Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-05-30
Jack Sprouts Conversion.

Jack Sprout swore terrible oath. In
fact swore quite number Of oaths for he
was very angry 1t was nothing wonder
full for Jack Sprout to swear, even in the
presence of his wife, for he was sadly CIV
en- to the habit of using profane language.
And yet Jack was kind husband and in
dulgent father, an honest, industrious
man. an accommodating neighbor, and
he possessed many other excellencies Of
character which might have made him
valuable member of society had itnot 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 a rough customer, SO
Jack naturally came up in the track. But
he was good-looking. kind-hearted social
and genial, and so be gained for wife one
of the very best maidens of our town,
and one of the handsomest.
Master Freddy Sprout, aged five years
stood by his mothers side. with sadly be.
grined and tearstreaked face, and his sto-
ny was that Solomon Gordon had whipped
him with a stick, and the boys legs still
bore few slight tokens of the castigation
Two boys had come home with Master
Freddy, and the tale corroborated that
which the sufferer had given. Freddy,
with some of his playmates, had been
throwing stones at Mr. Gordon's dog, and
one of the missiles hurled by Freddy, had
hit the animal, causing him to howl with
I, l. oh,
a tiny hand could not have inflicted much
injury upon the canine brute, but Solo
mon Gordon loved his dog, and when he
saw what had been done, be caught Mas
ter Freddy and gave him thrashing, for,
be it known, Solomon Gordon was just
such man as was Jack Sprout; warm
hearted, generous, and neighborly; but
rough, unedcated, self-willed and impul-
sive
Dear Jack" pleaded his wife, ''don't
60 out now " LET me alone, Abby. No
man shall strike me. shall go and see
Sol. Gordon, and Pll give him such a
licking as he wont forget in hurry" And
jack closed the sentence with terrible oath
mo. no, Jack--don't go. What good
will it do! Wait till you are cool"
"Pshaw? Go away, Abby There is not
power enough on earth to save Sol Cor
don 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 words !;
for more magnificent structure of frame
work, and muscle was not to be found in
thattown. Dear Jack, cried his wife, TAX
ing her husband by the arm, ''oh, do lis
ten to me one moment Freddy is not
much hurt; and he ought not to have
thrown stones at Gordon's dog. You
know Solomon and his wife set everything
by the little animal, and he would not
bark at the boys if they did not
plaugh him. If you go and find Gordon
as you are now, you will only make a bad
matter worse. O, wish you would drop
it,
Jack only shook his head, and smiled,
one of those smiles which are terrible on
the face of an angry man. 80, Jack, if
you would try the effect of kindness upon
Solomon Gordon. He is a good man at
heart" Jack interrupted his wife with
a derisive sneer. Don't laugh at me,
Jack. | will tell you it would be better
to do SO, than to resort to blows. IF you
were attacked, / should not blame you for
fighting to protect yourself, but this is not
a case that calls for your strength of mus.
Gle. There is higher and nobler strength
that you use now" ''Ohw uttered Jack
you are preaching. You are giving me
some ofyour Sunday School lessons. Blu
don't wont. EN-. You may experience