The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-03-20
lack Sprout.s Conversion.

Jack Sprout swore terrible oath. In
fact, he swore quite number of oaths, for
he was very angry. 1t was nothing Won
derful for Jack Sprout to swear, even in
the presence of his wife, for he was sadly
given to the habit of using profane Ian
guage. And yet Jack was good husband;
an indulgent father; an honest, industri-
GUS man; an accommodating neighbor !;
and he possessed many other excellencies
of character which might have made him
valuable member Of society had it not been
for certain loose habits which had marked
his course from childhood. His parents
had been careless and profane before him !;
his father had been tough, rough Gus
toner; so Jack naturally enough came up
in the same track. But he was good look
ing, and kind hearted, and genial and So
cial, and so he had gained for wife one of
the very best maidens of our country town,
as well as one of the handsomest.
Master Freddy Sprout, aged five years,
stood by his mothers side, with sadly be-
grimed and tear-streaked face, and his
story was that Solomon Gordon had whip
ped him with a stick, and the boys legs
still bore a few slight tokens of the casti-
CATION. Two other boys had come home
with Master Freddy, and their testimony
corroborated that which the sufferer had
given. Freddy, with some of his play
mates, had been throwing stones at Mr..
Gordon's dog, and one of the missiles
hurled by Freddy had hit the animal and
caused him to howl with pain. OF course
the stone thrown by such tiny hand could
not have inflicted much injury upon the
CnIn CnrIDr 1nx-aI
his dog, and when he saw what had been
done, he caught Master Freddy and gave
him a thrashing; for, be it known, Solo
mon Gordon was just such another man as
Jack Sprout-warm-hearte generous,
and neigbborly /; but rough, uneducated,
strong-willed, and impulsiye.
Jack Sprout put on his hat and prepared
to sally forth. His lips were pale and
tightly compressed, and the huge muscles
in his arms worked like bundles of rope.
"Dear Jack" pleaded his wife, "don't
60 out now"
"Let me alone, Abby. No man shall
strike child of mine without having a
chance to strike me. shall go and see
Sol. Gordon, and I'll give him such a lick
ing he won't forget in hurry" And
Jack closed the sentence with terrible
oath.
"No, no, Jack; don't 60. What good
will it do? Wait until you are more COOL"
"Pshaw! Go away, Abby. 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 mo-
ment, he gave awful evidence that he was
physically able to make good his word; for
q more magnificent structure Of frame
work and muscle was not to be found in the
town.
"Dear jack" cried the wife, taking her
husband by the arm, ooh, do listen to me
one moment. Freddy is not much hurt,
and he ought not to have thrown stones at
Gordon's dog. You know, both Solomon
and his wife set everything by the little
animal, and he would not bark at the boys
if they did not plague him. If you go 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 upon the
lace Of On angry man.