Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1892 — CHILDREN’S COLUMN. [ARTICLE]

CHILDREN’S COLUMN.

A DEPARTMENT FOR LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS. Something that Will Interast the Juvenile Members of Every Household Quaint Actions and Alright Saying* of Cote Children. «Little Dan!” I’m a hoy ’bout ae high as a table; My hair Is the color of flax; My name Isn’t Bhaßspoare or Milton, Or Byron, or Shelly, or Saxo, By and by It will be “Mr. Daniel—" The / call me now “Little Dan;” I’ll tell you In rhyme what I fancy Will happen when I am a man. I’ll have a big garden for peaches, And cherries and everything nice; With the cutest of fixings for rabbits, And pigeons, and togs, and white mice. I’ll have a big houscTaml a stable; And of horses the handsomest span That ever you feastod your eyes on, ’Tls likely, when I am a man. A cauo X will twirl In my Angers, A watch-guard shall garnish my vost. No fear of expense shall deter me, My raiment Hhall be of the best, % A ring on my finger shall glisten, And the cunnlngest, sleek black-and-tan Shall trot at my heols as 1 travel, I’m thinking, when I am a maul I’m a hoy, so there’s no use In talking; People snub me as much as they please: For tho toes of my shoes are of copper; And rny stockings c.imo over my kueos. I’ve told you the whole of my story, As I promised to when I began. I’m young, but I’m dally a-growlng— Look out for me when I’m u man.

I*oll te Boys. George and Henry Grafton, to fill their time during vacation and to make a little money, set up a candy and pop-corn store with their parents’ permission in an unoccupied shop on the village street. “Now,” said George, “we shall have a good many ladies among our customers, and it won’t do to let the men smoke in here.” “Oh, no,” said Henry, “we’ll put up a big sign, ‘No smoking allowed.’ ” “I guess we’d better be a little more polite in our notice,” said George, “so that we sha’n’t offend our smoking customers.” The boys put their heads together te invent a polite “no-smoking” notice, and at last, with a pleasing sonso of having done exactly the right thing, hung up the following neatly lettered inscription: ; CUBT MERB WILL PLEASE TARE NOTIBE .* :that if they wish to hm kh in here they: : WILL pleas either : KX3TIXGUIBH THEIR PIPE i OR ELBB : ; GO OUTDOORS. The Smallest Man. Bcbe Is supposed to have been the smallest man who ever lived, says the Philadelphia Record. He was born by a peasant woman in Lorraine just 150 years ago, and was called Hebe because the lirst few years of his life he could articulate only “b-b.” The day of his birth Bebe was smaller than his mother’s hand. Ton days afterward he was takep to the village church to ho baptized, in his mother’s wooden shoe, because he was too tiny to be carried safely in her arms. During tho next six months the same wooden shoe served as Bebe’s crib. When Bebe was about 7 years old, King Stanislaus Lesczlnskl of Poland made him “court dwarf.” At the time of his Introduction to court life Bebe was twenty inches tall, and weighed eight pounds. He never grew larger. Bebe had a sweet little voice, a good car for music, and nimble legs. IJe could dance and sing with the best of the King’s courtiers. Ho was very useful as a table ornament at all the King’s great banquets. His most famous appearance in this rather curious role took place at a dinner which Stanislaus gave to tho ambassador of a great power. Tn the middle of the table was an immense sugar castle. Shortly before the guests rose to leave the door of the castle opened and a knight in full armor stepped out with a drawn sword in his right hand. All the guests thought the knight must be some wonderful automaton which the King had obtained from the skilled mechanics across the Rhine. He wasn’t, however. He was none other than little Bebe. Ho walked around the table, shook the sword in tho face of every guest, saluted the King, and then turned back to the castle entrance, where ho assumed the position of sent ry. At a signal from the King every one at tho table began to bombard him with small sugar balls. Bebe hurried at once into the castle, locked tho door, mounted thp tower, and pretended to return the tire by setting off a lot of perfumed explosives. In Paris a lady of the French court had been holding him in her lap between the courses of a court dinner. Suddenly she rose to leave the room. Her first step was accompanied by a shrill cry from the folds of her gown: “Your majesty, your majesty, this lady has stuck me in her pocket and Is running away with me.” The voice was Bebe’s. He was Immediately dragged from the court lady’s pocket and placed under the guard of two pages, who were instructed by King Stanislaus to watch Him day and night. To drive away melancholy Bebe was married to Therese Souvray, a dwarf of about his own age and slightly greater stature. That was the last drop in Bebe's cup. Two week after his marriage he lost his mind. He ceased to talk entirely, ate little, and spent most of his time in his crib. His honeymoon was barely up when he died at the age of 21. His wife, Therese, survived him forty-two years.

To tlio Point. Frederick Bond has a son who is a marvel of precocity. Like all proud parents, he has a choice collection of anecdotes in which his offspring is the central figure, and the talented Lewis, during the eight years of his earthly career, has supplied his father with material for a large number of pretty good stories. His latest flash of juvenile brilliancy is in the shape of a letter written to his father while upon the road. It is one of the most absolutely direct epistles ever penned, and if all letter-writers followed the principle enunciated by the astute Lewis, the saving in ink and paper per annum would pay off a large part of the national debt. Here It is: “N. Y., Dec. 1, ’9l.—Pa: I write you as I have nothing to do. I close because I have nothing to say. Lew. * —New York Commercial.