A Child of the Age.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 412, 7 April 1904, Page 2

A Child of the Age.

3KIEE was a 'mauvais sujet'; at all HNW events that is what they ca'led 2KaK him—a bad lot. He grew bo accustomed to the epithet that be ceased to resent it. Very likely there was something wrong about him, a natural perversity, a rebellions and undisciplined spirit. He could climb like a rquirrel and swim like a seal; but these were not accomplishments which were highly appreciated in his home. Every Greek verb he had learned had been accentuated upon his back with a horrible bamboo cane; and yet he was far from being an expert on accents. He hated Greek with an intense and refreshing hatred; and he could express himself on the subject wita an ardor and emphasis which showtd linguistic powers of no mean order. Had he not been an only son, and a very bandsomeone at that he would have been shippedto seabefore he was fourteen years old; cut a gentleman of posit it a and weslfch cannot afford to hava it known that he hsß disposed of an only eon in that fashion And it was this consideration rather than any parental tenderness which iadaced Judge Gsmborg to persevere in bis discipline a few years longer just to see what it might lead to. He had not much hope, it is true, that the result would be anything to boast of; but then he did not demand much. He had long ceased to be ambitious for his son. If the lad would only look like a gentleman, it would be something by way of encouragement. The Judge would sometimes, in a mood of humorous despair, offer a premium of twelve cents for every day that Harold stayed combed, clean, and with skin and

clothee ia proper repair. When, at the end of Bush a day, the boy received the little piece with the head of Kiag Oscar L, he would pocket it triumphantly, ytt with the reflection that it was hard earned money. The suc:es3 of these expermenta Bometimes wonld make the Judge sanguine, and he wonld indulge the hope that perhaps Harold might, in time, be able to enter the University, and become » respectable man. Tne. wildest colts, they say, sometimes make the best horses; and if the degree of wildness were to indicate the measure of future excellence. Huoli would be a wonderful man indeed. He would stop at Nothing short of the premiership. From his earliest boyhood he had shown that he felt at home ia exUted positions. His favourite haunt 3 were roofs, glaciers, and mountain-tops. Often he would sit astride the roof-tie >

of the home, singing or shouting against the wind, while his hair was blown wildly about hia head, and the starlings and swallows, whose nests were under the Sble, flew Jeoreamiag about his ears, ion he laughed and was glad On the K" oler which was but a few mil* s from father's house, he leaped and climbed like a goat from ledge to ledge, thrusting hia Bteel-epiked.boofs into the ice, and reveling in the' excitement and danger The whippings with which he expiated these unlawful expeditions, he regarded ai, on the whole, a fair price whioh he paid for the sport i and they never discouraged him from repeating the cffenoe. la the world, as he knew it, the bamboo cane belonged to the normal order of things, and was to be accepted, along with other ills, with manly stoicism It was a miracle that he grew up; if he had come to an untimely end. his mother and hie aiater Catherine would have shed some decent tears, perbap?, but would have comforted themselves with the reflection that it was only what might have been expected. In fact, there was no one who would not have been resigned to a v calamity which would have removed him to a distance where he would cease to be a seurce of trouble. But there is no j relying upon calamities, and they never come to those who at heart would welcome tfaem, though tearfully. But when the boy one day, having secured a box of cartridges, arranged them, in geometrical figutes in his mother's cane-seat chair, and Mrs Gamborg unsuspectingly took her dinner seated upon this formidable battery, then the Judge was thoroughly troused, whipped the boy, and sent him away to school. There was no possible danger connected with that cartridge experiment, but the idea was yet so terrible to Mrs Gamborg that she fainted dead away, and when she came to refused to say a word in the boy's favor. S j away he went, -and when, at the age of eighteen, he came back, he had actually entered the University. There was great rejoicing that summer over the retained prodigal, and the fatted calf was not spared. But when the festivities were over, the family found to their dismay that Harold's transformation was less comtlete than they had supposed. He had brought home all sorts of strange and wicked notions, and not even a regard for his mother's weak nerves would restrain him from uttering them. He walked to and fro on the flier with his father by the hour, disputing with him, and contradicting the old gentleman with an audacity which made the ladies open their eyes wide in amasement. and the Judge was at times hia salf so overcome that he had to sit down and be fanned while Catherine ran for a glass cf water. It was shocking, incredibly shocking, to be told iu his own house that any common peasant or laborer had the same right to ' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' as himself — Judge Balph Thorwald' Gamborg! That the French Bevolution was not the work - of the devil, but a just uprising agaiast tyranny, a legitimate result of a deplorable condition 1 That it might become the duty of a goed citizen to oppose with his vote and influence His Majesty the King, when he went wrong I Were such heresies ever before uttered in a respectable house P They were far worse than that gui powder plot whioh might, if it had not boon for the miraculous interposition of the Lord, have launched Mrs Gamborg prematurely into eternity. But what could you expect of a boy who at fourteen cruld thus wantonly imperil his mother's life P No, there was no denying it; he was a 'mauvais so jet'—a bad lotThere was a singular unanimity in the family respecting this point. A man who could believe and unblusiiißgly assert that at a pinch, a Methodist might possibly be saved, and perhaps even a Mohammedan,—what could he be but an abandoned wretch P For, in Norway, it is well known that it is only Lutherans who are saved, because all respectability i"b Lutheran. But in spite of his deter, initiation never to engage in another dispute with such a wicked man, the Judge cculd never refrain from throwing . down the gauntlet to his son at the dinnertable i and when his arguments (on the irrefutability of which be had privately prided himself) were ruthlessly demolished, he would jump up aad pace the floor with excited gestures and at last sink down exhausted in a eofa while the' women with anxious faces fanned him and gave him brandy and consulted in whispers about the piopriety of sending for the doctor. The glano>s which on such occasions they sent Harold over their shoulders were by no means pleasant, and the contemptuous imperturbability with which he received them only deepened their conviction regarding his inherent depravity. A man who would not abandon his wicked sentiments, even though he saw that they made his father ill, must be bereft of every vestige of human feeling. It was one evening after Buoh a dispute that he went roaming discontentedly along the beach; his resthsi spirit chafed against its bars, and he looked with defiant longing toward the mountaintops behind which the great wide world spread out so gloriously. There was a soft summer twilight beneath the tkj, but the western horizon was still bright and the forest traced a black jagged line againßt the afterglow of the sunset. The surf - was high, and the thunder of its retreat went rumbling through the rocky caverns with a mighty roar. He stood still for a long time and listened; along the whole line of the coast this tremendous cannonading wag at this moment going on The thought somehow soothed him; he sat down upon a stone and leaned his head upon Mb hands; it waß Nature's tumultucus lullaby to his grief; all cares seemed evanescent in the presence of this mighty voice. And yet of what avail was it to persevere in a struggle which brought suffering, ever renewed; and joy to no one P Was there any duty which could bind a man to a life whicb thus daily crippled his growth and paraljzed his energy P No, he would rebel; be would break his chains, he j would defy heaven itself rather than submit fc) this gradual smothering in reproachful kindness, this silent condemnation on one side and outspoke l tyranny on the other. A pair of cormorants were fighting with h&reh screams oh the edge of the rock above him, ond tufts of /lack feathers were blown past him, whirling fantastically in the breeze. He gUnced up and watchel their combat with a fierce sympathy; that was, at least, an honest way of deciding a difference. The screams grew louder, and a cuiious crowd of gulls and auks gathered around to enjoy the sport. (To be continued.)

• What troubles me particularly is the fueling of fulness after I have eaten my fill,' complains the man. ' \h, yes,' say a Science, and bestirs itEelf briskly to discover some more drugs.

' I understand your friend Maerer is a lecturer,' remarked the druggist. 'He was before his marriage,' replied tie doctor.

«And what is he now P' ssked the inquisitive pill oompiler. ' He's the audience.'

'Nice princerplej them barmaids 'as, Bill. One on 'em gave me a bad chilling last night. And I han't baen able to get rid o' it yet 1'

Mr SBOodle: ' Good afternoon, Miss Annex Going for a walk P I hope I may accompany you ?'

Mies Annex : ' Yes. Dr. Sargent says we maet always walk with some object, and I suppose you will answer the purpose.'

' Lady : ' You look ill,' Shop Girl: ' I bave been, but am better new. The doctor said it was nervous pros'ration, from trying bo hard to Bmile and look pleasant when I did not feel like it.'

lady : ' I eaa sympathise with you. I krow all about it.'

Shop Girl: * Hare you ever worked at a shop ?' Lady •, ' Worte, I've moved in society.'