Oscar | Page 4

door opened with a jerk and a
push, and in bounded three boys, with as little display of manners or
propriety as so many savages might exhibit. The oldest directed his
steps to the closet, singing, as he peered round among the eatables:
"Eggs, cheese, butter, bread,-- Stick, stock, stone-dead."
"Biddy," he continued, "I 'm hungry--give me something to eat, quick."
Bridget paid no attention to this demand, but only twitched her needle
with a little more energy.
"I say, Biddy," continued the boy, "what did you have for supper?
Come, give me some, I 'm half starved."
"And why did n't ye come when the supper was ready, if ye wanted

any?" said Bridget. "If ye won't ate with the rest, it's not me that will
wait upon ye, Master Oscar."
"Well," continued Oscar, "if you won't help me, I guess I can help
myself. Ralph, what did you have for supper?"
The boy addressed named over several articles, among which were
cake and mince-pie, neither of which could Oscar find in the closet.
"Where did you put the pie, Biddy?" he inquired.
"It 's where ye won't find it," replied Bridget, "that's jist where it is."
"I bet I will find it, come now," said Oscar, with a determined air; and
he commenced the search in earnest, prying into every covered dish,
opening every drawer and bucket, and overhauling and disarranging
every part of the closet. Bridget was just then in too irritable a mood to
bear this provoking invasion of her realm with patience. In an angry
tone, she ordered the intruder to leave the closet, but he took no notice
of the command. She repeated the order, making it more emphatic by
calling him a "plague" and a "torment," but he did not heed it. Then she
threatened to tell his parents of his misconduct, but this had no effect.
Oscar continued his search for some minutes, but without success; and
he finally concluded to make his supper of bread and butter, since he
could find nothing more tempting to his appetite.
The fact was, Oscar was getting in the habit of being absent from his
meals, and calling for food at unseasonable hours, much to the
annoyance of Bridget. She had complained of this to his mother several
times, without effect; and now she thought she would try a little
expedient of her own. So, when she cleared away the supper-table that
evening, before Oscar came home, she hid away the cake and pies with
which the others had been served, and left only bread and butter in the
closet. She gained her end, but the boy, in rummaging for the hidden
articles, had made her half an hour's extra work, in putting things to
rights again.
As Oscar stepped out of the closet, after his solitary supper, he moved

towards the youngest of the other boys, saying:
"Here, George, open your mouth and shut your eyes, and I 'll give you
something to make you wise."
George declined the gift, but Oscar insisted, and tried to force it upon
him. A struggle ensued, and both rolled upon the floor, the one crying
and screaming with anger, and the other laughing as though he
considered it good fun. George shut his teeth firmly together, but Oscar
succeeded in rubbing enough of the mysterious article upon his lips to
enable him to tell what it was. It proved to be a piece of pepper, a plate
of which Oscar had found in the closet.
This little experiment, however, did not leave George in a very pleasant
frame of mind. It was some time before he got over his blubbering and
pouting. Oscar called him a "cry-baby," for making such a fuss about a
little bit of pepper, which epithet did not aid him much in forgetting the
injury he had received.
After awhile, quiet and harmony were in a measure restored. Ralph and
George got their school-books, and began to look over the lessons they
were to recite in the morning; but Oscar not only remained idle, himself,
but seemed to try to interrupt them as much as possible, by his remarks.
By-and-bye, finding they did not take much notice of his observations,
he took from his jacket pocket a small tin tube, and commenced
blowing peas through it, aiming them at his brothers, at Bridget, and at
the lamp. Ralph, after two or three had taken effect on his face, got up
in a pet, and took his book up stairs to the sitting-room. George
scowled and scolded, as the annoying pellets flew around his head, but
he did not mean to be driven away by such small shot. Bridget, too,
soon lost her patience, as the peas rattled upon the newly-swept floor.
"Git away with yer