But, Oscar," she added, "I 'm sorry you don't pay more attention to what your father says.

It's a bad habit to get into.

I knew a disobedient boy, once, who came to the gallows; and I 've known several others who made very bad men." "But you don't call me disobedient, do you, grandma'am ?" inquired Oscar.
"I don't know what else to call it," she replied, "if your father tells you to do a thing, and you take no notice of it." "But father does n't want me to give Tige away--I don't believe he 's thought of it again since that night." "Then, if I were you," replied his grandmother, "I would ask his consent to keep the dog.

If he did n't mean what he said, that night, you will be safe enough in asking him." But this was a kind of reasoning that Oscar could not appreciate.

If he could carry his point just as well without his father's formal consent, he thought it was useless to ask any such favor.