would_ perch on his father's shoulder, and thence
look down upon me and the world in general. Difficulties finally
reached a climax. I protested in the name of correct drawing and the
eternal laws of perspective, and, fairly roused by my pleading, the
father sternly motioned the son to follow him into the next room.... At
last, I thought, the "right of the strongest" will be vindicated, and
that child will be thrashed.

But if I expected howling and gnashing of teeth, I was to be
disappointed. Nothing broke the silence, until, after some time, the
door opened, and father and son reappeared. Robert took his place,
clutched the cord attached to the toboggan, and listened with rapt
attention to his father's words; these were spoken slowly and
impressively, giving me time to apply whatever faculty for correct
drawing I might possess. As he sought to spin out his words, so will I,
for obvious reasons, seek to curtail them, only adding that, to do them
justice, they should be read with the characteristic American
accentuation which seems to give importance to some words that we should
slide over.

"Sir," he began solemnly, "Robert wishes me to communicate to you what
has passed between us during our absence from this room. It did not take
me long to elicit from him the fact that he has no desire to see his
portrait finished. He has even assured me that, as far as he was
concerned, it need never have been painted at all. He further stated
that he at no time had formed a desire to visit Chicago, and that he
much preferred Omaha to that city. Also, he said--and, I think, with
some show of reason--that, having no playmates here, he would like to
return to those he has left behind, more especially to his brothers and
sisters. Now, sir, you are aware that I, on the other hand, wished him
to make it possible for you to finish that portrait, and I could see no
cause why I should recede from that position; so I politely but firmly
requested him to do as I desire. There are, no doubt, some boys who,
when thus thwarted and opposed, would not have hesitated to strike their
fathers, but Robert is not a boy of that description, he would at all
times respect his father's independence. Still, you see, we were at what
you might call loggerheads. We had gotten fixed like in a dark place
with no door behind us, the windows left out, and a stone wall in front.
Under these circumstances I cast about in my mind, and it occurred to me
we should d