Stevens has been down here several summers. I have
been afraid of that girl every year. If she doesn't find herself
in the bottom of the river some time soon, I don't believe the
fault will be hers."
"Why, what's the matter with her?" inquired Fred.
"She's too much of a tomboy."
"What's that?" inquired Grant, winking at the other boys as he
spoke.
"Why, she does most of the things that the boys do. She plays
tennis, shoots a rifle, paddles a canoe and manages the Stevens
family."
"And that is why you call her a tomboy?" inquired Fred.
"Yes, sir, it is," said the old gentleman solemnly. "Girls didn't
act that way when I was young."
"How did they act?"
"Why, they were taught to be ladylike."
"And what is ladylike?" asked Fred.
"Why, it is to act like a lady."
"Yes," protested Fred, "but why shouldn't a lady do these things
you're speaking of?"
"Because they are not ladylike," replied Mr. Button testily.
"But why aren't they?" persisted Fred. "I don't see."
"That's because you haven't learned any sense yet," said his
grandfather, irritated at last by the failure of his grandson to
agree to all that he had said.
Fred laughed goodnaturedly, for behind the manner of his
grandfather he knew there was a heart that was big and generous.
Mr. Button occasionally stormed about the "present generation"
being so markedly different and deficient in all the good
qualities that marked the young people of his own younger days.
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