THE WILLIAM HENRY LETTERS.
The first letter from William Henry which has been preserved seems to have been written a few weeks after entering his school, and when he had begun to get acquainted with the boys. Could the letter itself be made to appear here, with its _very_ peculiar handwriting, and with all the other distinctive marks of a boy"s first exploit on paper, it would be found even more entertaining than when given in the printed form.
MY DEAR GRANDMOTHER,--
I think the school that I have come to is a very good school. We have dumplings. I"ve tied up the pills that you gave me in case of feeling bad, in the toe of my cotton stocking that"s lost the mate of it. The mince pies they have here are baked without any plums being put into them. So, please, need I say, No, I thank you, ma"am, to "em when they come round? If they don"t agree, shall I take the pills or the drops? Or was it the hot flannels,--and how many?
I"ve forgot about being shivery. Was it to eat roast onions? No, I guess not. I guess it was a wet band tied round my head. Please write it down, because you told me so many things I can"t remember. How can anybody tell when anybody is sick enough to take things? You can"t think what a great, tall man the schoolmaster is. He has got something very long to flog us with, that bends easy, and hurts,--Q. S. So Dorry says. Q. S. is in the abbreviations, and stands for a sufficient quant.i.ty. Dorry says the master keeps a paint-pot in his room, and has his whiskers painted black every morning, and his hair too, to make himself look scareful.
Dorry is one of the great boys. But Tom Cush is bigger. I don"t like Tom Cush.
I have a good many to play with; but I miss you and Towser and all of them very much. How does my sister do? Don"t let the cow eat my peach-tree. Dorry Baker he says that peaches don"t grow here; but he says the cherries have peach-stones in them. In a month my birthday will be here. How funny "t will seem to be eleven, when I"ve been ten so long! I don"t skip over any b.u.t.ton-holes in the morning now; so my jacket comes out even.
Why didn"t you tell me I had a red head? But I can run faster than any of them that are no bigger than I am, and some that are. One of the spokes of my umbrella broke itself in two yesterday, because the wind blew so when it rained.
We learn to sing. He says I"ve a good deal of voice; but I"ve forgot what the matter is with it. We go up and down the scale, and beat time.
The last is the best fun. The other is hard to do. But if I could only get up, I guess "t would be easy to come down. He thinks something ails my ear. I thought he said I hadn"t got any at all. What have a feller"s ears to do with singing, or with scaling up and down?
Your affectionate grandchild,
WILLIAM HENRY.
P.S. Here"s a conundrum Dorry Baker made: In a race, why would the singing-master win? Because "Time flies," and he _beats time_.
I want to see Aunt Phebe, and Aunt Phebe"s little Tommy, dreadfully.
W. H.
This second letter must have been pleasing to Aunt Phebe, as it shows that William Henry was beginning to have some faint regard for his personal appearance.
MY DEAR GRANDMOTHER,--
I"ve got thirty-two cents left of my spending-money. When shall I begin to wear my new shoes every day? The soap they have here is pink. Has father sold the bossy calf yet? There"s a boy here they call Bossy Calf, because he cried for his mother. He has been here three days. He sleeps with me. And every night, after he has laid his head down on the pillow, and the lights are blown out, I begin to sing, and to scale up and down, so the boys can"t hear him cry. Dorry Baker and three more boys sleep in the same room that we two sleep in. When they begin to throw bootjacks at me, to make me stop my noise, it scares him, and he leaves off crying. I want a pair of new boots dreadfully, with red on the tops of them, that I can tuck my trousers into and keep the mud off.
One thing more the boys plague me for besides my head. Freckles. Dorry held up an orange yesterday. "Can you see it?" says he. "To be sure,"
says I. "Didn"t know as you could see through "em," says he, meaning freckles. Dear grandmother, I have cried once, but not in bed. For fear of their laughing, and of the bootjacks. But away in a good place under the trees. A s.h.a.ggy dog came along and licked my face. But oh! he did make me remember Towser, and cry all over again. But don"t tell, for I should be ashamed. I wish the boys would like me. Freckles come thicker in summer than they do in winter.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Your affectionate grandchild,
WILLIAM HENRY.
If William Henry"s recipe for the prevention of s.p.u.n.kiness were generally adopted, I fancy that many a boy would be seen practising the circus performance here mentioned. It must have been "sure cure!" I well remember the "plaguing" of my school days, and know from experience how hard it is for a boy (or a man) always to keep his temper. The fellows used to make fun of my name. In our quarrels, when there was nothing else left to say, they would call out,--leaving off the Silas,--"Y Fry?
why not bake?" or "boil," or "stew." Of course to such remarks there was no answer.
It is to be regretted that so few of Grandmother"s letters were preserved. As Billy here makes known the state of his pocket-book, we may infer that she had been inquiring into his accounts, and perhaps cautioning him against spending too freely.
MY DEAR GRANDMOTHER,--
I do what you told me. You told me to bite my lips and count ten, before I spoke, when the boys plague me, because I"m a s.p.u.n.ky boy. But doing it so much makes my lips sore. So now I go head over heels sometimes, till I"m out of breath. Then I can"t say anything.
This is the account you asked me for, of all I"ve bought this week:--
Slippery elm 1 cent.
Corn-ball 1 cent.
Gum 1 cent.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
And I swapped a whip-lash that I found for an orange that only had one suck sucked out of it. The "Two Betseys," they keep very good things to sell. They are two old women that live in a little hut with two rooms to it, and a ladder to go up stairs by, through a hole in the wall. One Betsey, she is lame and keeps still, and sells the things to us sitting down. The other Betsey, she can run, and keeps a yardstick to drive away boys with. For they have apple-trees in their garden. But she never touches a boy, if she does catch him. They have hens and sell eggs.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The boys that sleep in the same room that we do wanted Benjie and me to join together with them to buy a great confectioner"s frosted cake, and other things. And when the lamps had been blown out, to keep awake and light them up again, and so have a supper late at night, with the curtains all down and the blinds shut up, when people were in bed, and not let anybody know.
But Benjie hadn"t any money. Because his father works hard for his living,--but his uncle pays for his schooling,--and he wouldn"t if he had. And I said I wouldn"t do anything so deceitful. And the more they said you must and you shall, the more I said I wouldn"t and I shouldn"t, and the money should blow up first.
So they called me "Old Stingy" and "Pepper-corn" and "Speckled Potatoes." Said they"d pull my hair if "t weren"t for burning their fingers. Dorry was the maddest one. Said he guessed my hair was tired of standing up, and wanted to lie down to rest.
I wish you would please send me a new comb, for the large end of mine has got all but five of the teeth broken out, and the small end can"t get through. I can"t get it cut because the barber has raised his price.
Send quite a stout one.
I have lost two of my pocket-handkerchiefs, and another one went up on Dorry"s kite, and blew away.
Your affectionate grandchild,
WILLIAM HENRY.
MY DEAR GRANDMOTHER,--
I did what you told me, when I got wet. I hung my clothes round the kitchen stove on three chairs, but the cooking girl she flung them under the table. So now I go wrinkled, and the boys chase me to smooth out the wrinkles. I"ve got a good many hard rubs. But I laugh too. That"s the best way. Some of the boys play with me now, and ask me to go round with them. Dorry hasn"t yet. Tom Cush plagues the most.