The switch hovered in the air—the peril
was desperate- "My!Look behind you，aunt!" The old lady whirled
round，and snatched her skirts out of danger．The lad fled on the
itant，scrambled up the high board fence，and disappeared overit． His
aunt Polly stood surprised a moment．and men broke into a gentle
laugh． "Hang the boy，can''t I never learn anything?Ain''t he played
me~icks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this
time?But old fools is the biggest fools there is．Can''t learn an old
dog new tricks，as the saying is．But my goodness，he never plays them
alike，two days，and how is a body to know what''s coming?He''pea to
know just how long he can torment me before I get my dander up，and
he knows if he can make out to put me offfor a minute or make me
laugh，it''s all down again and I can''t hit him a lick．I ain''t doing
my duty by that boy，and that''s the Lord''s truth，goodness
knows．Spare the rod and spile the child， as the Good Book says．I''m
a．1aying up sin and suffering for us both，I know．He''s full ofthe
Old Scratch，but laws．a—me!he''s my own dead sister''s boy，poor thing，
and I ain''t got the heart to lash him，somehow．Every time I 1et him
off, my cocience does hurt me so．and every time I hit him my old
heart most breaks．Well．a．well．man that is born of woman is of few
days and full of trouble，as the Scripture says，and I reckon it''s so
．He''11 play hooky this evening，and I''11 just be obleeged to make
him work，to-morrow，to punish him．It''s mighty hard to make him work
Saturdays，when a11 the boys is having holiday，but he hates work
more than he hates anything else，and I''ve got to do some ofmy duty
by him，or I''ll be the ruination ofthe child" Tom did play hooky，and
he had a very good time．He got back home barely in season to help
Jim，the small colored boy，saw next day''s wood and split the
kindlings before supper-at least he was there in time to tell his
adventures to Jim while Jim did three．fourths of the work．Tom''s
younger brotheror rather half -brotherSid was already through
with his part of the work picking up chips，for he was a quiet
boy，and had no adventurous，troublesome ways． While Tom was eating
his supper，and stealing sugar as opportunity offered，Aunt Polly
asked him questio that were full of guile，and verydeep——for she
wanted to trap him into damaging revealments．Likemany other
simple—hearted souls，it was her pet vanity to believe she was
endowed with a talent for dark and mysterious diplomacy，and she
loved tocontemplate her most traparent devices as marvels of low
cunning．Saidshe： "Tom，it was middling warlll in school，warn''t it?"
"Yes''m．" 。 "Powerful warm，warn''t it?" "Yes''m．" "Didn''t you want to
go in a-swimming．Tom?" A bit of a scare shot through Tom——a touch
of uncomfortablesuspicion．He searched Aunt Polly''S face，but it told
him nothing．So hesaid： ‘''No''m—well．not very much．" The old lady
reached out her hand and felt Tom''S shirt，and said： "But you ain''t
too warlnow，though．"And it flattered her to reflectthat she had
discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowingthat that
was what she had in her mind．But in spite of her．Tom knewwhere the
wind lay，now．So he forestalled what might be the next move： "Some
ofus pumped on our heads—mine''S damp yet．See?" Aunt Polly was vexed
to think she had overlooked that bit ofcircumstantial evidence，and
missed a trick．Then she had a newipiration： "Tom，you didn''t have to
undo your shirt collar where I sewed it．topump on your head，did
you?Unbutton your jacket!" The trouble vanished out of Tom''S
face．He opened his jacket． Hisshirt collar was securely sewed．
"Bother!Well，go''long with you．I''d made sure you''d played hookyand
been a-swimming．But I forgive ye．Tom．I reckon you''re a kind of
asinged cat，as the saying is—better''n you look．This time．" She was
half sorry her sagacity had miscarried，and half glad that Tomhad
stumbled into obedient conduct for once．P1-P2
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