Part 23 (1/2)

Jean and Papa alking out past the barn the other day when Jean saw some little newly born baby ducks, she exclaiives us so much ducks when Patrick kills thein of the ducks They were not a gift, I bought the fault with her, for that would be most unfair She is remarkably accurate in her statements as a historian, as a rule, and it would not be just to make much of this small slip of hers; besides I think it was a quite natural slip, for by heredity and habit ours was a religious household, and it was a coive the credit of it to Providence, without exaion--in fact that is what it is; it is so used to its work that it can do it without your help or even your privity; out of all the facts and statistics that et the one result, since it has never been taught to seek any other It is thus the unreflecting cause of much injustice As we have seen, it betrayed Susy into an injustice toward me It had to be auto ht rapher, and sheher now, but a in advance an erroneous impression which her words would be sure to convey to a reader's mind No elaboration of this matter is necessary; it is sufficient to say _I_ provided the ducks

It was in Hartford The greensward sloped down-hill froh the grounds, and Patrick, as fertile in good ideas, had early conceived the idea of having ho he drove them from the stable down to the river, and the children were always there to see and adain at sunset to see Patrick conduct the procession back to its lodgings in the stable

But this was not always a gay and happy holiday shoith joy in it for the witnesses; no, too frequently there was a tragedy connected with it, and then there were tears and pain for the children There was a stranded log or two in the river, and on these certain faate and drowse in the sun and give thanks, in their dumb way, to Providence for benevolence extended to them It was but another instance ofducks that those pious reptiles were so thankful for--whereas they were _ ducks, not yet quite old enough for the table but approaching that age, began to join the procession, and paddle around in the sluggish water, and give thanks--not to -turtles would suspend their songs of praise and slide off the logs and paddle along under the water and chew the feet of the young ducks Presently Patrick would notice that two or three of those little creatures were notabout, but were apparently at anchor, and were not looking as thankful as they had been looking a short tied snapping-turtle was taking his breakfast, and silently singing his gratitude Every day or two Patrick would rescue and fetch up a little duck with inco left of their extre stus and wept--and at dinner we finished the tragedy which the turtles had begun Thus, as will be seen--out of season, at least--it was really the turtles that gave us so much ducks At my expense

Papa has written a new version of ”There is a happy land” it is--

”There is a boarding-house Far, far away, Where they have has, Three times a day

Oh dont those boarders yell When they hear the dinner-bell, They give that land-lord rats Three tiain Susy hasI heard Billy Rice sing it in the negro reat spirit--for the elevation of the household

The children ad it with burdensome frequency To their minds it was superior to the Battle Hyo that was! Where now is Billy Rice? He was a joy to er-show--Billy Birch, David Wahtful dozen of their brethren, who o, and later Birch, Wao; and with them departed to return no enuine nigger-show, the extravagant nigger-show,--the shohich to me had no peer and whose peer has not yet arrived, in rand opera; and I have witnessed, and greatly enjoyed, the first act of everything which Wagner created, but the effect on me has always been so powerful that one act was quite sufficient; whenever I have witnessed two acts I have gone away physically exhausted; and whenever I have ventured an entire opera the result has been the next thing to suicide But if I could have the nigger-show back again, in its pristine purity and perfection, I should have but little further use for opera It seems to me that to the elevated er-show are a standard and a summit to whose rarefied altitude the other forms of musical art may not hope to reach

[_Dictated September 5, 1906_] It is years since I have examined ”The Children's Record” I have turned over a few of its pages this

This book is a record in which Mrs Cles of the children, in the long ago, when they were little chaps Of course, rote these things down at the tis of the passing hour, and of no permanent value--but at this distant day I find that they still possess an interest for istrations of character_ The qualities then revealed by fitful glimpses, in childish acts and speeches, remained as a permanency in the children's characters in the drift of the years, and were always afterwards clearly and definitely recognizable

There is a masterful streak in Jean that now and then moves her to set ument in that prompt and effective fashi+on And here in this old book I find evidence that she was just like that before she was quite four years old

_From The Children's Record Quarry Far inspected and worshi+pped by Jean from the shed for an hour,) wandered off down into the pasture, and left her bereft I thought I was going to get back home, now, but that was an error Jean knew of some more cows, in a field somewhere, and took my hand and led ht-hand road, I saw that we should presently be out of range of call and sight; so I began to argue against continuing the expedition, and Jean began to argue in favor of it--she using English for light skir, and Geror, and deued I had her about cornered She hesitated a moment, then answered up sharply:

”_Wir werden nichts mehr daruber sprechen!_” (We won't talk any h I thought I ht possibly have misunderstood I said:

”Why, you little rascal! _Was hast du gesagt?_”

But she said the saain, and in the saed; but I wasn't, I was charht to have spanked her; but I didn't, I fraternized with the enemy, and ent on and spent half an hour with the cows

That incident is followed in the ”Record” by the following paragraph, which is another instance of a juvenile characteristic e Susy was persistently and conscientiously truthful throughout her life with the exception of one interruption covering several months, and perhaps a year This hile she was still a little child Suddenly--not gradually--she began to lie; not furtively, but frankly, openly, and on a scale quite disproportioned to her size Her mother was so stunned, so nearly paralyzed for a day or two, that she did not knohat to do with the es, all went for nothing; they produced no effect; the lying went tranquilly on Other remedies were tried, but they failed There is a tradition that success was finally acco I think the Record says so, but if it does it is because the Record is inco was indeed tried, and was faithfully kept up during two or three weeks, but the results were ly brief

Fortunately for Susy, an incident presently occurred which put a complete stop to all the mother's efforts in the direction of reform

This incident was the chance discovery in Darwin of a passage which said that when a child exhibits a sudden and unaccountable disposition to forsake the truth and restrict itself to lying, the explanation ht away back in the past; that an ancestor of the child had had the sae; that it was irremovable by persuasion or punishment, and that it had ceased as suddenly and as mysteriously as it had come, when it had run its appointed course I think Mr Darwin said that nothing was necessary but to leave the matter alone and let the malady have its way and perish by the statute of limitations