Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1876 — Children. [ARTICLE]

Children.

“ A little child shall lead them." One cold market morning I looked into a milliner’s shop, and there I saw a hale, hearty, well-browned young fellow from the country, with his long cart-whip and and a lion shaggy coat, holding up some little thing and turning it about on his great fist. And what do you suppose it was? A baby’s bonnet. A little, soft, blue satin hood, with a swan’s down lx>rder, white as the new fallen snow, with a frill of rich blonde around the edge. By his side stood a very pretty woman, holding with no small pride the baby—for evidently J t was fAe baby. Any one could read that fact in every glance as they looked at each other, and the little hood, and then at the large, blue, unconscious eyes and fat, dimpled cheeks of the little one. It was evident that neither of them had ever seen a baby like that before.

“But, really, Mary,” said the young man, “ isn’t three dollars very high ?” Mary very prudently said nothing, but taking .the bonnet, tied it on the little head, and held up the baby. The man looked and grinned, and without another word down went the tliree dollars —all that the last week’s butter came to; and as they walked out-of the shop it is hard to say which looked the most delighted with the bargain. “ All! thought I, ‘ a little child shall lead AheinJ - r Another day as I was passing a carriage factory along one of our back streets, I saw a young mechanic at work on awheel. The rough body of a carriage stood beside him —and there, wrapped up snugly, all hooded and cloaked, sat a little darkeyed girl about a year old, playing with a great shaggy dog. As I stopped, the man looked up from his work, and turned admiringly toward his little companion, as much as to say: “ See what I have got there.” “Yes,” thought I, “and if the little lady ever gets a glance from admiring swains as sincere as that, she will be lucky.” Ah, these children! little witches! pretty even in all their faults and absurdities! winning even in their sins an<J iniquities! See, for example, yondet little fellow in a naughty fit; he has shaken his long curls over his deep blue eyes; the fair brow is bent in a frown; the rose lip is curled in infinite defiance, and the white shoulders thrust haughtily forward. Can any but a child look so pretty even in their naughtiness. Then comes the instant change, flashing smiles and tears, as all the good comes back in a rush, and you are overwhelmed with protestations, promises and kisses! They are irresistible, too, these little ones. They pull away the scholar’s pen, tumble about his papers, make sommersets over his books, and what can he do ? They tear Iffs newspapers, litter his carpets, break, pull, upset, and then jabber unintelligible English in self-defense, and what can yon do for yourself * “If I had a child,” says the precise man, “you should see.” He does have a child, and his child tears up his papers, tumbles over his things, and pulls his nose like all other children, ami what has the precise man to say for himself? Nothing. He is like everybody else: “ a child shall lead him.” Poor little children! they bring and teach us human beings more good than they get in return. How often does the mother repay this by doing her best to wipe, even before the time, the dew and fresh simplicity from childhood, and make her daughter - too sooaa woman of the worid, as she has been. The-hardened heart of the worldly man is unlocked by the guileless tones and simple caresses of his son, but he repays it in time, by imparting to his boy all the crooked tricks, and hard ways, and callous maxims which have undone himself. —lnterior. A Piute sport from Stillwater came ever a few days since and tackled the Austin Indians in a game of Indian poker. The game commenced late Wednesday night and continued till yesterday morning, when it ceased and left the Austin Indians a busted community. The Stillwater fellow won over S3OO in money, a small herd of ponies, and a wagon-load of blankets, stiff-brimmed hats, and linen dusters, with which he returned to his home.— Austin (Wee.) Reveille. Up to the 23d<tff*June the quantity of coal sent from the Pennsylvania coal mines since the first of the current year was: Anthracite, 7,118,544 tons; bituminous, 1,522,703 tons; total, 8,641,247 tons, against 6,080,062 tons anthracite and 1,542,6<3 tons bituminous;total, 7,622,735 tons for the corresponding period last year. Increase of anthracite, 1,038,482 tons; decrease of bituminous, 10,970 tons. ■ *'» You may preserve smoked meats for the summer if you will pack them in clean, sweet hay before the flies attack them, cover the box or barrel tight and keep in a dry place.— Pomeroy'» Democrat. —Washington’s shoulders were higfi and narrow, and his hands and feet were enormously large. Besides, he was corpulent. This is the testimony of an eyewitness. Eight savings banks in New York have been closed within the last year. In each case there has been bad or ignorant management, poor investments and extravagance in expenditure.