The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-06-14

Fder nand IN nan0 among the nelghbOring
streets, prattling together like two children,
and gazing in, with child-like wonder, at
, the pretty things in the shop Windows
The people round about called them the
Babes of the Wood, and old daddy was Ger
tainly as much a baby as Benny. He took
r the same interest in the contents of toy
! shop. and sighed as deeply as Benny sighed
to think that his youthful guardian could
not become the possessor of much coveted
toy. gun with pink stock which went
! off with spiral spring In their wander
! ings, day by day, the babes saw many
; strange things and studied the wonders of
Somers Town with the deepest interest. 1t
was their special delight to stand before any
open door or window, which afforded them
view of the process of manufacture
They stood on gratings and listened to the
rafting of sausage-machnes that went by
steam Benny Informed his charge anG pu
pill, who was not very we'll up III the mod
ern arts and sciences; they. gazed at the
little men in shirt-sleeves and fiat caps who
turned a miniature coffee mill under glass
case at the grocer's-such industrious little
men, who always kept on grinding whether
their master was in the shop or not, and
never seemed to go home to their meals
They superintendent the lowering of barrels
into public house cellars, learning the mys-
teries of the inclined plane, and specializing
as to whether the barrels contained the par
ticular kind of six ale which grandfather
liked; they watched the making of shoes
and the turning of wood, and they were
sometimes observed to he much absorbed
IN the laying of sheep, process which had
a deep abstract interest for Benny, while it
set daddy to babbling about the delights
to him now purely visionary-of boiled
leg OF mutton and caper sauce!
In these wanderings Benny was careful
4 not to release his hold of daddy's hand,
for he was particularly enjoined never to
leave him for moment, and, whatever he
did, not to let him tumble down One
muddy day Benny did let daddy tumble
and a sad state of mind he was in for fear
his mother should find it out. He did his
best with his little cotton ket-handker-
chief to etface all traces Of mud from dad
dy IS trousers, but he was afraid lest the old
man might tell on him. Not that there was
any want of loyalty between them, but dad
dy was getting so garrulous that he some
times quite uninteutionaly, let out things
which got Benny into trouble So when any
thing happened, Benny was obliged to re-
mind grandfather thatahe was not to tell.
You won't tell mother that let you fall
in the mud will you, grandfather ? he
would say, as they bent their steps home
ward.
No, no, Benny, the old man protested, i
Il shan't say word about it,
| At first, before complete confidence had
been established between them, Benny sought
on one occasion to purchase his grandfath
er's silence with penny (Which he did not
at that moment possess, but expected to
some day., but he had come to know that
the bond of love between them was strong
enough to sustain their mutual devotion, ex,
cept when it was occasionally loosened by
an inadvertence or lapse Of memory, which
in daddy's cease, was beyond the power of
either love Or money to control. Gong home
in the summer evenings, after their rambles
daddy and Benny had deeply interesting
tales to tell to the family of the wonders Of
the great world Of Somers Town Tisj
Alas, that those relations should so often
have fallen upon Indifferent ears But John
and Martha were becoming sulen and
moody, prey both Of them to the deepest
anxiety. The family was still increasing,
but the business continued to resist all eff
forts in the direction of development John
was getting into debt at the coal wharf, and
at the potatoe Warehouse The times were
hard, and were coming on harder with the
approach of winter. Goals were at eighteen
pence hundred, potatoes at penny
pound. The poor people couldn't pay the
price. Poor women came for few pounds
Of coal and took them away in their aprons.
There was scarcely any use for the truck
When Goals was SO dear and fires 80 small,
Chaldron street was good deal given to
warm itself i'll it's bed, which thus became an
institution. The consequence to John was
that his bed-wrench rusted in idleness. and
in view of the oxyde which accumulated
upon it, it might be said to have been en-
gagged in the disastrous occupation of eating
its head off. The fortunes of the emporium
were at very low ebb: John and Martha
could scarcely provide bare food for the fam
| lily. The black Beades, clamoring for Wet
uals, and not finding satisfaction at the lit
tie round table, passed like crowd of locusts
over the stock in the shop, and making short
work of the carrots, attacked even the cab
bage leaves and turEip tops. John and Mar
tina were denying themselves dav after day,
that the old man might have bit of some
thing nice aud nourishing. But things
were coming to a Crisis now. The coal
merchant the potatoe merchant, and the
landlord, all three threatened process, and
John was III hourly expectation of an ex
ecution. All his striving had been Of no
avail to save him and them from that dis.
grace 1t must come now. Nothing could
avert it.
One afternoon John was sitting on q
stoci. on the site of the mountain of coal
which had been removed to the last shovel
full of dust (and alas the capitalist at the
wharf had not the faith to replace it utter
ly detected and dispiritei. It was a terrible
trial for a strong man with a stout heart
and vigorous will, to be thus beaten down
and tramped under the feet Of "a cruel and
relentless fortune, whom he had wooed with
all his art and wrestled with all bis strength.
Poor John had received SO many heavy falls
that the spirit was almost crushed out of
| him. When he looked up and saw a
strange man darkening his door he felt. that
the last blow was about to be struck.
Come In ne said; don't stand upon any
ceremony, beg; I'm quite prepared for
you.i EeFz~ "a
Are you !? said the man curiously.
: Yes, an,' John replied; 4 know YOUR
errand as well as you do yourself
DO you ? said the man, III the same
tone. [
DO you come here to mock me % cried
John angrily, rising and facing the intruder;
to mock me as well as ruin me-
Mock you +? said the man.
Yes mock me- John repeated in the
same angry tone. AiJ y a
4 did not come here to mock you; far
from it, the man returned. In fact my
business is not with you at ALL l came to
see MIR, Dodd, who was an old neighbor of
mine,
beg your pardon, SIR said John. you'll
excuse me, | hope; but we are in great dis
tress, and | expect nothing but bad news
III am not mistaken said the stranger,