American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-01-11
NO.. 2.

ing all his courage, he rose, approached
the door with unsteady step, and-told his
i wife to open it.
There stood Mr.. Dieele. Nothing about
his head indicated that it had just been
| shot, excepting Il kind OF blackened Bills
| ter on his forehead.
The reader knows there was only wad
| in Phil's shotgun, with so much powder
as he had inveigled in at the nipple. Die
giles sudden fear, and the consequent eX-
element of his Imagination, the cOncus-
| sion so near his head, the stroke of the
burning wad on his forehead, the attempt
to rise quickly with an enemy under him
lit is not strange all this should have
upset even SO immense man, and caused
one even so reticent to exclaim that he
| was dead now pretty soon.
| Dat is all right" remarked the incar-
| nate monogram. You do nOttings, unit
l do nottings.' Without receiving an an
swer he launched himself from the porch
and rolled away with the wind.
| 'Oh that boy - exclaimed the unhap-
py HOskin when he saw how he had been
deceived IS He must "a known he hadn't
killed him. / b'lieve he did know it.
Twas an internal trick ~ and his fear
turned suddenly to wrath. He fumed and
rallied and grieved.
| You groaned half the night because
| Diegle was dead,' calmly observed Mrs.
Hoskin, and now you groan wuss IN
ever because he isn't dead. Shows how
hard tits to please you"
| "But them three hundred dollars, an
that young horse!' he whined.
| Then what'd you give 'em to him
for?"
| That was a question he conveniently
answered by upbraiding her for giving
Phil his shirts and hose, by verbally dis
inheriting and communicating him,
and by vowing in the next breath that
he would have him back and the money
too.
| His chagrin seemed un.earable. He
had been sat upon by the clumsy Diegle,
outwitsed and fieeced by his undutiful son,
| and made ridiculous in the eyes of his
wife, to whom it was his particular pride
to appear infallibie.
With three hundred dollars and the
price of a good horse in his pocket, Phil
was studying with reasonable diligence
at preparatory academy in neighbor-
ing county. Mr.. HOskin, learning thisir
due time, sent him a concise request to
return, or the necessary steps would be
taken to bring him. Phil answered by
letter, also concise, stating that he was
'ills own man. according to certain
promise given by his father when lying on
his pack. This letter, il we suppose Mr..
| Hoskin to have been a camel, was the hair
which broke his back.
Baffled and Inundated, he read Phil's
letter in silence, threw it into the fire, and
ton him. An attack of rheumatism that
fall gave him ample time for reflection,
and caused him to feel severely the loss of
Phirs assistance, lazy and disobedient
though he was.
| Mrs. Hoskin's view of the case was more
lust than his, and whenever she entered a
Sentimental state her heart was filled with
sympathy for her boy. She detected, as
her husband became feebler, some evil
dence of his softening toward Phil. I'M
mediately she began to speak less chart
tably; she grew less inclined to forgive;
she gradually came TO mention his until
ial conduct with harshness. The result
was, that her husband was not long in
coming to Pills defense. One day, while
M oa3 ous RR4fHefs IS nsv she n aart
cent o. the property when we're gone, to
pay him for actin so.''
This WAS an almost irresistible temp
tation to Mr.. Hoskin to say Phil ought
to have it. He did say, s. [ could Almost
forgive him if he want bent on marryin'
ty'H ever go into that tribe
| "Anyway," continued Mrs. HOskin,
"he .oughtn't to have any good of it
while we live"
The luxury of contradicting her was so
great that again Hoskin could not entirely
resist the temptation. He's got as
much right to it one time as another" he
answered. 1.-The foolish child! he knew
perfectly well l meant to send him to
school again, an to college, if he'd only
waited-''
It'll twas too Late" suggested Mrs.
HOskin in her nlildeSt manner. s. / don't
know as he was ever benefited much by
| what you meant to do
Mr.. and Mrs. Hoskin We're puzzled to
know whether the early attachment con-
tinued undated between Phil and Julia.
They had no means of knowing. They
a trifle coarser, her form considerably
stouter, her heart good deal jOllier than
when he left her. At last the following
letter came, and they no longer doubted:
NEW HAVEN, June 8.
,'DEAR MoTnER;-In JulyI shall be gradua,
ted. Though little in debt, shall get married
Immediately, and live here; 1t is five years since
| saw any of you or heard directly from you.
have thought that there may possibly be nothing
in your hearts now to prevent me from making
plain. 1 am wiser than was, but perhaps
better do not exgec t- no right to expect
afIe ction 1 have really borne them. Before set
tie down for life so very far away from you, de-
home once more: Yet will not return like the
Prodigal Son. Tell me truly whether you wish
me to come, and how You will receive me >,
81 tell you what 'tis,'' said Mr.. Hoskin
to his wife after a hard struggle, ''say
TEST what I've salt 10 you: he can come
ifhe'l give up Julia Diegle, an I'll treat
him well !; an if he don't give her up. he
sha'Il't come int the house. OF course
he'll have to come around here in order
to git her away: | can't help that. Good
thunder! gradowate o Yale College
marryin' herr and Mr.. Hoskin for a
moment was So proud of Phil's education
that one would have thought him solely
responsible for it.
The long pipes had scarcely sent their
fraternal clouds into the golden sunshine
that lifted through the elms of Yale, and
the fun and sentiment of Presentation
Day passed by, ere Phil, with such hap
piness as one can seldom know in this
world, was hastening hOmeward. He
had not openly refused or accepted the
terms of his tather-had not mentioned
Julia at all in the brief note announcing
the probable date of lis arrival. But this
announcement satisfied his mother that
he accepted the condition, and she was, in
consequence, as happy as her son. Mr..
IIoskin was happy too, in spite OF him
self although he could not entirely BAN
ish the suspicion that Pills reticence
cloaked some ''infernal trick" As the
important day approached he was dis
mayed to ascertain that Julia was prepar-
ing for marriage
aMv son to he the son-in-law of that
old hipuptltaynus-his daughter to be
my daughter in-law! Let 'em into this
house? guess notr' and Mr.. Hoskin's
head ierked with a menace that seemed to
settle the case
Faithful old Tip careless of family cen
ueXions. was the first to meet Phil. As
a settler he crouched for joy; as hound
he ran sud yelped; as Il terrier he seized
boot and tris,! to shake il as Il spaniel he