Don't you be saucy, Boys
"What are you grinning at, boys?" angrily demanded an old gentleman
seated beside a meandering stream, of two schoolboys, who were watching
him from behind a high paling at his rear.--"Don't you know a little
makes fools laugh."
"Yes, sir! that's quite true, for we were laughing at what you've
caught!"
"Umph! I tell you what, my lads, if I knew your master, I'd pull you up,
and have you well dressed."
"Tell that to the fishes," replied the elder, "when you do get a bite!"
"You saucy jackanapes! how dare you speak to me in this manner?"
"Pray, sir, are you lord of the manor? I'm sure you spoke to us first,"
said the younger.
"More than that," continued his companion. "We are above speaking to
you, for you are beneath us!"
The old gentleman, rather nettled at the glibness of the lads, stuck a
hook vengefully into an inoffensive worm, and threw his line.
The boys still retained their post, and after many whispered remarks and
tittering, the younger thrust his handkerchief into his mouth to smother
a burst of irrepressible laughter, while the other, assuming a modest and
penitent air, said:
"I beg your pardon, sir."
"What?" demanded the old gentleman sharply.
"Hope you are not offended, sir?"
"Get along with you," replied the unfortunate angler, irritated at his
want of success.
"I can tell you something, sir," continued the lad;--"there's no fish to
be had where you are. I know the river well. Father's very fond o'
fish; he always brings home plenty. If you like, sir, I can show you the
place."
Here his companion rolled upon the grass and kicked, perfectly convulsed
with laughter, luckily hidden from the view of the now mollified old
gentleman.
"Indeed!" cried the angler: "is it far from this?"
"Not a quarter of a mile," replied the boy.
"That is nothing. I've walked eighteen this morning," said the old
gentleman, packing up his apparatus. "I'll go with you directly, and
thank you too, for I'm a perfect stranger in these parts."
When he had joined them, the laughing fits of the younger had subsided,
although he chose to fall in the rear. "Now, to shew you how much more
profitable it is to respect than to mock at your superiors in years,
there's a (let me see)--there's a halfpenny for you to purchase cakes."
"Thank ye, sir," said he, and turning to his companion with a wink: "Here
Bill, run to Cummins' and buy a ha'p'orth of eights--we'll make the most
of it--and I'll come to you as soon as I've shown the gentleman the
fish."
"Show me the place, and I'll find the fish," said the anticipating
angler.
On they trudged.
"Must we go through the town?" asked his companion, as he marched with
his long rod in one hand and his can in the other.
"Yes, sir, it ain't far;" and he walked on at a quicker pace, while all
the crowd of rustics gazed at t e extraordinary appearance of the armed
Waltonian, for it happened to be market-day. After parading him in this
fashion nearly through the town, he presently twitched him by his
coat-sleeve.
"Look there, sir!" cried he, pointing to a well-stocked fishmonger's.
"Beautiful!--what a quantity!" exclaimed the venerable piscator.
"I thought you'd like it, sir--that's the place for fish, sir,--good
morning."
"Eh! what--you young dog?"
"That's where father gets all his, I assure you, sir,--good morning,"
said the youth, and making a mock reverence, bounded off as fast as his
legs could carry him.