Golly!  Let him whistle, mother! 
    He’s just boy—­that’s all. 
  Let him be one while he can:  you’ll find it pays. 
  Jolly little baby brother! 
    When the shadows fall
      You’ll be wishin’ he was back in boyhood days! 
  If you’d been in France and seen
  All the things that I have seen—­
    Baby faces that will never
      Baby faces be again—­
    Say!  You wouldn’t check that whistle
      For a million iron men!

  Lordy! mother, let him holler! 
    He’s not hurting anything;
      And he’s carefree as a puppy—­just that gay. 
  Dirty shirt, without a collar—­
    Never was a king
      Happy as that baby yonder, yelling at his play. 
  Little kiddies over there—­
  Solemn eyes and tangled hair—­
    Ten years old?  That’s still a baby! 
      What he’s doin’s baby stuff! 
    And the dignity of manhood
      Will be comin’ quick enough!

  Let him yell and squeal and whistle,
    Rollin’ in the sand;
      Let him have the freedom of the whole back lot. 
  Things that hurt like thorn o’ thistle
    Workin’ in your hand
      You’ll be wishin’ some time that those things were not! 
  When I think of babies—­old
  From the things that can’t be told—­
    And then look at him a-dancin’,
      Singin’, shoutin’, in his joy: 
    Don’t put out a hand to stop him! 
      Mother—­let him be a boy!

William’s uncle was a very tall, fine-looking man, while his father was very small.  William admired his uncle, and wished to grow up like him.  One day he said to his mother: 

“Mama, how did uncle grow so big and tall?”

His mother said:  “Well, when uncle was a small boy he was always a very good boy, and tried to do what was right at all times; so God let him grow up big and tall.”

William thought this over seriously for a few minutes, then said:  “Mama, what kind of a boy was papa?”

See also Office boys.

BRIDES

And men relate that Mrs. Newlywed went to the grocery store to do her morning marketing.  And she was determined that the grocer should not take advantage of her youth and inexperience.

“These eggs are dreadfully small,” she criticized.

“I know it,” he answered.  “But that’s the kind the farmer brings me.  They are just fresh from the country this morning.”

“Yes,” said the bride, “and that’s the trouble with those farmers.  They are so anxious to get their eggs sold that they take them off the nest too soon!”

“Hello!  Is this you, mother, dear?”

“Yes, Sue?  What is it?  Something awful must have happened for you to call me up at this—­”

“It’s not so awful.  But, John, dear, hasn’t been feeling well and the doctor gave him pills to take every four hours.  I’ve been sitting up to give them to him, and now it’s about time for the medicine, and John has fallen asleep.  Should I wake him?”