The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1867-11-21
Tommy Tucker and his Fiddle.

led over his eyes.
heSitated, looked into another ear, cam,
back; gave his little fiile shove en- hi
shoulder, and walked IN
iii little Tommy Tucker
Pi4ys FOR bis supp
shou;ei Young exquisite lounging On tn
PLATFORM in tan colorei coat and iayende
I'D gloves.
90, kids. you're .here, are you? Wei
d rather play for il than loaf for il,
had, said Tommy. stoufly.
The merch1nt shot a careless glance over
the top cf the paper 8, the sound Of thi,
petit dialogue. aud the Old lady smiled be
nisnly; the man IN tho corner neither
looked or smiled.
Nobody would have thought, to look q
that MAJ in the corner. that he was 1t that
very moment DESERVING wife aud Gvs
children. Yet tina. IS precisely what hs
vas doing
\ william: 0, no, That il net the word
/ brute Not py any means Weak. IN
fortunate. discouraged anl selGSh--a.
weak. unfortunate and discouraged peO-
pie are apt to be; that Was the amount Of
il. Ills psnoramas never paid him for the
use Of his halls HIS travelling tin-type
saloon had trunled him into sheriff 5
hands His petroleum sDC cula'ions had
crashed ike bubble. His black and
COLL sign. J. Harmon. Photographer,
hal swung for nearly a year over the dem
fists rooms. and he had had the patronage
Of precisely six oil women and three b i
bje:. lie had driftel to the theatre in the
eyenngs-he did not care now to remem-
Der how many times-the fellows asked
him, and it made him forget his troubles
the next morning his empty purse would
game at him, and Annies mouth would
quiver.
\ mau must have his glass, too. on sun
day well-pcrhap a little oftener
lie had not always been fit to work after
it. and Annie's mouth would culver. Il
will be seen at once that t was exceeding
Is hard on man that h. wife's mouth
should culver Confouud it; why could
not she scold or cry, These still women
aggravate a fellow beyond reason"
We'll, then. the children had been sick
measles, whooping cough, mumPs. scar
letina, he was sure he did not know what
not every one Of them, f-om the baby up.
There was medicine, and there were doe
tors bills. and there was sitting up with
them at nj ght-thci mother usually did
that Then she must needs pale down
herself like poorly finished photograph,
MI her color. and roundnes4 and sparkle
gone; and If ever 4 man liked TO have =
pretty wife about ii was he Moreover,
she had cou -h. ami her shoulders had
grown round STOPPING 50 much oyer the
heavy baby, AID her breath came short;
and she had a way Of being tired. Then
she never stirred out Of the hou-e-he
found out about that one dty--she had no
bonnet. and her shawl had been cut I'd in
70 blankets for the crib. The children
had stopped going to school. they could
not buy the new Arithmetic" their no
Their said, half under her breath Ycster-
day there was nothing for dinuer bit
johnny cake, not q large one Al that To-
morrow the saloon rents are due Annie
talked about pawn n one of the bureaus
Annie had had great purple ring, under
her eyes for six weeks
lie would not bear the purple rings any
longer He hated the sight Of her. for
the sight stuug him lie hated the corn
cake and the untaught children lie ha-
ted the whole dreary dragging. needy
home. The ruin of it logged him like a
ghost, auI he should be he ruin of It rs
long a, he stayed in it Once fairly rid Of
him. his scolling and drinking. his vast
ing and falling. Annie would send the
children 10 work, ald finds waY. 70 live
she hal energy aHd invention, 6 plenty 81
it, in her young. fresh daYs. before lie
came across her lie 70 drag her Gown
Perhaps he should make golden fortune
and como back to her some summer day
with a silk dress aud servants, aud make
it all up IN theory this was about what he
expected to do. But if his luck went
westward with HIM. and the silk dres,
never turned up. why, she would forget
him. aud be better off and that would be
the last Of it.
So here he was, tick eted and started.
fairly bound for Colorado, sitting with his
hat over his eyes, and thinking about it.
Hmm Asleep, pronounced Tom-
my, with his keen glance into the. corner
Guess III wake him up"
lie laid his cheek do~n on his little & /
dle-you don't know how Tommy loved
hat little f1dle-and struck up gay roll
licking tune:
=" J care for nobody and nobody care, for me- =
The man in the corner sat quite still
When it was over he shrugged his shout
ders
When folks are asleep. they don't hist
their shouller.-not as general
thing observed Tommy. We'll try sno-
Their
Tommy tried another Nobody knows
what possessed the little fellow-the 1T
lie fellow himself least Of all +; but be tried
this
We've lived and loved together
Through many changing year
It was a new tune, and he wanted prsc-
ice, perhaps.
The train Jarre and started slowly the
s,Eovot