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Bee a gs gee meet ee alee
Ca
~ well.
: NUMBER 42.
:OLMSTEAD & ee PUBLISHERS.
| DAME BIOKS,
“Dame Ticks was the terror of the ‘village boys; ;
and I am sure the boys owed: her no good will.
They said she was the crossest, dirtiest, homeliest
‘woman alive, and ‘she said they were the sauciest,
thievingest, and she might have added, the eating-
est set in the world.
There were grievances on both sides. ‘In the
first place, the red: school-house stood snug, by
Dame Hicks’ garden,—a garden rich in luscious
fruits and berries; a most unfortunate contiguity
for the upsetting of the tenth commandment ai
little boys’ stomachs.; Inthe second place, the
‘boys gat on the side next the garden, with bold
Bill Sykes at their head. Bill Sykes was not
afraid of brick-bats, picket-fences, nor house dogs,
and he did love. pears and plums wonderfully.
Pity the girls had not been put on that side. The
dear little creatures would have breathed the sweet-
est scents of May ¥ with’ never a thought of plun-
der; but bold, bad Bill never looked. ,at a pear or
apple blossom without making a count of how
many were likely to set.
A bad time Dame Hicks had of it in fruit time.
First, dingy little hands’ purloined through the
‘slats, and frowzy little heads peeped over the pick-
ets.
of a‘fierce warfare close at hand. Dame Micks
‘hallooed and screamed; her boy Bob threw sticks
“and stones ; the teacher laid” down laws; but for
‘all that, the raids kept on, and the foe grew bold
in pillage. Fathers and mothers scolded and
“threatened ; children promised, but still the sauci-
est and thievingest of them kept on, stealing and
eating Dame Hicks’ fruit... -
“It did seem a little strange to the old folks, that
“Sally Curtis, whose fruitful garden lay on the other
side, should be on such good terms with the young-
“sters; but the youngsters themselves knew very
Sally paid tribute to the young savages, in
the line of a right of passage to her pump-room,
and a right of use of sundry bright tin dippers.
- Dame Hicks would “not have such,” not she. Her
“own dirty brats were “enouglf.” “She wouldn't
“have other folks’ children bringing mud on her
“clean floors.” “Of all’ buildings "on earth,” ’ she
_hated* a school-house. I do not blame her much,
Tknow a gentleman whose real estate fell ten per
-cent., upon a school-house being located in a cor-
cner of his field; and, betwixt you and. me, I have
_ been the victim of certain predatory school-boys.
So there was fault on both sides; but I must say
that i ina hand- -to-hand encounter, Dame Hicks had
-thé best of it.. Sbe was muscular and red-faced.
Her tongue was of the “sharpest, and her arm of
the brawniest. She was well fortified, too. An
iron-handled mop was, her most reliable weapon,
_ and Bob Hicks and a yellow house dog her body-
guard. -Bob was born for an archer.’ He was
great on’stones and sticks. The yellow cur was.as
“sharp of teeth as his mistress was of tongue, and
» took tothe style of the thing. Woe to the un-
- lucky urchin who ventured, at _Tecess, within the
. forbidden precincts."
Bill Sykes tried it one day, to his sortow. He
“went Funder a flag of truce; albeit a white pitcher,
to get “the master” a drink in. Up flew the pump
_ «handle. Qut flew Dame Hicks, mop: in hand, with
_Bob and the dog in the rear. ©
“Out of my premises, you young villain,” shout-
_ ed the indignant dame. +
“Only a drink for the master,” quoth Bill.
+ “PIL master you, you vile thief, and shake my
“last years’ pears out of you.” Bang came the
- draggled mop on one cheek, and a good sized
“tone on the other. Bill retreated, and, with the
- house dog clinging to his leg, leaped over the
fence.
Bill was fierce. “T'll fix the old eurmudgeot,”
” gaid-he, grinding his teeth. “Who'll join ?”
«[_—I,” shouted half a flozen of the worst and
" the boldest. . .
“Well done,” said Bill, running , his eye over
them ; “you are up to the mark. The rest may
“1 follow the parson. , I don’t want anybody with me
-* who is afraid of the smell of gunpowder.”
Now the parson was none other than Marry
“*Marks, the best boy and the best scholar in school.
» Tle blushed at Bill’s taunt, and stepped forward as
‘if he would speak. “|
“Going to fight or preach, Parson ” sneered Bill.
m—, . \
Only outside skirmishing’ this, the precursor | °
ce
SHARPSHOOTER IN oe
“Neither,” said Harry, “but Iam going to tell! garden after that; and the more supple young rep-
you the plain truth. Look here, boys, you are go- robates gradually fell into the wake of their leader,
ing to do what you'll be sorry for, if you bring Still more, the very little girls began to be sent by
harm upon. poor widow Hicks.’ She's a cross- him with brown paper bundles for Effie—bundles
grained woman, to be sure. {The boys groaned.) the. centents of which their sharp noses ferreted
She has given us many unhandsome turns. | [More ! out and labelled oranges.
groans.] We owe her no good will} but then, |" Mrs. Hicks never set her dog on girls. "Girls
boys, she’s a woman 5 and it ist not manly toi Se Oe “dirty” in’ her opinion, but “not thievish.”J
@ woman.” Dame Hicks’ Bartletts, and Flemish Beauties,
“Three cheers for women, and old mother Hicks,” , ‘and rare- ripes grew plump, and rosy, and luscious,
shouted Bill. “right under the eaves of the boys’ side of the school-
Harry blushed and went on,=-“Don't you know, house, she began to wonder. When Effie began
too; that poor little Effie Ilicks is very ill? , You to thrive on fresh air and oranges, and to walk un-
would not be so mean.as: to give the poor cripple der the laden trees of her own garden, the poor
a fright.” » Bill winced.. Nobody had anything
against Effie Hicks, who had such a pretty way of
agreeable contrast to her vinegar-faced mother,
But Bill was not to-be turned aside from his
plan.” “Women that’ were women behaved like |
women; and if a woman behaved Hike something
else, she wasn’t to be tréated like a woman.” | That |
was Bill’s homely logic, and he clinched it by i in-
vesting his spare change i in a pound of gunpowder.
Only his set’ were privy to the Purchase, “The
parson will blab,” quoth Bill.
Divers meetings of the conspirators were holden
in out-of-the-way: places. Bill was bold and in-
genious. A plot with a long train ‘to it was laid?
Dame Hicks’ Flemish beauty, which stcod under
her bedroom window, was to be blown up. Auger
holes were to. be bored, patent stuffing insérted,
and the tree to be crooked a la blow, + ° +
. The night came. © Bill was on hand with his fol-
lowers. ‘Sky and winds favored. Bob Hicks and
the yellow dog. were well housed. “One, two,
three, four, five. That will do. . I've marked the
places,” whispered. Bill. “You bore and I'll spy
lout the land.” So saying, he crawled softly upto
the bedroom window and peeped in. The curtain
was slightly lifted, and a dim Tight was burning |
within, =
A goodly sight met bold Bill's seyes something
which made the pane misty and dim to him, To
be sure, it was only little Effie, pale, thin and dis-
torted, who sat bolstered up in bed. “But then,”
said Bill eonfidently to Harry, sometime after, “her
scrawly little hands were clasped in prayer, and ‘I
couldn’t stand seeing that old curmudgeon of a
Hicks ‘crying like a baby over her sick. child.’ I
tell you. what, Hal,” he went on, ‘I like tender-
hearted women as well as anybody, and I begin to
think that if old Hicks has a heart, there is hope
for them all.” | lg
So Dame Hicks saved her pear tree, There,was
only one auger hole, which was duly laid to “them
good-for-nothing boys.”, Something else, however,
did happen to the dame.’ Somehow or other the
sight of that pain-worn little face had a wonderful
effect upon Bil... He never touched Dame Hicks!
amiling,when you looked at her, and was such an_
woman began to reason, in a crude, homely way,
to be sure; but in a way whiclr brought her to the
sage conclusion that the boys in that school were
|*not the worst set of boys that ever lived.”
| The school-boys were quick to feel ‘the change.
Your youngsters are reliable Tittle borometera of
the social atmosphere. °
* There was now no danger ‘of'a shower-bath or a
‘rent in exchange for a dipper of water. The right
of way to the Dame's 's pump-room_was undisputed.
Effie Ilicks, straightened up, and” wonderfully im-
| proved, began to “tuck apples and pears into the
girls’ hands; and the old dame had a way of say-
ing,’ “If there's any windfalls out there in the
pump-room, you may have them, you young rascals,
Better beg than steal.”
“She hates to give in,” said Bill.
By-and-by Effie grew strong enough to go to
school. She hobbled on a crutch, and was shy at
first ;. but everybody was kind to her. “O, how
glad I am that I didn’t blow up the,old lady’ 8 tree,”
whispered Bill, when Jame Effie first came in. The
boys joked over, Bill's fondness for her, | but Bile
took it soberly, ~~
“Don't tease me, boys,” he said, with tears in
his eyes. “Effie i is Zoing to die,” I could see the
Heaven look on her face that night. Tlove her
because she made mé a better boy.”
Effie did die. The.next autumn leaves rattled
over her grave. Old Dame Ilicks has gone too:
She died years ago; and the boys who used to
steal her pears, have, save four who have gone her
way likewise, all grown up into stalwart men, * One
or two of them have. made a name-in the world,
and only a few have made the world worse for hav-
ing lived. in it. * Amongst them, all. there is ‘ho
braver nor better man than » Capt Sikes the re
formed fruit thief.
or .
- Soutiénx Bor’ s IDEA oF THE Yannees—
The advance of the Union forces .into the rebel
States in the South-west is relieving the minds of
the People there of some of the marvellous and lu-
dicrois ideas they have-had of their «Northern
brethren. It seems incredible that any people in a
'
22 SCHOOL STREET, BOSTON.
“poor whites” of the South have been by their’ sla-
vocratic lords. A correspondent of the Cincinnati
Gazette, who is with Gen. Rosecrans, tells the fol-
lowing: . i
To give you,the “Southern fireside” idea’ of a
Yankee I relate the following as occurring while we
were at Liberty: A little Boy of about six years
came up to Capt. Holbrook, of the Seventy-sécond
Regiment, with mouth and ears:wide open, and
, | says, “Why, yva all are like we all.”
“Certainly,” said the Captain, “what did you
think we were like?”
“Why, I thought you had tails,” was the reply.
+
A NARROW ESCAPE,
. On the coast of Normandy, in France, the tide
rises and falls forty feet with wonderful rapidity.
The following account is from a Fecent work called
“Life in Normandy.”
Cross and Hope, two English tourists, were pok-
, ing about the rocks of Granville at low tide, as
their custom was, upon an afternoon, in search of
"| something new and strange. Hope had just picked
up some hideous marine curiosity, when Cross suds
denly gave a loud shout.
' “The Lord have merey upon us! 1 forgot the
tide, and here it comes !”
Jlope turned towards the sea, and saw a stream
of water running at a rapid pace, and covering the.
sandy-creek where the eels had been found. Not
aware of the danger, he said, quite quietly :
“Faith, soit does; 1 suppose we had better be
5
0!
“rf we can,” said Cross, “by crossing “the rock,
we may yet be in time.”
He looked rather pale as he poke, and Hope,
seeing his alarm, hastened to follow him; for the °
moment Cross ceased speaking, Le scrambled up ,
the rocks, and began walking as rapidly as he could ,
across them towards the nearest shore; but-the
pace was necessarily slow, for the roughness in some
parts, and the slipperiness in others, obliged them
to pick their steps; the numberless crevices, which
had been a source of amusement an hour before,
now served still further to retard their progress, for
they were forced to make many a detour to get past
them. At last, they reached the highest pointy and
could see before them, -
“Thank God!” said Cross, “the sand is not yet
covered 5 but we must run for it,”
* The sand was in fact still visible, but small Vines
of blue water could be seen marking and breaking
the surfute. They hastened on, lope looking at
these lines, which seemed rapidly. to increase in
breadth; but he was soon obliged to keep his eyes
on the ground, for in looking up, he had ptaced his
foot on a bunch of weeds, slipped, fell, and got a
severe shake, besides cutting his hands.
' In three minutes more, however, they were at the
edge of the sand; but when they reached it, they
saw that the sand was now in stripes, the water dn
sheets,
- *We shall do yet,” said Cross, “for thank God,
here is a girl before us.” He began to run rapidly,
and Hope followed. °
: They proceeded* thus for about two hundred
yards, when they saw the little girl (the same from
whom Hope had bought some crabs) coming hastily
toward them, She reachéd them before they had
called out something which they could not at first
understand, for she was 80 much out of breath.
guish that she said:
“The wave! the wavel it is” comings turn, turn
and run, or we are Jost !” ~ .
They‘ did turn, “and they ‘aw, fir out to sea, a
large wave rolling towards the shore. Blown as’
they were, they yet increased their speed, as they
retraced their: steps towards the Fock they had just
Jeft.
The litle gil passed them, and led the way; the
two friends strained every nerve to keep pace with
her, for, as-they neared the rock, the wave still
rolled towards them. the sand became gradually
covered, and the last ten steps were up to their
knees in water, but they were on the rock. *
“Quick! quick!” said the girl, “there is the pas-
sage, to cross, and if the second wave comes | we
shall be too late.” ”
civiliged country could be so imposed upon as the |-
- She ran on for a hundred yards a she came to
2 aan
* s
Se cence atta a a
advanced many more paces,.and as.she ran she
: When she was close to them, they could distin.
)
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