I think I never knew a boy so full of mischief , and my opportunities of judging have been manifold . He did not get into scrapes himself , but possessed a splendid talent for deluding others into them , and then morally remarking , ` There , I told you so ! ' His way of saying ` You dars ` nt do this or that ' was like fire to powder ; and why I still live in the possession of all my limbs and senses is a miracle to those who know my youthful friendship with Cy . It was he who incited me to jump off of the highest beam in the barn , to be borne home on a board with a pair of sprained ankles . It was he who dared me to rub my eyes with red peppers , and then sympathisingly led me home blind and roaring with pain . It was he who solemnly assured me that all the little pigs would die in agony if their tails were not cut off , and won me to hold thirteen little squealers while the operation was performed . Those thirteen innocent pink tails haunt me yet , and the memory of that deed has given me a truly Jewish aversion to pork . I did not know him long , but he was a kindred soul , and must have a place in my list of boys . He is a big , brown man now , and , having done his part in the war , is at work on his farm . We meet sometimes , and though we try to be dignified and proper , it is quite impossible ; there is a sly twinkle in Cy 's eye that upsets my gravity , and we always burst out laughing at the memory of our early frolics . My Augustus ! oh , my Augustus ! my first little lover , and the most romantic of my boys . At fifteen I met this charming youth , and thought I had found my fate . It was at a spelling school in a little country town where I , as a stranger and visitor from the city , was an object of interest . Painfully conscious of this fact , I sat in a corner trying to look easy and elegant , with a large red bow under my chin , and a carnelian ring in full view . Among the boys and girls who frolicked about me , I saw one lad of seventeen with ` large blue eyes , a noble brow , and a beautiful straight nose , ' as I described him in a letter to my sister . This attractive youth had a certain air of refinement and ease of manner that the others lacked ; and when I found he was the minister 's son , I felt that I might admire him without loss of dignity . ` Imagine my sensations , ' as Miss Burney 's Evelina says , when this boy came and talked to me , a little bashfully at first , but soon quite freely , and invited me to a huckleberry party next day . I had observed that he was one of the best spellers .
I also XXXXX that his language was quite elegant ; he even quoted Byron , and rolled his eyes in a most engaging manner , not to mention that he asked who gave me my ring , and said he depended on escorting me to the berry pasture .
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