"GREAT I AND LITTLE YOU."
"How do you like that little new neighbor of yours?" asked Herbert Greene's big brother, who had seen the two little boys playing together in the yard.
"Oh, you must mean Georgie Worthman," said Herbie. "Why, I don't know. I like him, and I don't like him."
Wallace laughed. "Then you quarrel a little sometimes," said he. "Is that it?"
"No, we don't quarrel," said Herbie. "I don't let him know when I'm mad with him."
"What does he do to make you mad with him?" asked Wallace.
"Oh, he says things," said Herbie.
"Such as what?"
"Well, he looks at my marbles, and says, 'Is that all you've got? I have five times as many as that,—splendid ones, too. They'd knock those all to smash.'"
"Ah, I see!" said Wallace. "It is a clear case of 'great I and little you.'"
"What do you mean by that?" said Herbie.
"Well, if you don't find out by Saturday night, I'll tell you," said Wallace. This was on Monday.
On Wednesday afternoon Herbie was out at play, and presently Georgie Worthman came out. Wallace was in his room, reading, with the windows open, and could hear all that was said.
Georgie brought his kite with him, and asked Herbie if he would go to the common with him to fly his kite.
"Oh, yes! if mother is willing," said Herbie. "But where did you get that kite?—made it yourself, didn't you? I've got one ever so much bigger than that, with yards and yards of tail, and, when we let it out, it goes out of sight quick,—now, I tell you!"
"This isn't the best I can make," said Georgie; "but if I had a bigger one I couldn't pitch it, or hold it after it was up."
"Pooh! I could hold one that pulled like ten horses," said Herbie; and he ran in to ask his mother if he could go with Georgie to the common.
His mother was willing if Wallace would go too; and so, after a little good-natured bothering, and pretending he did not want to go, Wallace took his hat, and Herbie got his kite and twine, and the three boys set off for the common.
Georgie's kite was pitched first, and went up in fine style. Then Herbie's went off, and soon passed it, for it had a longer string; and both were far up in the dazzling blue of the sky.
"There now!" said Herbie, "didn't I tell you my kite would beat yours all to nothing? I bet there isn't another kite in town that will begin to be a match for it!"
"How is this? How is this?" said Wallace. "Seems to me 'great I and little you' are around here pretty thick."
"What do you mean by that?" said both the little boys.
"Why, when a fellow says that he has got the best marbles, and the best kite, and the swiftest sled, and the handsomest velocipede, and the most knowing dog, anywhere in town, we say his talk is all 'great I and little you.' That is, we mean he is always bragging; and a braggart is a very disagreeable person," said Wallace.
Herbie looked at Georgie, and both blushed a little. The boys had great fun with their kites; and when they got home, and Wallace and Herbie went up stairs to put away the kite, Herbie said, "Well, my kite did beat Georgie's, just as I told him it would."
"That is true," said Wallace; "but you said the other day that you liked Georgie, and didn't like him, because he was always telling how much bigger and better his things were than yours; and now, to-day, you were making yourself disagreeable to him by bragging about your kite. Now, if you want the boys to like you, my lad, you must give up talking 'great I and little you,' for it is not sensible nor kind."
So Herbie found out what Wallace meant, and he said to himself, "I don't mean to let the fellows hear me talking, 'great I and little you' any more."
H. W.
