Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1868-04-22
JACK SPROUTS CONVERSION.


fact he swore quite "a number of oaths,
for he was very hungry. 1t was nothing
wonderful for Jack Sprout to swear, even
in the presence Of his wife, for he was
sadly given to the habit of profane Ian
guage. And yet Jack was good hus
band. an indulgent ia her, an industrious
man, and accommodating neighbor; and
he possessed many other eScellencies Of
character which might have made him a
valuable member of society, had it not
been for certain loose habits which had
marked his course from childhood. His
parents bad been careless and profane be.
fore him his father had been tough,
rough customer; so Jack naturally en-
ough came up ia the same track. But
he was good looking, and kind hearted,
and genial and social, and SO he bad gain
ed for a wife one of the very best maidens
of the tewn as we'll as one of the hand
son1est. aa. #
Master Freddy Sprout, aged FIVE years,
stood by his mothers side, with sadly
begrimmed and tear streaked face, and
his stery was, that Solomon Gordon had
whipped him with stick, and the boys
legs still bore few slight tokens of the
castigatior. The other boys had come
homo with Master Freddy, and their
testimony corroborated that which the
sufe rer 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 and caused him to howl with pain.
OF course the stone thrown by such tiny
hand could not have inflicted much injury
On the canine brute but Solomon Cor
don loved his deg, and when he saw what
had been done, he caught Master Freddy.
and gave him thrashing; for be it knewn
Solomoa Gordon was just such another
man as Jack SproGt-warm hearted, gen
erous and neig sborly; bat rough, unedu-
Gated, trong willed and impulsive.f
Jack Sprout put on his hat and prepared
to sally forth. His lips were pale, and
tightly compressed and the huge mus
cles in his arms worked like bundles of
ropes.
dear jack" pleaded his wife, "don't
go out now.' sas
"Let me alone, Abby. No man shall
strike a child of mine wit aout having a
chance to strike me. | shall. go and see
Sol Gordon, and I'll give him such a
licking as he won't forget In hurryl
And Jack closed the sentence with ter
rible oath. IT .a..-s 80.
"No--no, Jack-don't go. What
good will it do? Wait until you are
more cool !" 1
"Pshaw! Go away, Abby. There is
not power enough on earth to save Sol
Gordon from drubbing; and III give 1t
to him before the sun goes down y i
And as Jack Sprout looked at that mo-
ment he gave awful evidence that he was
able to make good his word; for more
magnificent structure of framework and
muscle was not to be found in the town.
"Dear Jack" cried his 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 asyorsre now
you will only make matters worse. On,
[ wish you would drop:t." t
Jacs only shook his head and SMILED
one of those smiles which are terrible up
on the face of an angry man. :
"Oh, Jack, if you would only try the
effect of kindness upon Solomon h. Is
good maa at heart i.
Jack interrupted his wife with derl'
sive sneer. sf. ..-a =sa"
Don't laugh at me Jack, [ tell you
# would be better to do so than to resort
to blows. If you were attacked | would
not blame you for fighting to protect your
self, but this is not a case that calls for
your strength of muscle. There is a
hioher and nohler strength that YOU can