SCHOOL DAYS.
Nicholas Ribsam proceeded to show Master Herbert Watrous what he meant
to do about it.
Paying no heed to the formidable attitude of the city youth, Nick rushed
straight upon him, and embracing him about the waist so as to pinion his
arms, he threw him flat upon the ground with great emphasis. Then, while
Herbert lay on his face, vainly struggling to rise, Nick sat down
heavily on his back. Although he could have used his fists with great
effect, Nick declined to do so; but, rising some six or eight inches, he
sat down on him again, and then repeated the performance very fast,
bounding up and down as a man is sometimes seen to do when a horse is
trotting; descending each time on the back of Herbert with such vigor
that the breath was almost forced from his body.
"Let me up!" shouted the victim, in a jerky, spasmodic manner, as the
words were helped out; "that ain't the right way to fight: that isn't
fair."
"It suits me better as nefer vas," replied the grinning Nick, banging
himself down on the back of the struggling Herbert, until the latter
began to cry and ask the boys to pull Nick off.
No one interfered, however, and when the conqueror thought he had
flattened out the city youth to that extent that he would never acquire
any plumpness again, he rose from his seat and allowed Herbert to climb
upon his feet.
Never was a boy more completely cowed than was this vaunting youth, on
whom all the others had looked with such admiration and awe. He meekly
picked up his hat, brushed off the dirt, and looking reproachfully at
Nick said:
"Do you know you broke two of my ribs?"
"I dinks I brokes dem _all_: dat's what I meant to do; I will try him
agin."
"No, you won't!" exclaimed Herbert, darting off in a run too rapid for
the short legs of Nick to equal.
Nick Ribsam had conquered a peace, and from that time forth he suffered
no persecution at school. Master Herbert soon after went back to his
city home, wondering how it was that a small, dumpy lad, four years
younger than he, was able to vanquish him so completely when all the
science was on the side of the elder youth.
Young as was Nick Ribsam, there was not a boy in the school who dared
attempt to play the bully over him. The display he had given of his
prowess won the respect of all.
Besides this he proved to be an unusually bright scholar. He dropped his
faulty accent with astonishing rapidity, and gained knowledge with great
facility. His teacher liked him, as did all the boys and girls, and when
he was occasionally absent he was missed more than half a dozen other
lads would have been.
The next year Nick brought his sister Nellie to school. He came down the
road, holding her fat little hand in his, while her bright eyes peered
out from under her plain but odd-looking hat in a timid way, which
showed at the same time how great her confidence was in her big brother.
Nellie looked as much like Nick as a sister can look like a brother.
There were the same ruddy cheeks, bright eyes, sturdy health, and
cleanly appearance. Her gingham pantalettes came a little nearer the
tops of her shoes, perhaps than was necessary, but the dress, with the
waist directly under the arms, would have been considered in the height
of fashion in late years.
One daring lad ventured to laugh at Nellie, and ask her whether she had
on her father's or mother's shoes, but when Nick heard of it he told the
boy that he would "sit down" on any one that said anything wrong to
Nellie. Nothing of the kind was ever hinted to the girl again. No one
wished to be "sat down" on by the Pennsylvania Hollander who banged the
breath so utterly from the body of the city youth who had aroused his
wrath.
The common sense, sturdy frame, sound health, and mental strength of the
parents were inherited in as marked a degree by the daughter Nellie as
by Nick. She showed a quickness of perception greater than that of her
brother; but, as is generally the case, the boy was more profound and
far-reaching in his thoughts.
After Nick had done his chores in the evening and Nellie was through
helping her mother, Gustav, the father, was accustomed to light his
long-handled pipe, and, as he slowly puffed it while sitting in his
chair by the hearth, he looked across to his boy, who sat with his slate
and pencil in hand, preparing for the morrow. Carefully watching the
studious lad for a few minutes, he generally asked a series of
questions:
"Nicholas, did you knowed your lessons to-day?"
"Yes, sir."
"Did you know efery one dot you knowed?"
"Yes, sir,--every one," answered Nick respectfully, with a quiet smile
over his father's odd questions and sentences. The old gentleman could
never correct or improve his accent, while Nick, at the age of ten,
spoke so accurately that his looks were all that showed he was the child
of German parents.
"Did nopody gif you helps on der lessons?"
"Nobody at all."
"Dot is right; did you help anypodies?"
"Yes, sir,--three or four of the girls and some of the boys asked me to
give them a lift--"
"Gif dem _vat_?"
"A lift--that is, I helped them."
"Dot ish all right, but don't let me hears dot nopody vos efer helping
_you_; if I does--"
And taking his pipe from his mouth, Mr. Ribsam shook his head in a way
which threatened dreadful things.
Then the old gentleman would continue smoking a while longer, and more
than likely, just as Nick was in the midst of some intricate problem, he
would suddenly pronounce his name. The boy would look up instantly, all
attention.
"Hef you been into any fights mit nopodies to-day?"
"I have not, sir; I have not had any trouble like that for a long
while."
"Dot is right--dot is right; but, Nick, if you does get into such bad
tings as fightin', don't ax nopodies to help you; _takes care mit
yorself!_"
The lad modestly answered that he did not remember when he had failed to
take care of himself under such circumstances, and the father resumed
his pipe and brown study.
The honest German may not have been right in every point of his creed,
but in the main he was correct, his purpose being to implant in his
children a sturdy self-reliance. They could not hope to get along at all
times without leaning upon others, but that boy who never forgets that
God has given him a mind, a body, certain faculties and infinite powers,
with the intention that he should cultivate and use them to the highest
point, is the one who is sure to win in the great battle of life.
Then, too, every person is liable to be overtaken by some great
emergency which calls out all the capacities of his nature, and it is
then that false teaching and training prove fatal, while he who has
learned to develop the divine capacities within him comes off more than
conqueror.