" And one evening about seven, my usual bedtime, I announced,
"I'm going to sit up till eight tonight, and don't you 'spute." I know
of many children who have the same habit of questions and sharp
retorts. One of my pets, after plying her mother with about forty
questions, wound up with, "Mother, how does the devil's darning needle
sleep? Does he lie down on a twig or hang, or how?" "I don't know,
dear." "Why, mother, it is surprising when you have lived so many
years, that you know so little!"
Mr. Higginson told an absurd story of an inquisitive child and wearied
mother in the cars passing the various Newtons, near Boston. At last
the limit. "Ma, why do they call this West Newton?" "Oh, I suppose for
fun." Silence for a few minutes, then, "Ma, what _was_ the fun in
calling it West Newton?"
I began Latin at eight years--my first book a yellow paper primer.
I was always interested in chickens, and dosed all the indisposed as:
Dandy Dick
Was very sick,
I gave him red pepper
And soon he was better.
In spring, I remember the humming of our bees around the sawdust, and
my craze for flower seeds and a garden of my own.
Father had a phenomenal memory; he could recite in his classroom pages
of Scott's novels, which he had not read since early youth.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
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13
14
15
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19
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