Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-09-24
frOm Harof's weekly.
a Dramatic Story T:
village Tyrants.
ny JotKrH HkTToN.
AET
ACT IL
SCENE TWO rEAns.

." %-"t's'" HcateetNahes
which have been touched by the want Of
Progress. Ii vas not simply the best
room Of a fiarm-kouse, with its old oak
cupboard, its sporting guns. and fne old
dresser; but il was the liviHg-roOm Of a
prosperous farmer. There we're book.
shelves, as well as sporting guns. Peter
North prided himself with bis little treas.
ures and he liked to have the titles Of
some Of bis books we'll displayed Adam
Smith, Tom Paine, Corbett, he gloried in
them; and when the parson called, he
would open Tom Paine's on the table as
if he had only just risen from a close
study of it. Metamorphorlcally speaking
he shook his library in the face of squire
and parsoa, and subscribed for the NEST
extreme Radical newspapers.
Bu, latterly his manners had been
somewhat toned down. Two years had
gone by since Tom North had disappear.
ed from Combc Dingle. During that
time the farmer had been very unlucky
His wife, an earnest, honest drudge, who
had really managed his business IA sort oi
silent Mrs Poyser, if such a woman car
be imagined J had taken her bed. aud il
did hot seem probable that she would ev.
er be actively about again. She lay in t
bedroom adjoining the hOuse-placc. l,
was catered by two or three steps, ard
looked cut upon usually welI-stocked
brick-yard.
Mrs. Ncrth lay there day after day
suffering from malady which had been
chiefly induced by grief She loved bel
son with quiet but deep affection, aud
was almost as fondly attached to Kate
Meadows. When the rupture between
father and son was at its height, .whcr
the outraged parent called his son forg'
er aud thief, and the sou retorted will
"linr." the blow that was levelcd at the
undptiful boy fell upon the woman, who
flung herself between the two. This ony J
intensif I'd Peter North's anger, for hc
was a man, and would not have raised hi
hand against any woman, let alone the we
man whom he had sworn to cherish and pro
tcct. But Mrs. North had not known Gl
the disappointed father had suffered a
the hands..of his sou. The discovery o
the boys iufany had fallen upon Pete
North like a tnunder-bolt and Tom ha'
made poor Kate Meadows believe he wa
an outcast because Of his love for her.
Owe day-it was at the close OF har
vesting, and the season had brought a sec
ond score of i'll luck-the farmer was sit
ting at his wife's bed. He was depressa'
and heart.sick. Two bad harvests, hl'
accounts Of disorder, the defect Of tn
Radical candidate at Bristowe, loca
success for the parsons party in the Com
be Dingle vestry, and his wife's mournfu
presentiments that she could not 1--WE muc
longer--all this at last got held of tn
farmers spirits and pulled them down. L
his own rough way he had always been a
affectonatc husband, and his wife ha
helped him more than he would ever ad
mit to himself in the management OF tn
farm. 1t was a melancholy autumn day
and there was something in the cries Q
the birds as they gathered together fo
their jeurneying to other lands whic
touched the farmers heart.
II am very miserable, somehew, Ma
ry," he said. II wish could do some
thing or another, don't know what );
feel as if I'd committed some awful Grim
and wanted to confess it. I'm sure
don't know what als ME"
"You b'ain't well, you b'ain't well
have drink of beer and read one of you
books, and cheer up. | wish to gosdne'
| could get up and see to things"
Books amt any good" said the farm
er. IL am miserable beyond books"
Would you like to make me happy
Peter 2" said the wife, sitting up with
effort, and looking earnestly at the sta
wart souarc-shoaldered man, who ha
flung himself into chair, with his ey'
resting upon the empty stones, which
good harvest would have covered wit
two additional stacks of wheat.
Happy" he said, turning roua'
"Mary. I'd do a good deal just now
make any body happy ! feel so far c
being happy myself"
"1nd you won't be angry Peter
whatever | asks"
"No, no III not be angry any NOR
I think. | don't think | could have Il
spirit to attack even squire or parse
much more saying vry words to you Mi