The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1844-08-23

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elder boys stood in the door. trying to
whistle and look careless; but the quiz
ering lip barred all their efforts, and they
stole Off into the hay NOW with tears on
their cheeks,
Mr.. Damer had suddenly wanted the
boy; he needed the assistance of the
three, was really in hurry, and when
he found one missing, the one to whom
he had always been snappish, (if | may
be permitted TO use the term and with
out any conceivable reason-his anger
passed all bounds.
When he reached the skirt of the wood
he felt prepared for almost any thing
Had he once turned his head as he pass
ed the turnip field, things might have IA
ken different course. The whole en-
closure was NIGEL y and completely hoed
out, large as was the task for boy of his
size, and the hoe was cleaned and hung
glitering in the sun, from the nook Of an
apple tree. But all Ibis was lost, for it
was unseen by the father Of the boy.
The beech woods were the lavorite re-
sort Of George, when he could get away
with book or bit Of paper; no matter
how old, worn or greasy, it was food for
him, and there lay his little paradise. 1t
was not long before Mr.. Damer discover
ed the child stretched at full length on Il
grassy mound beneath a tree. A brook
ran purling and laughing at his feet-a
thousand birds were singing around and
above him-lhe green turf bespangled
with flowers, filling the air with their de-
licious fragrance, and there amid all the
loneliness of glorious summer day. lay
that young boy leasling over few worn
and dirty pages of an old Spectator!
Tears were standing on his pale, but in
telllgens face, tho his lip was wreathed
with a smile, and one small hand, as it lay
on the grass, grasped nervously the flow
ers, while his large, beautiful eyes turned
rapidly and eagerly from side TO side of
the much-loved page. He was wrapped in
a world of ideal but blssful feeling, and
the sight might have moved almost any
heart TO love and admiration for the boy,
but 1t only served to increase the fdther'S
rage,
George George!' No answer.
what are you here for, you young
good-lor-nothlng scape-grace, when you
ought to be in the turnip field to work !
III teach you better, sir; get up quick,
and come here =
Still there was no answer. The boy
was smiling and weeping in ecstacy, and
heard not syllable of his fathers words.
He approached step nearer, brandishng
the whip.
Halo say, what are you about, sir!
You had better mind your father, | can
tell ye,'
Mr.. Damer was now within few
steps of his son, but so wrapt was the boy
in that dirty scrap of a book that one in
ten thousand of modern readers would
scarcely dare to look upon, much less to
read-such luxury was it to that poor
child TO have the mind of thought and
feeling laid open TO him, by the master
pen of Addison, which, young as he was,
he could comprehend, that the outer world
was entirely forgotten, and he continued
to read, unconscious Of the approach of
his father
A heavy, cutting, terrible blow, de-
seconded quick as flash of lightning, on
his almost uncovered shoulders, for his
jacket was thrown aside from the heat of
the day. He leaped to his feet, and with
horror beheld his father with the horse
whip above him.
'Oh! Fdtherr
You rascal; you dog! shouted the
man whh fury. as if the demons of hell
were let loose in his heart. The blows
descended thick and fast upon the Shout
ucIS anu UdCh VI llc iUUOCcUt CIlltu, UUl
after the first shrist, after the first excla-
nation, he was passive and calm as mar
tyr.-His FPS were pale, quivering, but
not another tear touched his cheek, and
those large, black, expansive eyes were
raised and fixed with singular look up
on his father. That look was the precur-
sor of the MAN, the spirit of the man
working in the child, and seemed TO say
DO your utmost, can bear and triumph
over all Not an expression of pain, not
a murmering word escaped him, through
the whole terrible hagellation, mingled as
it was with the oaths and curses of the
father, and continued till the blood oozed
from the lacerated skin, spotting his shirt
and trousers, and trickling down upon
his naked feet.
Then the whip was thrown aside, half