Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1867-07-05
THE POWER OF KINDNESS.

neighbor, and he possessed many other excel
lcnccs of character which might have made
him an excellent member Of society had it not
been for certain loose habits which had mark
cd his course from childhood. His parents
had been careless and prone before him. his
father had been tough, rough customer, SO
Jack had naturally come in the same track
But he was good looking and kind hearted,
and genial and social and so had gained for
wife one Of the very best maidcens Of our town
as we'll as one of the handsomest.
Master Freddy sprout, aged five years,
stood by his mothers side, with sadly be
grimcd and tear stained face, and his story
was, that Soloman Gordon had whipped him
with stick, and the boy S legs still bore few
slight tokens Of the castigation. Freddy with
some Of his playmates, had been throwing
stone at Mr.. Gorlons dog, and one Of the mis-
sells hurled by Freddy had hit the animal AMI
caused him to howl with pain. OF course the
stone thrown by such tinny hand could not
have inflicted much injury upon the canine
brute but Soloman Gordon loved his dog, and
when he saw what had been done he caught
Mr. Freddy and gave him a thrashng; for be
it known, Sooman Gordon was just such an
other man as Jack Spsout hearted,
generous and ncighborly; but rough unedu
Gated. strong willcl and imrulsive.
Jack sprout put on his hat and prepared to
sally forth. His lips were pale and tightly
compressed, and the huge muscles Of his arms
worked like bundles Of rope.
"Dear Jack, pleaded his wife, 'dont go out
now.n
'I.ct me alone Abby No man shall strike
q child of mine without having chance to
strike me. / shall go and see Sol Gordon, and
III give him such a licking as he won't for>
get in hurry"
"No, no, Jack-don't 60. What good will it
do? Wait until you are mord COOL
"pshaw, Go away, Ably. There is not
power enough on earth TO save Sol Gordon
from drubbing, and I'll give it to him before
the sun goes down.
And as jack Sprout looked at that moments
he gave awful evidence that he was physically
able to make good his word, for o more mag
nifcent structure Of frame work und muscle
was not 10 be found in the town.
"Dear Jack" cried his wife, taking her hus-
band by the arm. ooh, do listen 10 me one
moment; Freddy is not much hurt, and he
ought not to have thrown stones at Gordons
dog. You know both Soloman and his wife
set every thing by the little animal, and he
would not have barkcd at the boys if they did
not plague him. Ii you 50 and find Gordon
as you are now you will only make matters
worse. Oh, wish you would drop it,
Jack only shook his head, and smiled one Of
those smiles which are terrible on the face of
on angry man.
"0h, Jack, if you would only try the effect
Of Kindness upon Soloman! lie is good maa
at heart
snccr.
"Don't laugh at me Jack. l tell you it
blows. If you were attacked l should not
blame you for trying TO protect yourself; but
this is not the case that calls for your strength
of muscle. There is a higher and nobler
strength that you can use now.'
"0h, ho!' uttered Jack, syou are preaching
You arc giving me some of your Sunday school
lessons. You may experience religion as
much as you please, but you mustn't preach
the stuff to me-
"Jack," spoke the wife, with stern solemni-
ty, "hayc been worse since began to have
an interest in religious things?"
NO. Abby-you were always good"
tThen why will you not listen to me? If
you will stay with me now-if you will wait
until your anger is cooled-and then 60 and
speak kindly to Soloman Gordon, give you
my solemn pledge that you will feel a thou
sand times better than you will ifyou-"
But Jack would not hear his wife out. He
has said he would thrash Soloman Gordon and
he would keep his word. His temper was at
the boiling point, and he was fairly aching to
get his fingers on the man who had dared
strike his boy /; for Freddy was his pet, and
every blow that had been laid upon the child's
body had made a mark of fire upon his own
heart. So he put his wife away from him and
hurried from the house, slamming the door
after him.
Away went Jack Sprout with rapid, heavy
strides; and had Soloman Gordon fallen in
his way just then he would have most assur-
edly been severely beaten for though Soloman
was stont, bold man, Jack was very Her.
cules.
But Jack was destined to get pretty thor
oughly cooled off before he met the object of
his wrath.~As he approached the river just
below the fails he heard loud cries Of alarm,
and upon hurryng forward, he found that a
boy had fallen from one of the projecting TIM
bcrs into the water. lie looked over the rail-
ing, and saw the little fellow just coming to
the surface of the foaming boiling iood-a
curly headed boy just about the age his own
darling Freddy-stretching forth his tiny
hands in an agony Of despair. It was ter
riblc place, that seething, roaring pool, where
the waters Of the great river came pouring
down from over the dam; but Jack did not
hesitate. He forgot his emy-forgot every
thing but the danger Of the little onc--and
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