His front hair and eyebrows and beautiful long curly
lashes were singed off, and his face was so full of powder that it was
as speckled as a turkey egg. The grains would have to be picked out
one by one,--a slow and painful proceeding. The doctor could not tell
how badly his eyes were hurt until next day, but thought he would have
to lie in a dark room for a week at least, with his eyelids covered
with cotton that had been dipped in some soothing kind of medicine.
But that week went by, and many a long tiresome day besides, before
Phil could use his eyes again. They would not let me go into the room
that first day, but after Phil had gone to sleep I hid under a chair
in the upper hall, where Miss Patricia and the doctor were talking.
"Tom," said Miss Patricia, "what do you suppose made that child do
such a reckless thing? Sometimes I think that boys are like monkeys,
and are possessed by the same spirit of mischief. Neither seem
satisfied unless they are playing tricks or making some kind of a
disturbance. They are always getting into trouble."
"Yes, it does seem so," answered the doctor, "but if we could look
down to the bottom of a boy's heart, we would find that very little of
the mischief that he gets into is planned for the purpose of making
trouble. He does things from a pure love of fun, or from some sudden
impulse, and because he never stops to think of what it may lead to.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38