"COME ALONG, BROTHER."
"WHY! What is the matter, Uncle Robert?" asked Herbert in astonishment, as his uncle laughed out loud, and laughed and laughed again.
"I'll try to tell you," responded Uncle Robert.
"I was thinking of the old rhyme that we used to sing when we were boys and girls.
"If I had a donkey and he wouldn't go,
Do you think I'd wallop him? Oh, no! No!
I'd give him some corn, and I'd say, Go on,
Get up Neddy"
and then I thought of a story that I had read one day, and the comical picture with which it was illustrated. As I thought of all this, I thought of a boy I know and----
"Oh, but please never mind about the boy, uncle; tell me about the donkey," interrupted Herbert.
"I will. Some men wished to get a donkey on board a ship, but vainly attempted to induce him to walk the gang plank, which led from the pier to the vessel. Threats and angry words failed, and so did beating and kicking.
"By and by one of the men positively put his arms around the donkey's neck, and in the most coaxing manner possible, said to the obstinate donkey:
'Come along, brother.' Would you believe it?—away went the donkey most contentedly. The by-standers laughed, but, Herbert, I could not help thinking you might get a suggestion here."
"Why, uncle, what could I learn from a donkey?"
"To tell you the truth, nephew, it was something concerning yourself that led me to think of the donkey. Did not a boy whom you know, this very morning, get very angry because his brother would not come and play with him? Did he not threaten to tell father, and call his disobliging brother ugly names?"
A strong glow of crimson rose just at this time to Herbert's cheeks, that said, 'Yes,' as distinctly as lips could have spoken it.
"Now, nephew, that boy failed to make his brother budge an inch, and so he has been lonesome and miserable for an hour or more. For future guidance, I am going to suggest the use of what I shall call the 'Come-along-brother' plan.
Do you understand?"
Uncle Robert was quite sure that Herbert did understand, when, not many hours after, he heard the merry shouts of the lad and his brother Willie in the garden. Though proof against threats and anger, Willie had yielded to Uncle Robert's "Come-along-brother" plan. •
"Upon my word," said the good hearted man,
"I do believe my remedy is like some of those nostrums advertised everywhere, which are warranted equally good for man and beast; and, after
all, there is a good deal of the donkey nature in every one of us."
—New York Observer.