-- PAGE 23 . So in they marched , Katy and Cecy heading the procession , and Dorry , with his great trailing bunch of boughs , bringing up the rear . -RSB- WHAT KATY DID . With Illustrations by Addie Ledyard . One handsome , square 16mo volume , bound in cloth , black and gilt lettered . Price , $ 1.50 . These books are sold by all booksellers and newsdealers everywhere . MY BOYS . Feeling that I have been unusually fortunate in my knowledge of a choice and pleasing variety of this least appreciated portion of the human race , I have a fancy to record some of my experiences , hoping that it may awaken an interest in other minds , and cause other people to cultivate the delightful , but too often neglected boys , who now run to waste , so to speak . I have often wondered what they thought of the peculiar treatment they receive , even at the hands of their nearest friends . While they are rosy , roly-poly little fellows they are petted and praised , adorned and adored , till it is a miracle that they are not utterly ruined . But the moment they outgrow their babyhood their trials begin , and they are regarded as nuisances till they are twenty-one , when they are again received into favor . Yet that very time of neglect is the period when they most need all manner of helps , and ought to have them . I like boys and oysters raw ; so , though good manners are always pleasing , I do n't mind the rough outside burr which repels most people , and perhaps that is the reason why the burrs open and let me see the soft lining and taste the sweet nut hidden inside . My first well-beloved boy was a certain Frank , to whom I clung at the age of seven with a devotion which I fear he did not appreciate . There were six girls in the house , but I would have nothing to say to them , preferring to tag after Frank , and perfectly happy when he allowed me to play with him . I regret to say that the small youth was something of a tyrant , and one of his favorite amusements was trying to make me cry by slapping my hands with books , hoop-sticks , shoes , anything that came along capable of giving a good stinging blow . I believe I endured these marks of friendship with the fortitude of a young Indian , and felt fully repaid for a blistered palm by hearing Frank tell the other boys , ` She 's a brave little thing , and you ca n't make her cry . ' My chief joy was in romping with him in the long galleries of a piano manufactory behind our house . What bliss it was to mount one of the cars on which the workmen rolled heavy loads from room to room , and to go thundering down the inclined plains , regardless of the crash that usually awaited us at the bottom !
If I could have played foot-ball on the Common with my Frank and Billy Babcock , life could have offered me no greater XXXXX at that period .
burr cloth experiences fellows girls hands interest joy portion volume