Miss Minerva and William Green Hill | Page 9

asked Billy. "I call him Major Minerva--"

"Gladys Maude's got the pennyskeeters," broke in Frances importantly,
fussing over her baby, "and I'm going to see Doctor Sanford. Don't you
think she looks pale, Jimmy?"
"Pale, nothing!" sneered the little boy. "Girls got to all time play their
dolls are sick. Naw; I don't know nothing a tall 'bout your Gladys
Maude."
Lina gazed up the street.
"That looks like Miss Minerva to me 'way up yonder," she remarked. "I
think we had better get away from here before she sees us."
Two little girls rolling two doll buggies fairly flew down the street and
one little boy quickly climbed to the top of the dividing fence. From
this safe vantage point he shouted to Billy, who was holding the nozzle
of the hose out of which poured a stream of water.
"You 'd better turn that water off 'cause Miss Minerva's going to be
madder 'n a green persimmon."
"I do' know how to," said Billy forlornly. "You turnt it on."
"Drop the hose and run to the hydrant and twist that little thing at the
top," screamed Jimmy. "You all time got to perpose someping to get
little boys in trouble anyway," he added ungenerously.
"You perposed this yo'self," declared an indignant Billy. "You said
Aunt Minerva's so 'ligious she wouldn't git mad."
"Christian womans can get just as mad as any other kind," declared the
other boy, sliding from his perch on the fence and running across his
lawn to disappear behind his own front door.
Holding her skirts nearly up to her knees Miss Minerva stepped
gingerly along the wet and muddy street till she got to her gate, where
her nephew met her, looking a little guilty, but still holding his head up
with that characteristic, manly air which was so attractive.

"William," she said sternly, "I see you have been getting into mischief,
and I feel it my duty to punish you, so that you may learn to be
trustworthy. I said nothing to you about the hose because I did not think
you would know how to use it."
Billy remained silent. He did not want to betray his little companions of
the morning, so he said nothing in his own defense.
"Come with me into the house," continued his aunt, "you must go to
bed at once."
But the child protested vigorously.
"Don' make me go to bed in the daytime, Aunt Minerva; me an' Wilkes
Booth Lincoln ain't never went to bed in the daytime since we's born,
an' I ain't never hear tell of a real 'ligious 'oman a-puttin' a little boy in
bed 'fore it's dark; an' I ain't never a-goin' to meddle with yo' ole hose
no mo'."
But Miss Minerva was obdurate, and the little boy spent a miserable
hour between the sheets.

CHAPTER VI
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY.
I have a present for you," said his aunt, handing Billy a long,
rectangular package.
"Thank you, ma'am," said her beaming nephew as he sat down on the
floor, all eager anticipation, and began to untie the string. His charming,
changeful face was bright and happy again, but his expression became
one of indignant amaze as he saw the contents of the box.
"What I want with a doll?" he asked angrily, "I ain't no girl."
"I think every little boy should have a doll and learn to make clothes for

it," said Miss Minerva. "I don't want you to be a great, rough boy; I
want you to be sweet and gentle like a little girl; I am going to teach
you how to sew and cook and sweep, so you may grow up a comfort to
me."
This was a gloomy forecast for the little boy accustomed, as he had
been, to the freedom of a big plantation, and he scowled darkly.
"Me an' Wilkes Booth Lincoln ain't never hafter play with no dolls
sence we's born," he replied sullenly, "we goes in swimmin' an' plays
baseball. I can knock a home-run an' pitch a curve an' ketch a fly. Why
don't you gimme a baseball bat? I already got a ball what Admiral
Farragut gimme. An' I ain't agoin' to be no sissy neither. Lina an'
Frances plays dolls, me an' Jimmy--" he stopped in sudden confusion.
"Lina and Frances and James!" exclaimed his aunt. "What do you know
about them, William?"
The child's face flushed. "I seen 'em this mornin'," he acknowledged.
Miss Minerva put a hand on either shoulder der and looked straight into
his eyes.
"William, who started that sprinkling this morning?" she questioned,
sharply.
Billy flushed guiltily and lowered his eyelids; but only for an instant.
Quickly recovering his composure he returned her gaze steadily and
ignored her question.
"I see yo' beau too, Aunt Minerva,"