"Oh, I don't know what to do with you," she said, when she had drawn him into the room. "What makes you so bad?"
"Yes, and he'll get you, too, if you don't behave yourself."
"For gracious sake, give me a little peace."
"A little piece of bread?" he asked, while his eyes twinkled with mischief.
"Hush, sir; hush. Not another word out of you. Take your dirty hands away from my face."
"Yes, little angel," she said, pressing him to her bosom.
"More than all the houses an' railroads an' steamboats put together?"
To the mother the days were dragged over the field of time like the dead body of an animal. In misery lest her son should cause offense, she watched him, and, at table, hushed him. The proprietor's wife scolded him, and at last the little fellow's spirit was cowed. He crept through the hall, and, on tiptoe, to keep from wearing out the carpets, he moved through the house. He would shrink when he saw the proprietor's wife, and in his sleep he muttered apologies and declared that he would be good. One morning he awoke with a burning fever.
"I wish you would come in and see my little boy," said the mother, addressing the proprietor's wife. She went in. The little fellow looked at her, and, as a deeply-troubled expression crossed his face, said:
"Why, no, you won't hurt the carpet. Get up and run on it all you want to."
Days of suffering; nights of dread. Everything had been done and the doctor had gone home. A heart-broken woman buried her face in the bedclothes. The proprietor's wife, with tears streaming down her face, stood looking upon a wasted face which had, only a short time before, beamed with mischief.
"Little boy," she said, "dear little fellow, you are going to leave us. You are going to heaven."
"No," he faintly replied, "I will be in the way, and they won't let me laugh there."
A long silence followed, and then the old woman whispered:
A man with heavy boots walked on the carpet in the hall.
One hot afternoon a tramp printer entered the office of the Franklin (Ky.) _Patriot_. The regular corps of compositors were sufficient to do all necessary work, but the boys were lazy and wanted to go fishing, so the tramp was given temporary employment. When the boys returned next day they were surprised, and not a little ashamed, to see that the tramp had "set up" the entire paper--work which would have taken the entire force several days to perform. When the proof-sheets were brought in, they were found to be so clean that the editor of the _Patriot_ sent for the tramp.