OUR YOUNG FOLKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1754, 4 July 1885, Page 27

OUR YOUNG FOLKS.

Tlic riock and the Children.

"Yes,- I've been very strict with those children," said tho Bronze Clock io the China Shepherdess, who stood near him on the mantelpiece, holding up a well-shnpeJ vase, " but it's the only way to train a largo family like this." " I'm Hiiro you've done wonders with thorn," said tin; {Shepherdess, who thought the (/lock tho wisest person in the world. '• Well, I've done my best," said tho Clock, modestly, "and I must say they are very regular in their habits ; but I htill find it necessary to be firm. When a whole household looks up to you and depends on you, it doesn't do to let down for a single minute." " No, indeed !" said the Shepherdess. " Sometimes they seem to think I ought to. When bedtime comes the children look imploringly at me, begging to bo allowed to stay a little longer, and then mamma looks to see what 1 think about it ; but I set my face very rigidly, and point straight at the hour. It's a matter of principle with mo.'' " I see !" said the Shepherdess, Avith an admiring murmur. " I've had some trouble* with Ben. He's a lazy little fellow, and it's really amusing to see the look of dismay he gives me when he hurries down lale to breakfast. I fix a stern glance upon him, and mamma knows I won't stand any trifling, for she lets everything else go to get him off to school at exactly the time I have always insisted upon." " So much cave, must be a great tax on you," said the Shepherdess. >l Of course, for 1 have to bo on the alert night and day. Bridget peeps in the lirst thing in the morning to see if I think she is up early enough, and the master never goes to his most important business appointments without consulting me." " They never could get along without you in the world," exclaimed the Shepherdess. The Clock thought so too, and became every day more filled with the idea »f his own consequence. He was so possessed with the feeling that the wKble family were made to move at his command that he was astonished when the oldest boy began paying less heed bo the timehonoured go-to-bed hour of the children, and felt a growing sense of insulted dignity, as this irregularity seemed to increase in the household as the years went on. " What are they thinking of?" he said to his friend, the Shepherdess, who was in warm sympathy with him, and deeply resented the slights cast upon him. "Do they imagine, they can live without my directing? If they do, I must teach them thoir mistake some day. I'll stop !" " Oh, dear !" cried the Shepherdess, in great distress. " It's dreadful, 1 know, to be so treated after such years' of faithiul service, but don't do anything so desperate as that! What would become of them ?" But the Clock wore a severe face as the school hour — so long regarded with awe, as he day by day pointed to it with an unbending hand — came at last to be entirely neglected, and an angry clang crept into the tinkle with which he told the hour when good nights always used to be said, and no one noticed either look or tone. One evening a merry company of boys and girls gathered, and lsiugh and chat and music sounded, while the Clock grew crosser and crosser, until he at length rang out eleven strokes bsfore quiet fell on the house. " I can't stand this any longer," he declared, very decidedly. " The time has come when this family must look out for itself." He stopped ticking, and the poor little Shepherdess waited in terror for the ruin she felt sure must follow. It seemed to begin at once, for everybody got up late the next morning, and there was some disorder and confusion, at which the Clock rejoiced. But before night things were running as usual, and mamma said, " I must have forgotten to wind the Clock." She did it ; but he was so angry at having created so small a sensation that he at once stopped again. Then he was sent away for repairs. " Are all the family alive still ?" he a°ked the Shepherdess when he was brought back aud set up in his old place. " Yes," she said. " And have they regular meals every day ?" "Yes." He sulked and held hi* );v '"• for at least fifteen minutes. This, of coiu\m j , .> it him back, which he soon had the comfort of >jeing caused annoyance and perplexity among tliose who still looked up to him in confidence. Being set right he worked himself into such a state'of crabbedness that ho gained nearly half an hour. " Serves them right !" he snarled, seeing with delight how muph discomfort he caused. " Now they are beginning tp see that I am a person not to be trifled with." But qne day the master said : " This Clock is worn out. It no Ipnger keeps gqod time." 'f And it's gong must be cracked," said somebody else, '.' for its ring is so harsh I cannot bear to hear it." " Carry it up tq the garret." It was placed upon a sholf with its face to the wall. It ran down, and its tick remained silent and its strolce was hushed. 'No bright eyes looked up to it, and no one listened for its voice. Rust and dust and decay settled upon it, sad reminders that the, Bronze Clock's days of usefulness wore over. — Sydney Dark.

— Antonio Boyno, a professor of languages hi TMroit, threw Mibhuric acid at a pretty ' -' 1 « '-^irl who hn 1 p'ayod a trick upon him. Htv clothing was ruined, but the liquid burned tho face of another woman, disfiguring her for life. — On the afternoon of May 2 a loud detonation was heard from Mount Vesuvius, and two new craters, from which lava issued, were observed on the southern side at a height of about 200 metres above the upper station qf the funicular railway. The lava' flowed in the direction bit P.ompeii and Torre del Greco. The stream descended in a straight line for about half a kilometre, and then, turning sideways, was dirocted towards' the crater of JS^.