“Jane and Willie and Susan will all feel somewhat vexed and displeased
at your jokes,—will they not, my son?”
“Yes, sir, I suppose they will,” answered Arthur; “but, then, I want to
have a little fun on April Fool’s Day.”
“It is poor fun to make others unhappy. I have no objection to your
playing jokes or tricks, as you call them, upon your brother and sister
and Susan; but I should like to have you think of something which would
please them, instead of making them vexed.”
“But, father, I cannot think of any tricks of that kind.”
“I will help you a little, Arthur, and then you will understand what I
mean. We will take the trick which you intended to play upon Susan, for
instance. Now, if, instead of putting water in the pail, and deceiving
her by making her think it is milk, you should rise early, and really
bring her the milk, you might still have a pleasant joke by putting the
pail in the place where it usually stands when it is empty, instead of
on the table where you leave it when it is filled. Then Susan will be
greatly surprised when she takes it up, intending to go for the milk.”
Arthur’s face grew very bright again.
“Oh, yes, father! I shall like that plan very much: it is much better
than my own. And how shall I manage about Willie and Jane?”
“Try to think of some way yourself, Arthur. Only remember to have your
joke of a kind that will give pleasure, and not pain.”
“I know of a grand trick to play upon Jane, father, if you will let me
run to the shop and spend my bright half-dollar that my grandfather gave
me. Jane has a hole in her thimble, and she pricked her finger sadly
to-day. Now, I can buy a nice new thimble for her, and take her old one
from her work-basket, and put the new one in its place. How surprised
she will be! May I do this, father?”
“If you feel willing to spend your money for your sister, I shall be
glad to have you do so, Arthur.”
“I am willing, father. And now for Willie; what shall I do for him? I
think I must drop a little parcel where he will pick it up, father; but
I will not put sticks and stones in it. I have some nice candies in my
pocket, which a boy at school gave me. Willie does not know that I have
them; and I will put them into his paper. How he will wonder where they
came from!”
Mr. Willard felt much pleased to see how readily Arthur followed his
advice; and the little boy himself felt far happier now that his plans
for the jokes of the next day were all of a kind to make others happy.
The thimble was bought; the package of candy tied up, and carefully
placed where Willie would be sure to find it. Every thing succeeded
quite to Arthur’s satisfaction. He awoke very early, and, stealing
softly from the house, brought the milk, and replaced the pail in the
closet.
Susan came out of her room somewhat later than usual, and hurried
around, fearful that her breakfast would not be ready at the appointed
hour. She did not observe Arthur, who had seated himself where he
thought he should be unnoticed, that he might enjoy her surprise. He
came very near laughing aloud when he heard Susan exclaim, as she
hastily tied on her bonnet and ran to the closet,—
“Oh, dear, I must go for the milk! I was so in hopes that Arthur would
have got it for me this morning!”
Arthur held his hand tightly over his mouth; but when he saw Susan lift
the pail up suddenly, and then quickly take off the cover to see what
made it so heavy, he could no longer keep quiet, but with a merry laugh
bounded from his hiding-place, exclaiming,—
“Now, Susan, didn’t I tell you I would play a trick on you to-day?”
Susan smiled pleasantly, and said she did not care how many tricks he
played on her if they were all as good as that.
Next came Willie, full of wonder at the contents of the package which he
had found in the box where he kept the corn for his chickens.
“Only think, Arthur,” said he; “the door of the chicken-house was
locked, so no one could have got in last night, and yet I feel sure that
this was not there when I fed the chickens at supper-time. Such nice
candy! Do you think it will be right for us to eat it, or must we try to
find out to whom it belongs?”
There was such a roguish look on Arthur’s face, as he replied that he
thought there would be no harm in eating it, that Willie began to
understand the joke; and, well pleased, he divided the candy with his
brother and sister.
But Arthur felt still more pleased when little Jane took up her
work-basket with a sigh, saying,—
“I will try to hem the handkerchief you wish me to, mother; but my
thimble has such a great hole in it, that the head of my needle pricks
my finger every few minutes.”
What a joyful surprise,—to find the old thimble missing, and a bright
new one in its place! It would have been hard to tell which felt the
most pleased, Jane or Arthur. Both were delighted; and we are very sure
that Arthur did not once regret that he had spent his half-dollar for
his sister’s pleasure.
When evening came, and Mr. Willard was at leisure to sit down with his
children, Arthur had many funny stories to tell of the pleasant jokes
which he had played through the day.
Charley Mason, one of his schoolmates, had torn a large hole in his kite
when they were flying it at recess. At noon, he hurried home for his
dinner; intending, if possible, to return in season to mend the kite,
and have another play, before school commenced in the afternoon. Arthur,
having brought his dinner with him in the morning, was not obliged to
return home; and he carefully mended the kite while Charley was absent.
“It was such fun to see him turn it over and over, and look for the
hole!” continued Arthur, as he told the story to his father; “and Johnny
Gardiner looked almost as funny when he found a long slate-pencil in his
desk, which I had slyly slipped in, just as he had made up his mind to
go and tell the teacher the old story,—that he had no pencil. Johnny
does not like to tell Miss Grant that very well, for he is famous for
losing his pencil.
“And, father, I played a nice joke on Miss Grant. She thought I could
not learn so long a lesson in geography as she had given to the rest of
the class, because I am younger than the others, and have never been
through the book before. So she told me to take half of the lesson; but
I studied hard, and learned the whole. When we were reciting, she
stopped when she had heard about half, and said, ‘You may take your seat
now, Arthur.’
“‘Thank you, ma’am,’ I answered; ‘but I can say it all.’
“Then she looked surprised, and said I must have worked very hard.
“But, father, that book _is_ too hard for me; and Miss Grant told me to
ask you to buy one more suitable. I wish you would, father: I love to
study geography. Henry Williams has such a beauty! all full of pictures.
Oh, how I should like one like that!”
“We must think about it,” replied Mr. Willard. “And now, Arthur, I must
attend to some writing for a little while, and you may look over your
lessons for to-morrow.”
“Yes, father, my geography: I always have to study that in the evening.”
And, with a little sigh, Arthur went for his satchel of books. But it
was now his turn to find a pleasant joke; for the old geography had been
taken from the bag, and in its place was one exactly like the “beauty”
owned by Henry Williams, upon the blank leaf of which was written,
“Arthur Willard; from his father, April first, eighteen hundred
fifty-six.”