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Show peach pits, a eorlt iloa.t and lot, of other tiiina"s which only a boy knows tne names of. Y"he:i tiie patches are. fiukhed each and evere article is carefully renlaced in tho pi-cketi for tho mother is well aware thtit if one was left out it would quickly bo missed aud no peace in tlu house until it was found. Xext to seeing the small boy trudirino-to trudirino-to school with books and slate under his arm we love to watch him a.t play. What energy aud enthusiasm and skill he shows. How his eyes sparkle, llow rosy are his plump cheeks. What a snap to his voice. You ean bear his merry shouts far away. Little he cares if tho weather is cold or hot or rainy. He's having fun and suddenly his mother calls, "Johnnie!'' lie don't answer an-swer and. keeps right on playing-. thoiu.;h less spirited and shouting no more, ".lohnnie!"' The other boys look at him to see what he'll do. He does nothing.. "Johnnie! John! ,7ohn An-tliouv! An-tliouv! You hear me'.''' Then goes back a slow and feeble: "Yes'm!" "Come here instantly. " Another An-other faint "Yes'm," but he don't 'so though his playmates stop the . ram.', t o await results. '-J i I X !" llii father called that time and the tone meant business. bus-iness. "Yes. sir!" and like a sireak lie darts toward his home. The small boy of to-day is hip lily blessed. It seems as if all the inventors in the world were ireiting" no new phiy'.hi;;:; and games and tools and b.uYui on- his especial benefit, and that his parents can't spend enough money for his pleasure pleas-ure and entertainment. ('ompare what our grandfathers or what we ourselves had in childhood with the plavthiugs that the modern smaliboy is hardly sat i sikd with. lie not onlv sports a seven dollar tennis racket and a forty dolhirbiey. le. but he must have a suitable dress to :-.. with them. v.o used to have a good game of ball in patched tronsers anil bare fe,.t and an old -straw hat. -Now the eli l ireii cini't enjoy themselves at ad without a uniform and glove and face covering and real bag bases. A fish pole cut in the woods was good en ough for us, but a split bamboo our boys must have. We used to get pretty hot doses of birch when we deserved it, but nmv-adays nmv-adays it has gone out of fashion in the homes as well as the schools and we think it ought ti, for all the whippings we got never made us any better but the contrary, "pare the child and spoil the rod" is tlj improved version. A curious transformation takes place in the small boy after he has been He suddenly becomes sensitive to wearing old clothes. Instead of fighting fight-ing against being washed he washes himself often and nearly destroys the hairbrush in his efforts before the glass. He must have a clean collar every day and have on his best necktie. neck-tie. He becomes quiet aud oh, so good about the house. He never is late to school and always knows his lessons. And he becomes furious whenever a mention is made of the little sweetheart sweet-heart who has won his boyhood's first affections. The little girl is very nice in her way, but she can't hold a candle to the small boy. May he never grow old. H. C. Dodge, in Goodall's Sun. TIIE SMALL B0ir Something- About a Very Needful Need-ful Institution. The small hoy is an institution in' himself and we like him. The most beautiful sight in the world (to parents) is the dear little fellow when he has just donned his first pair of trousers and stands with head ereet and both chubby lists thrust deep in his pockets, looking proud and happy and too sweet for anything. And his charms grow apace until his trousers lengthen and suspenders take the place of the pivtty shirt waists when, aecording to some grumpy old folks, he becomes Considerable of a nuisance and oftentimes a terror. Hie small boy is the nearest approach ap-proach to 'perpetual motion" than we are likely ever to see. 'He is "never still or at rest. Fven when asleep lie is lacking the bed covering cov-ering off continually. lie wants to know everything and the questions he asks puzzle the wisest scholars to answer. He is a curious mixture of contrariness. contrari-ness. - - If there is anything he hates it is water when he is being washed as all mothers know who wrestle with him on such oeeasions. Yet if lie can find a pond or a canal inside of ten miles he will revel in the water and take his chances of drowning drown-ing for Die pleasure a bath gives him. He is at times the laziest of living things at other times the most indns- tri..:'.- . If asked by his parents to weed the garden, do an errand or any little household elior?, he immediately is so "tire 1" and looks so inourui ul that in pity for the delicate and overworked liti'le humbug he is allowed to slide out of it. Ten minutes afterwards he may be found helpinH- a neia-hbor s boy work thrice as hard Or racing around the ba?cs in a game oi baseba'l, shouting with joy and livelier than a cricket. The small bov is always eatmg. The onlv tune ne docsn t is when at the table, for Ins apoetde is then spoiled for properVind nourishing tood by his frequent vents to tho lam pantry or to the irmt trees m his or somebody else s n-arden. The greener the fruit the better bet-ter he likes it aud stomach aches in consequence have ro terror tor him. No one loves to tease more than he as his sister knows to her sorrow, and .t seem ; to give lain the mlcnsest (la-tight: (la-tight: vet. if he is teased he thinks lie is drea. bully treated and makes an awlul time about it. ' The colic-clems oi bne-a-brac that a small hoy s pockets contain ha cver exeite.l our v. under. W hen tiie little chap is ask-cp and his fond mother takes his tiny trousers to put one or more patches on the knees ana seat she is alwavs surprised that such a small garment should have such a great weight. And she can't understand it until she happens t strike the pockets, 'then out come tiie curiosities one aiter another an-other and caret nlly thev arc laid out on the table beiore her. At last the pockets are emptied, but not beiore the explorer thinks thev are. like a magic box. inexhaustible and cnuless. She fori-as about the needful patches for awhile to gaze at the queer array of treasures and wonder what on earth thev are good for and how the dear child ever got them. There's a top and a pieco of string fastened to' a big wooden button, jack-stones, jack-stones, marble-., knife without blades, nails, bean-1, wad of ohc.-nig guin, more strinr, bits of lead and tin, a whistle, cake crumbs, nuts, lishhoous she nearlv got in her nnf-ers. ciearetLc pictures, bent inns. w hich have been ou the ruiiwav track and run over, bi-oicen tti t..vaand tools, stones, a bean shooter, nleathor i. ticker, a ball, pieces of loofing ghe-s and colored ;d:c...o' r...iiie putty, a tip cat. ri.b;,. 1 tne' . I po ,t..ro stamps, a circus programme, |