Part 4 (1/2)
A child's frank envy of the privileges and distinctions of its elders is often a delicately flattering attention and the reverse of unwelcome, but someti it to be placed Once, when Susy was seven, she sat breathlessly absorbed in watching a guest of ours adorn herself for a ball The lady was charentle admiration; and was happy in it And when her pretty labors were finished, and she stood at last perfect, unilory, she paused, confident and expectant, to receive fro in her eyes Susy drew an envious little sigh and said:
”I wish _I_ could have crooked teeth and spectacles!”
Once, when Susy was sixone day in the presence of company, which subjected her to criticism and reproof Afterward, when she was alone with her mother, as was her custom she reflected a little while over the matter Then she set up what I think--and what the shade of Burns would think--was a quite good philosophical defence
”Well, mamma, you know I didn't see myself, and so I couldn't kno it looked”
In homes where the near friends and visitors are ymen--the children's ears become early familiarized ide vocabularies It is natural for them to pick up any words that fall in their way; it is natural for the and little ones indiscriminately; it is natural for them to use without fear any word that comes to their net, no matter how formidable it may be as to size As a result, their talk is a curious and funny musketry clatter of little words, interrupted at intervals by the heavy artillery crash of a word of such iround and rattle the s So idea of a hich it has picked up by chance, and attaches to it awhich impairs its usefulness--but this does not happen as often as one ht expect it would Indeed, it happens with an infrequency which ood fortune with her large words, and she employed many of them She made no ht so to happen (but it didn't), she was racked and torn with laughter, by anticipation But, apparently, she still felt sure of her position, for she said, ”If it had happened, I should have been transforlee”
And earlier, when she was a little maid of five years, she informed a visitor that she had been in a church only once, and that was the time when Clara was ”crucified” [christened]
In Heidelberg, when Susy was six, she noticed that the Schloss gardens were populous with snails creeping all about everywhere One day she found a new dish on her table and inquired concerning it, and learned that it was made of snails She ed and impressed, and said:
”Wild ones, htful and considerate of others--an acquired quality, no doubt No one seems to be born with it One hot day, at home in Hartford, when she was a little child, her mother borrowed her fan several times (a japanese one, value five cents), refreshed herself with it a moment or two, then handed it back with a word of thanks Susy knew her mother would use the fan all the ti a deprivation upon its owner She also knew that her mother could not be persuaded to do that A relief ot five cents out of her money-box and carried it to Patrick, and asked him to take it don (ait hohtfully and delicately was the exigency met and the mother's comfort secured It is to the child's credit that she did not save herself expense by bringing down another and more costly kind of fan from up-stairs, but was content to act upon the impression that her mother desired the japanese kind--content to acco about the wisdom or unwisdom of it
Sometimes, while she was still a child, her speech fell into quaint and strikingly expressive fored nine or ten--she came to her mother's roo in the nursery, and asked if shefor the nurse Her ly
”Well, no, mamma It is a weary, lonesome cry”
It is a pleasure to me to recall various incidents which reveal the delicacies of feeling that were so considerable a part of her budding character Such a revelation came once in a hich, while creditable to her heart, was defective in another direction She was in her eleventh year then Herthe Christmas purchases, and she allowed Susy to see the presents which were for Patrick's children A was painted; also, in gilt capitals, the word ”Deer” Susy was excited and joyous over everything, until she came to this sled Then she became sober and silent--yet the sled was the choicest of all the gifts Her mother was surprised, and also disappointed, and said:
”Why, Susy, doesn't it please you? Isn't it fine?”
Susy hesitated, and it was plain that she did not want to say the thing that was in her ly out:
”Well, ood deal--but--but--why should that bethat she was not understood, she reluctantly pointed to that word ”Deer” It was her orthography that was at fault, not her heart She had inherited both from her mother
MARK TWAIN
(_To be Continued_)
NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW
No DCI
OCTOBER 19, 1906
CHAPTERS FROM MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY--IV