CHARLES WILLIAMS STORY CHAPTER 3

 Charles having been weaned from his sisters' care began to associate with boys his age.  

This was so much different from hanging out with females all the time.

His brothers didn't have much interest in him for he was "the brat" as far as they were concerned.

Charles was so much younger than his older siblings that it seemed he didn't even belong to the family.

Something else that only exacerbated the situation was the mother was always busy, and he had depended on his sisters to care for him, but now they were doing their own thing, and the father's business took most of Dad’s attention.

One thing he found out rather quickly was that it is very easy to get into a fight with other boys, and it was painful at the same time.

It surprised him how hard these eleven and twelve year old boys could hit.

Something else he didn't understand was how they could hit him three times before he could hit them once and not very hard at that.

He went and talked to his brothers but they were of little help except one of them told him to go down to where the boxers train, and make friends with some of them. They could show him how to defend himself.

Another said to go down to where the sailors hang out when waiting for a job, and they could teach him all of the dirty tricks.

Charles was getting whipped everyday as part of payment for hanging out with the boys at school. He decided he needed to go to the boxing gym and to the docks for he didn't know how much more of this treatment he could handle.

His parents gave him a good allowance each week as a substitute for the father not taking time to be with him. This came in handy for his boxing lessons.

 
Each time he saw either one of these groups at the docks or at the gym he brought with him some kind of treat they would enjoy and he quickly became friends with several of them.  

He found that a bottle of rum and a keg of ale every so often endeared him to them.

It wasn't long before he learned how not to get hit so often, and give twice back what he received. He found that some of the bigger kids could be handled with some of the dirty stuff the sailors had taught him.

He didn't like the training and exercise he had to do, but he decided it was better to exercise than to be trounced and having to heal.

His Father's prime interest in Charles lay in how he was doing in English, Math and public speaking.  Dad had already bought him some basic law books and expected him to spend some time reading each night.

Charles thought, “At least Dad is showing some interest in me in stead of ignoring me.”

When he wasn't too beat up, Charles still showed interest in girls, and since his boxing skills had greatly improved, he seldom had any disagreements with the boys at school that might lead to altercations.

Eggs in Basket
courtesy photobucket

Charles still liked the girl his sisters had picked out for him but they teased him by saying; when it comes to girls now, don't put all your eggs in one basket.

He wasn't sure what they meant by that, but by the way they laughed at him he was convinced it wasn't good and there must be some hidden meaning.

To be Continued