The Last of the Peterkins

by Lucretia P. Hale

  XIII.

  A PLACE FOR OSCAR.

  "I don't like tiresome fables," said Jack, throwing down an old book inwhich he had been trying to read; "it is so ridiculous making the beaststalk. Of course they never do talk that way, and if they did talk, theywould not be giving that kind of advice But then they never did talk.Did you ever hear of a beast talking, Ernest, except in a fable?"

  Ernest looked up from his book.

  "Why, yes," he said decidedly; "the horses of Achilles talked, don't youremember?"

  "Well, that was a kind of fable," said Jack. "Our horses never talked.Bruno comes near it sometimes. But, Hester, don't you think fables aretiresome? They always have a moral tagged on!" he continued, appealingto his older sister; for Ernest proved a poor listener, and was deep inhis book again.

  "I will tell you a fable about a boy," said Hester, sitting down withher work, "and you shall see."

  "But don't let the beasts speak," said Jack, "and don't let the boy giveadvice!"

  "He won't even think of it," said Hester; and she went on.

  "Once there was a boy, and his name was Oscar, and he went to a verygood school, where he learned to spell and read very well, and do a fewsums. But when he had learned about as much as that, he took up a newaccomplishment. This was to fling up balls, two at a time, and catchthem in his hands. This he could do wonderfully well; but then a greatmany other boys could. He, however, did it at home; he did it on thesidewalk; he could do it sitting on the very top of a board fence; buthe was most proud of doing it in school hours while the teacher was notlooking. This grew to be his great ambition. He succeeded once or twice,when she was very busy with a younger class, and once while her back wasturned, and she was at the door receiving a visitor.

  "But that did not satisfy him: he wanted to be able to do it when shewas sitting on her regular seat in front of the platform; and every dayhe practised, sometimes with one ball and sometimes with another. Ittook a great deal of his time and all of his attention; and often someof the other boys were marked for laughing when he succeeded. And he hadsucceeded so well that the teacher had not the slightest idea what theywere laughing at.

  "All this was very satisfactory to him; but it was not so well for himat the end of the year, because it turned out he was behind-hand in allhis studies, and he had to be put down into a lower room. But cominginto another room with a fresh teacher, he had to learn his favoriteaccomplishment all over again. It was difficult, for she was a veryrigid teacher, and seemed to have eyes in every hair of her head; andhe sat at the other side of the room, so that he had to change handssomehow in throwing the balls and getting them into his desk quickwithout being seen. But there were a number of younger boys in theroom who enjoyed it all very much, so that he was a real hero, andfelt himself quite a favorite. He did manage to keep up better in hisarithmetic, too, in spite of his having so little time for his books.Perhaps from having to watch the teacher so much, he did learn thethings that he heard her repeat over and over again; and then he pickedup some knowledge from the other boys. Still, all through his schoolterm, he was sent about more or less from one room to another. Theteachers could not quite understand why such a bright-looking boy, whoseemed to be always busy with his lessons, was not farther on in hisstudies.

  "So it happened, when they all left school, Oscar was himself surprisedto find that the boys of his age were ahead of him in various ways. Alarge class went on to the high school; but Oscar, as it proved, was notat all fitted.

  "And his father took him round from one place to another to try to getsome occupation for him. He looked so bright that he was taken for anoffice-boy here and there; but he never stayed. The fact was, the onlything he could do well was to fling balls up in the air and catch themin turn, without letting them drop to the ground; and this he couldonly do best on the sly, behind somebody's back. Now this, thoughentertaining to those who saw it for a little while, did not help on hisemployers, who wondered why they did not get more work out of Oscar.

  "A certain Mr. Spenser, a friend of Oscar's father, asked him to bringhis boy round to his office, and he would employ him. 'He will have todo a little drudgery at first, but I think we can promote him soon, ifhe is faithful.'

  "So Oscar went with his father to Mr. Spenser's office. Mr. Spenserstarted a little when he saw Oscar; but after talking awhile, he went tohis table, and took from a drawer two balls. 'My little boy left thesehere this morning,' he said. 'How long do you think,' turning to Oscar,'you could keep them up in the air without letting them drop?'

  "Oscar was much pleased. Here was his chance; at this office the kind ofthing he could do was wanted. So he dexterously took the balls, andflung them up and down, and might have kept at it all the morning butthat Mr. Spenser said at last, 'That will do, and it is more thanenough.' He said, turning to Oscar's father: 'As soon as I saw your boyI thought I recognized him as a boy I saw one day in the school flingingballs up in the air on the sly behind his teacher's back. I'm sorry tosee that he keeps up the art still. But I felt pretty sure that day thathe couldn't have learned much else. I should be afraid to take him intomy office with a propensity to do things on the sly, for I have otherboys that must learn to be busy. Perhaps you can find some other placefor Oscar.'

  "But Oscar could not find the kind of place.

  "His friend, Seth Clayton, had been fond of collecting insects allthrough his school years. Oscar used to laugh at his boxes full of bugs.But Seth used to study them over, and talk about them with his teacher,who told him all she knew, and helped him to find books about them. Andit was when she was leaning over a beautiful specimen of a night-moththat Oscar had performed his most remarkable feat of keeping three ballsin the air for a second and a half. This was in their last school year.

  "And now, after some years more of study, Seth was appointed to join anexpedition to go to South America and look up insects along the Amazonand in Brazil.

  "'Just what I should like to do,' said Oscar; for he had studied alittle about the geography of South America, and thought it would be funcatching cocoanuts with the help of the monkeys, and have a salary too.'That is something I really could do,' said Oscar to Seth. But Sethwent, and Oscar was left behind.

  "Will Leigh had the best chance, perhaps. He used to be a great crony ofOscar. He went through the Latin School, and then to Harvard College.'He was always burrowing into Latin and Greek,' said Oscar; 'much asever you could do to get an English word out of him.'

  "Well, he was wanted as professor in a Western college; so they sent himfor three years to a German university to study up his Hebrew. But hewas to travel about Europe first.

  "'I wish they would send me,' said Oscar. 'Travelling about Europe isjust what I should like, and just what I could do. It is a queer thingthat just these fellows that can work hard, and like to work too, getthe easiest places, where they have only to lie back and do nothing!'

  "Even some of the boys who were behind him in school and below him inlower classes came out ahead. Sol Smith, whom Oscar always thought astupid dunce, had the place in Mr. Spenser's office that he would haveliked.

  "'Mr. Spenser took Sol out to his country place in the mountains,' Oscarcomplained, 'where he has boats and plenty of fishing. I know I couldhave caught a lot of trout. It is just what I can do. But that stupidSol, if he looked at a trout, he probably frightened it away.'

  "It was just so all along through life. Oscar could not find exactly theplace he was fitted for. One of his friends, Tracy, went out West asengineer. 'I could have done that,' said Oscar; 'I could have carriedthe chain as easy as not. It is a little hard that all the rest of thefellows tumble into these easy places. There's Tracy making money handover hand.'

  "The next he heard of him Tracy was in the legislature. 'That I coulddo,' said Oscar. 'It is easy enough to go and sit in the legislature,with your hands in your pockets, and vote when your turn comes; or youneedn't be there all the time if you don't choose.'

  "So they put Oscar up for the legislatur
e; but he lost the vote, becausehe forgot to sign his name to an important note, in answer to one of his'constituents.' He tried for Congress, too, but without success. Hetalked round among his friends about running for President. There wasthe great White House to live in. He would be willing to stay allsummer. He felt he should be the right person, as he had never doneanything, and would offend no party.

  "But even for President something more is needed than catchinghalf-a-dozen balls without letting them fall to the ground.

  "Once, indeed, he had thought of joining a circus; but he could notequal the Chinese juggler with the balls, and it tired him to jump upand down. His father got him the place of janitor at an art building;but he made mistakes in making change for tickets, and put wrong checkson the umbrellas and parasols, so that nobody got the right umbrella. Hewas really glad when they dismissed him, it tired him so. It was harderwork than flinging balls----"

  "Look at here, you need not go on," said Jack, interrupting his sister."I never did it but just once in school, and that was when you happenedto come in and speak to Miss Eaton. I was real ashamed that you caughtme at it then, and I have never had the balls at school since, orthought of them."

  "The beast has spoken," said Ernest, looking up from his book.

  Jack made a rush at his brother. "Oh! stop," said Ernest; "let us findout what became of Oscar."

  "He has married," said Hester, "and his wife supports him."

  XIV.

  THE FIRST NEEDLE.

  "Have you heard the new invention, my dears, That a man has invented?" said she. "It's a stick with an eye, Through which you can tie A thread so long, it acts like a thong; And the men have such fun To see the thing run! A firm, strong thread, through that eye at the head, Is pulled over the edges most craftily, And makes a beautiful seam to see!"

  "What! instead of those wearisome thorns, my dear, Those wearisome thorns?" cried they. "The seam we pin, Driving them in; But where are they, by the end of the day, With dancing and jumping and leaps by the sea? For wintry weather They won't hold together, Seal-skins and bear-skins all dropping round, Off from our shoulders down to the ground. The thorns, the tiresome thorns, will prick, But none of them ever consented to stick! Oh, won't the men let us this new thing use? If we mend their clothes, they can't refuse. Ah, to sew up a seam for them to see,-- What a treat, a delightful treat, 't will be!"

  "Yes, a nice thing, too, for the babies, my dears,-- But, alas, there is but one!" cried she. "I saw them passing it round, and then They said it was only fit for men! What woman would know How to make the thing go? There was not a man so foolish to dream That any woman could sew up a seam!"

  Oh, then there was babbling and screaming, my dears! "At least they might let us do that!" cried they. "Let them shout and fight And kill bears day and night; We'll leave them their spears and hatchets of stone If they'll give us this thing for our very own. It will be like a joy above all we could scheme, To sit up all night and sew such a seam!"

  "Beware! take care!" cried an aged old crone, "Take care what you promise!" said she. "At first 't will be fun, But, in the long run, You'll wish that the men had let the thing be. Through this stick with an eye I look and espy That for ages and ages you'll sit and you'll sew, And longer and longer the seams will grow, And you'll wish you never had asked to sew. But nought that I say. Can keep back the day; For the men will return to their hunting and rowing. And leave to the women forever the sewing."

  Ah! what are the words of an aged crone, For all have left her muttering alone; And the needle and thread they got with such pains. They forever must keep as dagger and chains.