Young Folk

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 13, 24 June 1893, Page 10

Young Folk

THE BABY’S ADVENTURE. There lived in a family a nice good-hum-oured and good-sized monkey. Love and charity this monkey decidedly possessed, and it was dotingly fond of the baby of the house, so fond had the monkey become of the child that they were wheeled about together by a maid-servant in a little chair. The child would cry if the monkey were taken away; and the monkey would grin, shake her cage, and chatter, if not permitted to “ take the air.’’ One day, when the nurse had slipped off to dinner, the monkey got out of its cage, and, lindmg the baby awake in the cradle and sucking its thumb, the monkey deemed that it wished for air and exercise. So, taking the child out of the crib, the poor dear monkey carried the child to the leads on the top of the bouse, and there sat with it on the edge of a gutter representing the head of a satyr, which on rainy days disgorged water immediately over the hal’d stones of the paved court below. The child was soon missed from its bed, and then the monkey from its cage, and a general search commenced, ending in the before-mentioned disclosure on the gutter The father of the infant was a sensible and an affectionate man—the two things really went together—and he did bis best to prevent tlie servants from screaming ; but. try to hush them as he might, the child, having benefited by the decidedly fresh air, thought it heard its nurse’s voice, and being hungry, cried for food. The monkey know by “ reason ” what the baby cried for ; “ instinct ” then suggested that, the mouth being open, something should be put in it. So the monkey carefully scraped all the moss, soot, and snapdragon growth that was on the roof of the house into a wad, and most kindly and assiduously stuffed it into the baby’s mouth tasting it herself first to see that it was good What the monkey thought of the taste of this food no one was near enough to tell, but she gave it all to the child. 11 ere was a dilemma —to be choked with weed and soot, or to be dashed to pieces by a fall! Horror held the entire household in suspense, when a little boy, the coachman’s son, who Knew the effect ot apples on himself, was seen to crawl along the gutter at the end of which were the monkey and the child, when the monkey, being a friend of the boy, tucked the baby under his arm, head downwards, and hobbled off to meet him. The monkey and the boyhad often exchanged civilities, the boy giving a half-rotten piece of an apple, best side uppermost, for a good nut kept for future enjoyment in the monkey’s pouch. And while they were again making their exchange, and the monkey was thumbling her cheek to get out the nut, the boy got bold of the child, and the trio, in full confidence with each other, threaded the chimneys, slid the tiles, and delivered themselves up to the anxious family. The boy was overwhelmed with thanks, »:id the poor monkey (who had erred from no want of affection, but from the confusion of intellect, reason, and instinct), was given away to a street musician.—Selected.