ly
well calculated to beautify the keys; she has had to interfere in
Sammie's well-meant efforts to instruct his small brother in the art of
being an Indian who can whoop and scalp all in the same breath, thereby
incurring for the moment Sammie's undying hatred; she has heard Sammie
using language which an inconsiderate hired man has not scrupled to use
in Sammie's presence; she has, with terror in her soul, watched him at
play with a knife which some friend of the family who admires Sammie had
given him, and has again incurred his enmity by finally, to avoid
nervous prostration, taken that treasure from him. In short, she has
passed a day of real tragedy. Sammie is farce to me, comedy to his
father, and tragedy to his mother. Cannot something be done for her? Is
there no way by means of which Sammie can be entertained during the day,
for entertained he must be, that does not utterly destroy the nervous
system of his mother? Can't some inventive genius who has studied the
small boy, who knows the little ins and outs of his nature, and who,
above all, sympathizes with those ins and outs, put his mind on the life
of the woman of domestic inclination, and do something to make her life
less of a burden and more of a joy?"

"You are the man to do it," said the Bibliomaniac. "An inventive genius
such as you are ought to be able to solve the problem."

"Perhaps he ought to be," said the Idiot; "but we are not all what we
ought to be, I among the number. Almost anything seems possible to me
until I think of the mother at home all day with a dear, sweet, bright,
energetic boy like Sammie. Then, I confess, I am utterly at a loss to
know what to do."

And then, as none of the boarders had any solution of the problem to
suggest, I presume there was none among them who knew "How To Be
Tranquil Though A Mother."

Perhaps when women take up invention matters will seem more hopeful.

XII

Dreamaline

"Well, Mr. Idiot," said Mr. Pedagog, as the guests gathered about the
table, "how goes the noble art of invention with you? You've been at it
for some time now. Do you find that you have succeeded in your
self-imposed mission and made the condition of the civilized less
unbearable?"

"Frankly, Mr. Pedagog, I have failed," said the Idiot, sadly. "Failed
egregiously. I cannot find that of all the many schemes I have evolved
for the benefit of the human race any single one has been adopted by
those who would be benefited. W