The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-11-09

Here said that woman, speaking with
angry emphasis; take the baby over to
my sisters And mind that you don't let
him fall, or hurt him in any way. Ifyou
do, look out"
Frederick received the babe in his arms;
without lifting his eyes to the face of its
mother A sudden impulse to do it harm,
by way of revenge, took hold Of his mind.
Sullenly he was turning away. when Mrs
Bellrose said, in sharp, quick voice
I Did you hear me, sir?'
/ The boy started, and lifted suddenly
his blue eyes, that were swimming in tears.
Their expression had power over the
passionate woman that she could not un
derstand Without replying, Frederick
looked at her steadily for few moments.
The meaning of his look Mrs Bellrose
did not understand, but it subduod her,
and made her more than half repent hav
inc been the means of subjecting the poor
boy to the cruel chastisemcnt he had just
received.
BE careful not to hurt the baby said
she in gent!er tone.
Yes, ma am, replied Frederick, almost
involuntarily, touched by the change in
the womans voice.
4 thought of hurting the innocent babe
did not again cross the boys mind. He
carried it gently in his arms to the place
where he was directed to 60, and then re-
turned to the shop. His master greeted
him with dark frown as he came in, and
ordered him to do something in an angry
voice. 1t was many days before Bellrose
gave the boy a kind word; by Ht"@
word is here meant word that did not
seem the precursor of blow.
From that time, the carpenter seemed
to have settled dislike towards Freder
ick Marshall. He was made to carry
out the babe five times where he had been
required to do it but once before, and to
do menial and degrading Offices about
the house-degrading for boy. This
continued for nearly two years, when the
lads abilities at his trade made it his
masters interest to release him from the
CALLING drudgery, All this was borne by
Frederick, with but few complaints to his
mother.
The unkindness and oppression Of his
master were not all the lad had to bear.
The two fellow apprentices we have named, E,
who were older and stronger boys, tyran-
nized over him in various ways. He SUI
fered from them ridicule, cruel treatment,
and wrongs of various kinds, often ac-
companicd by blows. These his indig-
nant spirit would sometimes cause him to
resent, but it would have been better for
him to have borne lesser evils passlvely,
than, by resentment, to have them in
creased fourfold.
Thus passed the unhappy years of the
boys life until he was eighteen, by which
time hard labor had given him strength,
and maturing mind had ripened into
resistance a natural frmness and hatred
of oppression. The two apprentices, who
had practised upon him so many cruel
wrongs, were men within few months OF
their freedom; but manhood had not
brought with it a sense of justice They
still took delight in Imposing upon Fred
erick, whose disposition they had warped
and made fretful and impatient. Resent
full words he had always given them il
r return, and sometimes blow FOR blow; bu
/ their physical strength greatly predomi
mated over his, and he was, therefore, III
4 N match for them, bat always received th'
/ worst in any contest.
One day, about this time, one OF thes'
t apprentices, named Saxton, ordered Fred
: erick, in a very offensive tone of voice, t
S hand him chisel. The latter took D
S notice of the order.
= did you hear me speak! said Saxton
/ in an angry, authoritative voice.
e Frederick looked up at him with
5 frown, but made no answer.
e Hand me that chisel, | say. Don't 20
= see that [ can't move from where | stan
y without my work falling to pieces! Han
r me chisel or [ will throw this mallet a
: your headp
Frederick did not pay the slightest at
e tention to this order, but kept Oh wit
o his work.
l. Angry beyond the power of eontrollin
=! himself at the indifference displayed b
= young Marshall, Saxton actually thre
d the mallet he held in his hand at the hea
Q of his fellow apprentice. The handle
e the mallet grazed the temple of FredeI
ick.
l. 1T is well for you that it passed II
= harmless said the latter, in calm, re
f. olute voice, while his lips closed tightly
he finished the sentence.
l. Is it? We will try again.
: And with that, Saxton threw DO!
p wood guage at Frederick, with such vi
A. lence that, striking him in the head,
as nearly dashed him to the floor QUE
as thought the young man hurled bae
in upon his assailant the heavy plane WI
ID which he was working. 1t struck oazt(
in on the side of his head and left shoude
q and knocked him to the floor senScless.
at Just at that moment, Bellrose entered Il
a shop, and seeing the plane leave the haI
G. of Frederick aud strike Saxton a terrib
blow, he seized a stout piece of wood, al
id sprung towards the former, with the /
tention of knocking bin down. b
on Fred erick who saw the moVemeI