Harper's Young People, August 9, 1881 An Illustrated Weekly

PICNIC SAM.

BY WILL CARLETON.

You youngsters who haven't heard of Picnic Sam, Just huddle up around here where I am, And listen sharp while memory wanders to him, And brings out what he seemed like when I knew him. He lived in one of those high-stretched affairs Called tenements, up any amount of stairs; His room there, when the tired streets he forsook, Was just what room he crowded in and took. Though he "lived high," he never had the gout, And for the most part took his dinners out; Breakfast and supper were not in his way; His motto always was, One meal per day; Or rather, maybe, when you squarely met it, One meal per day, providing I can get it. His garments--well, you've stood and looked, perhaps, At those plump, little, beaming, made-up chaps, With nobby coats, and smiling painted faces, The clothing dealer in his window places (To make meat children envious, I suppose): Well, Sam wasn't dressed at all like one of those. Raiment like his no lively lad enjoys; It had been cut for several different boys; And, taking garments as they come and go, He had about one suit--or nearly so. Still, dry-goods are of life a small-sized part: A bad coat often hides a first-class heart. His face suggested, to the casual sight, A bull-dog's when he's waiting for a fight; And on it might be traced full many a streak, As though it were not laundered once a week. And yet his eyes were handsome, for a fact (That is, of course, the one that was not blacked, For he had fighting--more or less--to do); But his well eye looked rather good and true.

You youngsters, huddle round here where I am-- I'll tell you why they called him Picnic Sam. This young home heathen had, by day and night, A regular first-class picnic appetite; And, with a zeal good children stood in fear of, Attended every picnic he could hear of. When Sunday-schools were going to have "a spread," He'd always join, a week or two ahead; And though no "verses" he had ever learned, Tried to look serious like and deep concerned, And (if some good boy he was sitting near) Would answer every question, loud and clear. 'Twas strange, when near the time of feasting came, How sure a school was to get Samuel's name. "Why," said a teacher, rather prone to scoff, "He'll smell a picnic full a fortnight off." 'Twas strange, in different schools he ravaged round in, What various kinds of classes he'd be found in. Three times he actually tried to pass As member of an old folks' Bible class; And once appeared (rough brick-bat among pearls) In a small timid infant class of girls! But in whatever company he came, His appetite stood by him all the same. No picnic near, in weather foul or pleasant, But Sam and stomach managed to be present. And when, with innocent, unconscious air, He placed himself at table, firm and square, With one eye partly closed, the other looking Intently at the different styles of cooking, And when, with savage-gleaming knife and fork, He brought himself down seriously to work, And marched through every dish in conquering glory, And ravaged all the adjacent territory, Making the table for some distance round Look like a fiercely hard-fought battle-ground, A smile upon his placid face would fall, As if life wasn't a failure, after all.

But when the exciting dinner hour was gone, Sam always felt quite uncalled-for and alone; Felt snubbed and frozen and made quiet game of-- Slights that he didn't even know the name of, But which he sensed as keenly (do not doubt it) As if some foe had told him all about it. He always felt by that vague feeling haunted That hangs around folks when they are not wanted. Because a boy is greedy, dull, and droll, It needn't follow that he hasn't a soul; Because his stomach craves more than its part, It's no sign he was born without a heart; Though ragged, poor, or coarse, or impolite, He may resent a wrong or feel a slight. 'Tis dangerous work, this making game of folks, Thinking, perhaps, they do not heed your jokes. Don't fool yourself; for, ten to one, they know it, And feel it worse in laboring not to show it.

Well, on one day particularly fine, Sam felt himself invited to help dine In a small grove, green, shady, fresh, and cool, A recently discovered Sunday-school: Which, when he'd joined, he'd muttered, "This'll pass; It's a swell crowd; the board'll be first-class." And so it was; and for an hour or more Sam slew things as he never did before. Wondering, with a gastronomic smile, Where all these victuals'd been all this long while; And made the teachers feel a great surprise That they'd so underrated their supplies; And in his stomach could not but confess That life to-day was one good square success.

Then, after dinner, feeling perk and smart, He tried to make a little social start, And frisk and frolic round, like any other, And be accepted as a boy and brother. But all the children shrank, with scarce-hid loathing, From a strange lad in such imperfect clothing; And soon Sam's face a misty sadness wore, As if to say, "I b'lieve I'm snubbed once more." He tried to put them under obligations With street accomplishments and fascinations: In turning somersaults and hand-springs led, Whistled and sang, danced, stood upon his head; Even tried a friendly sparring match, till taken Right in the act, misunderstood, and shaken (By the strong mother of the lad he battled), Till the provisions in him fairly rattled. But whatsoe'er he did, discreet or bold, It seemed to drive him further in the cold.

The grove was near a river; on whose brink Samuel sat down, with lots of time to think, And watch some light boats swiftly past him go, With happy children flitting to and fro, Content to see him safe and dry on land. And he thought, "No, I ain't much in demand."

Just then a trim young miss came tripping by, With golden hair, and more than handsome eye; And Sam remarked, his face full of glad creases, "That's the smart girl that scooped 'em speakin' pieces; I wonder if she learned hers like a song, Or made the speech up as she went along. She came out first, though last upon the track, But spoke so long it held the dinner back; Still, what she said was sweet an' soothin' rather, 'Bout how 'We all are children of one Father.' If that's so, she's half-sister unto me-- At least I think I'll speak to her, and see." Then, thinking pleasantly to clear the way, He shouted, "Miss, this 'ere's a pleasant day." But she flounced on, more haughty than before; And Sam remarked, "I b'lieve I'm snubbed once more."

While, roughly sad, the boy sat musing yet, He heard a shout, "Help! help! our boat's upset!" And following with his eyes the fear-edged scream, Sam saw three children struggling in the stream. And two were rescued; one went 'neath a wave; The waters closed above her like a grave. She sank, apparently to rise no more, While frantic crowds ran up and down the shore, And, 'mid the turmoil, each one did his best, Shouting first-class instructions to the rest. "It's the swell girl," thought Sam, "that's made this row; I wonder how she likes the weather now. I'd save her--if it wasn't too much bother-- 'Good deeds for evil--children of one Father.' I rather think she's gone down there to stay; She can't be yelled up, if they try all day. Wonder, if I should save her, 'twould be bold. I've dove for pennies--s'pose I dive for gold." Then throwing off his coat--what there was of it-- He plunged into the water, rose above it, Plunged in again, and came once more to air, Grasping a pretty golden tress of hair, And a fine, stylish, shapely girl attached, With pale, sweet face, and lips that with it matched. He held her up till strong arms came from shore; And soon she raised her eyes, and lived once more.

But Sam, poor boy, exhausted, choked, and beaten With the prodigious dinner he had eaten, Strangled and sank beneath the river's brim; And no one seemed to care to dive for him. Indeed, 'twas hard from the cold waves to win him, With such a large part of the picnic in him; And when at last he came out with "a haul," The school had one dead pupil, after all.

Poor drenched, dead hero!--in his tattered dress Sam now was a society success. They crowded round the dead boy as he lay, And talked about him in a mournful way; And from the teachers efforts did not lack To resurrect and bring their scholar back: They thronged about him, kept from him the air, Founded him, pumped him, shook him up with care; But useless was their toil, do all they could: Sam and his dinner had gone on for good.

Nothing too nice that could be done and said For this poor fellow--now that he was dead. His casket was the finest and the best: He went to his own funeral richly dressed. They rigged him out in very pretty trim; A rich, first-class procession followed him, That reached the farthest distance up and down, Of any often witnessed in that town; And all the children, shedding tears half-hid, Threw evergreens upon Sam's coffin lid.

Now when you're tempted scornfully to smile, If a poor boy doesn't come up to your style, Or shrink from him as though perhaps he'll bite you, Because he has some points that don't delight you, Or think, because your "set" can do without him, There's nothing much desirable about him, Just recollect that squeamishness is sham, And drop a kind thought on poor Picnic Sam.

LESSON STORIES.

[Written for the Young People's Natural History Society.]

BY GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON.

THE BABY ELEPHANT'S NUT-CRACKER.

I suppose every reader of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE has seen an elephant eat pea-nuts. Of course every boy who goes to a show has pea-nuts in his pocket, because pea-nuts seem somehow to be a part of the show. Sometimes I think they are almost a part of the boy, for that matter. Well, having pea-nuts in one's pocket, and being inside the show, it is quite a matter of course to feed pea-nuts to the elephant. The fun lies in the ridiculous difference of size between the pea-nut and the elephant; it seems in a high degree absurd that so huge a creature should care for so small a thing to eat, and the wonder is that the elephant does not lose the nut somewhere in his great mouth. If he could get pea-nuts by the pint, instead of singly, the wonder would be less.

But how many boys and girls ever saw the baby elephant eat pea-nuts? He does it in a way entirely different from that of his father and mother. He does not like the shells, and so he cracks the nuts as carefully as any boy does, and his method of doing this is as curious as anything about him. I found out his trick by accident one day, when the baby elephant was a very little fellow indeed, weighing not more than five hundred pounds or so. I had taken three boys with me to the show, and of course each of us had a pocket full of pea-nuts. When we came to inspect the baby elephant, we offered him a nut. He took it with the fingers at the end of that wonderful trunk of his, but did not place it in his mouth, as his father or mother would have done. He laid it on the ground instead, and raising one of his great clumsy-looking feet, swept it backward so near the ground as to catch the nut between the foot and the hard earth, cracking it very neatly without crushing it. He knew enough not to step on the nut, and he used his foot so dextrously that a single stroke separated the kernel from the shell. Then he picked up the kernel with his trunk, put it in his mouth, and ate it with as keen a relish as if he had been a boy at recess.