THE PROUD YOUNG FATHER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 23 June 1891, Page 4

THE PROUD YOUNG FATHER.

The story is of a proud and devoted father. The baby was his first, atid he wanted to wciyh it. " It's a bumper !" he exclaimed. " Where are the scales?" The domestic hunted up an old-fashioned pair that had come down from a former generation. It was the only weighing machine in the house. The baby, wrapped in the fleecy ibids of some light fabric, was suspended from the hook, and the proud young father assumed charge of the operation. " I'll try it at eifiht pounds," he saidj sliding the wci,;ht along the beam to that figure; "It won't do ; she weighs Qver so much mote than that." He slid the weight along several notches farther. "By George !" he said; "she weighs :nore than ten pounds! Klcvcn — twelve — thirteen — fourteen! Is. it possible ?" He set the baby and scales down and rested himself a moment". \ "Biggest baby I ever saw," he panted, resuming the weighing process. " Fifteen and a, half — sixteen. This thing won't weigh her. See I Sixteeen is the last notch, and sKe jerks it up like a feather. Go and get a big pair of scales at some neighbour's, I'll bet a tenner that she weighs over twenty pounds. Millie," he shoutsd, rushing into' ihe next room, "she's the biggest baby, in this country. Weighs over sixteen pounds.", " What did you weigh her on ?" inquired the young mother. "On the old scales in the kitchen." "The figures on those are only ounces," she replied quietly. " Bring me the baby, John."