Judge — February 18, 1882 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

OSCAR, WHEN HE Household Words. It was Sunday afternoon. The dreary par- lor, with its funereal-black furniture, contained the whole family. That family had been to church, and felt correspondingly and piously ugly. The dinner had been eaten in silence. Mrs. Jones was angry because some other woman had on a plush jacket, and had a finer set of false teeth. When she took the apron off her silk dress after the cold and solemn dinner, she said that all she had to do to slave from morning till night, and that she was no better than a black nigger wench. As she tripped over the cat, she seized a broom and slung it through the area window, and made a hole for the cat to iump through. Johnny snickered, and, witha good hammering, was sent to a cold room to learn ten v s from the Bible. So when the rest of the family reached the horse-hair par- lor, they all sat as stiff as obelis «d little Sarah was forbidden to look out of the win. to you; good-bye to you; dow. The father of the family rocked and looked steadily at some wax flowers on the | of kindness or of love to carry into future years and bring his mind back without a | shudder. Yet those people were not Chris- tians, The father tippled slightly on a week day, but with utterly blank respectability never didon Sunday. It was he of whom the story was told that. when Charley was asked whether his father said grace or anything be- fore beginning his meals, the boy replied: “Yes; he says ‘goddlemighty, is this all you've got fordinner?’” It was for Jimmy, the boy who had the china cup that be could not touch, that the prayer was made: “0 God, save brother Jim. He swears, he steals, he drinks, Us girls don’t, amen.” Yet there were household words in that parlor—meaningless, hypocritical words, whicn did not even deceive the neighbors. Those parents were sowing sawdust in the hearts of | those children, who saw that the houschold words were stagnant lies. Above all the mottoes on the wall, the brightest in worsted and the heaviest in frame, was ‘‘ God Bless our Home.” But in that place it seemed as if there was no God, no Blessing, and no Home. | What was lacking in that stiff Sunday prison. house, on that gloomy, cruel afternoon before shday, was just a little cheerful fun. We have no doubt that the child Saviour was not pinned up like a pappoose on the Jewish Sab- | bath, He sympathized with childre: but | some of His alleged followers try to crush out their children all that is calculated to make them fit for the Kingdom of Heaven, «. ‘SHE was plump and beautiful, | And he was much in love. She hated him, but, woman like, ‘To catch him well she strove. But then, you see, He was—a flea! B | ‘Tue Rev. Mr. Eaton preached last Sunday on the evils of popular literature, and in | ES GOL blood-curdiing tones told his hearers that he | and that 1s all I hare to say.” saw a boy, four years of age, reading a —= | juvenile paper with his mother’s consent! mantel, and said never a word all day. He | Then, having struck the key-note, he went on was not happy; he did not rest ; and there | t© tell that children of that tender age should was nothing to smile at. It was too cold to | "0t be allowed to read anything but the works walk out to a grave-yard, and all other open- | of George Eliot and that ilk, Indeed, it must r places of resort were forbidden. | have been a horrible sight to see a boy four On the walls were many mottoes worked in | Years of age reading a blood and thunder worst One was in big blue and yellow | Story, and preparing to be a pirate or an In- | tetters—“Our Dear Mother,” who was | ‘Hianslayer. hammering Charley on the back stairs because | | he was trying to rub some frost off the window | Justice is satisfied and Newark is free ! | to see how deep the snow was in the open lot. | But how long will Oscar Baldwin be kept in Another sampler sign, in green and red | prison? Let's see; how long does it take for worsted, was “Papa's Girl,” who was getting | @ sensation to die out? spanked in the spare bedroom by papa, be- cause she said, ‘Let's all go down to the nig- | Jonny KELLy was sercnaded the other night gerchurch and have fun.” On the mantel was | by a handorgan man. He dwelt long and achina cup, bearing in gilt letters, ‘‘ Jimmy is | lovingly on ‘‘ The Rocky Road to Dublin.” aGood Boy.” Jimmy was at that moment imprisoned in the cellar because hehad taken | Bos INGERSOLL. has replied to Talmage, the aforesaid cup down to look at it a mo | and now he says he “didn't know it was ment. loaded” when he commenced his fooling. It was a happy Sunday afternoon! Not| Try a little fellow of your size next time, ‘one good word went out from one to another. | De Witty. No smile lit the darkness of that solemn room, | No young heart that afternoon had one look | ‘Tite: to Tide: Go on, old buoy, I'm with you. comicbooks.com