to hear another word about it. When Father takes that tone, of course there’s no more to be said. I am too o.d to cry before everybody, but I didn t wish any more dinner, and as soon as possible I went up to my room and had a good cry. Mother came upstairs as quickly as she could. I knew she would. Mother is a born comforter. Ob, what do girls do who have no mother ? She told me I must remember how hard Father had to work for every dollar, and that although what he said sometimes sounded harsh, it was only because his business troubles made him worry, and it added to them to have us wish for things he felt he couldn’t afford. Dear Mother I wonder if she ever wishes for things she d °Then ? Itold Mother all about it; that it was not merely that one plan, but that I could never join in any project that came up. All the other girls had birthday parties and I went, but never gave one in return. Of course I don’t expect that, said I, feehng a little eonscience-striken, as I saw the look on Mother’s face. ‘ Birthdays are so common in this family, of course we can t notice them; but I thought this time we had found something Father could sympathize with He so often speaks of Mr Atherton, and the respect he has for him—but of course that s all over now. If I can’t, I can’t ; it does seem hard though never to do as the others d °‘ I know it, child,’ Mother said, softly touching my hair. ‘Many things are: hard Tou are old enough now to know a little oE the life of your elders,’ she went on; and you must remember that it is absolute necessity, and not lack of sympa y> forces Papa to say no, as he sometimes d °« Well, if he would only soften it a little,’ I couldn’t help saying. * A blunt no is a great deal harder to bear.’ ‘ I know, dear,’ Mother said, with a sigh ; < but Father thinks he does what is best. ‘ ‘ But what can I say. Mother. Imust let * them know I can’t contribute. This very afternoon they’ll all be talking of it. «Tell them nothing positively, bay as little as possible; and give me time to At this, my mind was relieved immediately. I was sure the trouble would somehow end in just the right way, though I knew Mother couldn’t squeeze the money from the housekeeping allowance, even if she could think it right to do so after what * Father had said. But I had faith that Mother would manage for me, so I went to school, feeling very confident, and said as little as possible. s That night Mother came to my room and told me to invite all of my class to spend Thursday evening with us. ‘ You know Grandpa sent us a barrel of apples, she said, ‘a bushel of nuts, and some corn to pop. May be I’ll make a cake or two, and the coffee will not cost much. Fortunately, we have dishes enough. That will onset the birthday parties a little, and make you have a good time, too. If you know any really pice boys, invite, them, and may be Papa 11 get out his violin, and you can have a little You see, Mother was a. girl herself once. She doesn’t forget her feelings, and she talks over such things with me just as though she were another girl. Of course I was only too delighted to obey, but still, I must confess, although it was very nice, it didn t help me out of the real difficulty a bit. It gave the girls something fresh to talk about, however ; and as it would be three weeks before Mr Atherton would leave, the subject of his present dropped out of sight for a few days. But that matter of the boys troubled me a great deal. We girls are all about fourteen and fifteen, and really, while we are almost joung ladies, boys at that age are very boy-

ish. They don’t know what to do with their hands, nor how to ask one to dance, nor to do anything nicely. I mean the generality of boys ; of course my brothers do, but then they have had Mamma to train them, and sisters to practice with ever since they were little, which, of course, makes a difference. If it were not that I hated to give up the dancing, and if it wasn’t such a bother to dance with a girl with a handkerchief tied on her arm—because she keeps forgetting she is a boy, and taking the wrong hand and everything is put out—l! should have given up the idea of asking any boys. Again I flew to my never-failing refuge in time of trouble, and Mother drew out her needle slowly from the stocking she was darning, and began to consider the matter.

* Yon see, Mother, it isn’t a grand affair, but I want it to be as pleasant a time of its kind as possible, and a lot of awkward boys would just spoil it.’ ‘ Now, don't decry the boys, my dsar ; they are a very good institution in their place.’

* Yes, indeed, but their place is sliding downhill, or skating, not in a girl’s party trying to be agreeable ; and they have sense enough to know it. You know jmurself how impossible it is to get Joe to go anywhere with me, and he is a model of politeness; compared with most of his associates.’

‘ Well, it wouldn’t be quite fair to punish the boys, and girls, too, in trying to amuse them,’ Mother replied. ‘There are boy 3 enough who would be interested in this little gathering of yours. There are those three lads at the Minister’s, who are fitting themselves for college. They are not more than sixteen years old, and ought not to be above a little informal party. Besides, Mrs Grey told me she wished they knew some people who would make their stay pleasanter for them. Then there is young Mr Adams, at Dr. Preston’s, I know he would come, and his mother wrote me, asking me to be good to him.’

‘ Oh, what a dear mother you are, that puts the success of the thing beyond doubt!’ ‘ There are'four good names, then,, to start with,’ said Mother ; ‘and fthose, with John and Sam, Father’s young friends, will be a good beginning. As for the rest, let the girls themselves invite them ; there’s nothing like making people responsible for the success of a thing.’ Well, the Dext day being Wednesday I took the class into my confidence, and between us all we made out a list of gentlemanly and agreeable boy-friends ; but the four that Mother took it upon herself to invite were the best of all.

Well, every one came ; not one of the thirty was missing. Through all Father’s troubles, we had kept our house, because Mother’s father gave it to her when she married. It was a large old-fashioned house with a wide hall that went right through it; two sets could dance there and one in each parlor. When I was tired, Mother took my place at the piano ; and with Father at the violin we had. as good music as one could wish for dancing. All the girls wore their best dresses, but without finery, and everything went off beautifully. At eleven we had our simple refreshments. Mother had cut up a sheet of mottoes and scattered them among the popped corn, aud they made ever so much fun. When that was over and we were standing about before beginning anything else, Father suddenly spoke up, saying that there was a little matter to which he would like to call attention ; he supposed that the masculine, portion of his audience would hardly be thrilled, but the girls, he kuew, would be deeply interested. Then he went on to say that there had been some talk among the young ladies of getting up a surprise present for their teacher, and that ’an album had been spoken of; but he said he had a scheme that seemed to him much better. Then he brought out a sheet of Bristol board,, beautifully ornamented with scroll work, and handsomely engrossed upon it was a set of resolutions saying how sorry we were that Mr Atherton was going to leave, how much we had profited by hi 3 stay with us, and expressing our best wishes for his future. I don’t, of course, give all this in Father’s words, but after he had read the testimonial, he made a capital, witty speech. Then he called on us to sign the testimonial if we approved it. He told us, too, that he could have the sheet nicely framed for three dollars, which would involve a cost of only twenty cents to each subscriber : and he would venture to say that Mr Atherton would be even better pleased with the testimonial proposed than with something more expensive. Of course it * took 5 immediately ; all the girls were delighted, and signed it there and theD, in their very best handwriting, and most of them paid their twenty cents at once. We empowered Father to have it framed, and they voted that I should make the presentation. But the fact that Father had entered into it so well and done so much just for my pleasure touched me more than all. I knew that he had given a great deal ol attention to ornamental penmanship, but [ had no idea he could make so handsome a scroll as that testimonial. I always knew, of course, that Father loved his children. If any of us are sick, he is as tender as a woman ; and he daily makes all manner of sacrifices for us ; but here he showed that he had a great deal of sympathy with all our hopes and plans. Of course, with the cake and coffee and everything, the entertainment cost more than my contribution and picture would have done, but it seems that Mother had been planning for some time to do something for me which should help me pay my party obligations, and that was not the only time when she proved that she has ‘ the happy faculty of common sense,’ as Father says. I do believe my little party was more talked about than those of many of the other girls, though they cost many times as much money as did mine. Well, examination day came, and when I presented the testimonial to Mr Atherton, though I said only a word or two, he could hardly speak at all, and he told Father afterward that we couldn’t have pleased him better. It seems that he had heard some whispers about a present, and had a fear that it was going to be something expensive, and felt troubled about it ; for, as be told Father, he couldn’t refuse a thing before it was offered him, and he didn’t know what to

do ; but the testimonial he could accept with real pleasure and satisfaction. You can hardly imagine what a different position I have occupied in school since that affair. I was never really unpopular, hut I was seldom appealed to. Now, however, I am consulted about everything, and my opinion has a great deal of weight with the girls.—But I know where the honor really belongs, and I always say it is because Father so well carried out Mother’s idea.