Child abuse -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Juvenile fiction; Orphans -- Juvenile fiction
Johnnie had eaten through a perfect menu only as an unfillable boy can.
So he dismissed Buckle with a thousand-dollar bill, and the two
travelers were off, Johnnie making a great deal of jolly noise as he
fulfilled the duties of engineer, engine and conductor, Grandpa having
nothing to do but be an appreciative passenger.
To the old man the dish cupboard, which was Carthage, in "York State,"
never lost its interest, he having lived in that town long years ago,
before he marched out of it with a company of men who were bound for the
War. But the morris chair with its greasy cushions, which was the
capital, Albany, and the cookstove, which was very properly Pittsburgh
(though the surface of the earth had to be wrenched about in order to
put Pittsburgh after Albany on the way to "the Falls"), both of these
estimable cities also won their share of attention, the special train
bearing the pair making a stop at each, though the passengers, boy and
man, longed quite naturally for a sight of the Marvel of Waters which
awaited them at the end of the line.
But Pittsburgh left behind, and Buffalo (the woodbox) all but grinding
under their wheels, neither Grandpa nor Johnnie could withstand longer
the temptation to push forward to wonderful Niagara itself. With loud
hissings, toot-toots, and guttural announcements on the part of the
conductor, the wheel chair drew up with a twisting flourish--at the
sink.
And now came the most exciting moment of all. For here imagination had
to be called upon least. This Niagara was liquid. And held back its vast
flood--or poured it--just as Johnnie chose. He proceeded to have it
pour. With Grandpa's cane, he rapped peremptorily twice--then once--on
the big lead pipe which, leading through the ceiling as a vent to Mrs.
Kukor's sink, debouched in turn into the Barber sink.
A moment's wait. Then some one began to cross the floor overhead with an
astonishing sound of rocking yet with little advance--in the way that a
walking doll goes forward. This was Mrs. Kukor herself, who was
motherhood incarnate to Johnnie; motherhood boiled down into an
unalloyed lump; the pure essence of it in a fat, round package. The
little Jewish lady never objected to this regular morning interruption
of her work. And so the next moment, the miracle happened. Lake Erie
began to empty itself; and with splashes, gurgles and spurts, the
cataract descended upon the pots and pans heaped in the Barber sink.
The downpour was greeted by a treble chorus of delight from the
tourists. "Oh, Grandpa!" cried Johnnie, jumping up and down. "Ain't it
fine! Ain't it fine!" And "Fine!" chimed in the old man, swaying himself
against his breast rope. "Fine! Fine!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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