Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1872-02-22
EATON, OHIO THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22 1872

woman, was Mrs. Thorn, but it always
seemed to me as if her 'Dor't went
farther with the children than thrash
ing from their father. The deacon
holds a stiff rein. Why! Hal got into
tussle with butcher Barton's Pete one
day, and between them, somehow, q
stone crashed through Reuben Browns
plate-glass. Hal declared that he didn't
throw the stone, but Pete's two little
brothers swore they saw him. The
deacon said that if Hal would fight he
wouldn't help him out of trouble, and
he let him go to jail.
Hal is quick as gunpowder, and he
isn't afraid of anybody when his tenn
per's up. He was beech nutting out in
the wood lot, the day Squire Marlow's
cattle broke into his twenty-acre wheat
field. They did a round hundred dol
lars damage. I'd been over to the
deacon's of an errand, and was just
coming down the front walk, when the
squire came tearing over, accusing Hal
of letting down the fence. 1 wish you
could have seen that boy, Miss Waring
He stood up, pale as death, and his eyes
like two fires.
az didn't let down your fence, Squire
Marlow," says he, right before his father
and Steve, /" but I wouldn't have cared
if had, and the best wish 1 can make
you is that your cattle have eaten up
five times the worth of Biddy Larry s
COW that you took for rent last winter,
and little Patsy dyingl"
"If you'll believe it, Miss Waring, the
SQUIRE turned as red as a cocks comb,
and rode off without another word. 1
believe the deacon wasn't over sorry
himself, but he thrashed Hal all the
same, to take the impertinence out of
him, he said"
90 But his sister-has she no influence
over him?"
"Well, Mary has all she can do, and
I guess the most she asks of Hal is to
keep out of her way. You've no idea,
Miss Waring, of the amount of work a
farm of that size brings into the house.
Let me fill your cup. No. Whatl
going to school SO early? Well, a
pleasant day to you"
So it had happened that Miss Waring
looked with something more than usual
interest along the line of larger boys,
who took their places on the back row
of benches at-the opening of the school.
She saw the various types of boyish
faces, already so familiar to her, some
bright and earnest, others dull and sui
len, still others well meaning, but
marked, as yet. by no strong individu-
ality-not one which at all embodied
her ideal of Hal Thorn. One by one
the names were enrolled-he was not
there. But half an hour later the door
suddenly opened with a creak of deci-
sion, and tall boy walked with swing
ing, defiant steps along the narrow
aisle, casting a keen glance at the
teacher as he went. She nodded pleas
antly, her rapid, practiced eye taking
him in, from the heavy boots, SO splash
ed with wet sand as to suggest the cause
of his tardiness to have been a morning
visit to. the creek, to the brown, shapely
throat revealed by the turn down collar
of his coarse gray jacket, the proud head
covered with crisp, auburn curls, the
dark eyes full of dangerous fire, the
reckless untrustful expression, over.
sest, the first noble plan of his young
face.
No wonder, she thought, that the peo
pie had " turned in their seats" when
the dove-eyed mother had brought in
her youngest eaglet. She could fancy
him in his glorious babyhood, radiant,
unsullied-heaven his fatherland, earth
his inheritance.
The teacher paused until the room
was quiet again. then she resumed what
she had been saying.
GAS was telling you, children, rules
are troublesome, and only good for peo
pie who do not wish to keep them. II
is so much nicer to do the things we
ought because we like to. I shall give
you just one rule, "Do rightr' The
very smallest one of you will understand
that. And l shall trust yeu, every one.'
She looked up and caught Halls eyes
fixed on her with an intensity that made
her start. Oddly enough, something ia,
back in her childhood seemed to con
front her in his face. She groped for {
moment in the labyrinth of her memo
ry, and caught the clue.
Her father was Garrisonian abolition
ist, his house station on the under
ground railway. One night a poo
officers. Therewa just time to hide hin
in the granary, under heap of empt,
bags, in a corner full of dust and cob
webs. His pursuers, warrant in hanC
came in hot haste, searching the house
from garret to cellar, rapg pging barns anC
out-houses, thrusting pitchforks ruth
lessly into fragrant hay-mows, gropin!
at last in that very heap of sacking
whose heart was one unit of agony il
the unsolved problem of the world
sorrow. At the instant when all hop
had fed they turned away, bafded and
as the ring of the horses hoofs diec
upon the distant highway. the fugitiv
came forth.
The little girl, clinging to her father
coat-there were no secrets in tina
household-bad kept, through all he
years, the memory of that sable coun
tenance.
"One chance more," it said, "fo
life, liberty, homel One chance more |
Gone chance more," said the boy
face, at once SO young, and so sadly ole
I" for faith, sympathy, Lowell One chanc
moreW
Days passed. Miss Warnings singl
rule was working. The children wer
not perfect -aggravatingly human some
times-yet the best in each natur
seemed lifting itself like plant, to til
sunshine, checked by sterile soil, turne
aside by stones, half choked by ran
weeds. yet struggling and aspiring still
She worked and waited.
Hal Thorn developed powers of after
ton and application which astonishe
her. His conduct had been thus fs
irreproachable, but he seemed to shiel
himself behind an impenetrable barrie
She felt herself on trial, with iudgmer