Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1873-12-04
Prom Woods Household Magazine
a SERMON ON A SKINNER.
BY CARRIE B LIE ROW.

leaving the tracks of his hob naieC
shoes on the painted floor; "If yol
have got to drink from skinner
and he stopped short in his walk ant
conversation, and sat down. Throw
ing his ragged straw hat on the foe
between his feet, he gazed into i
for moment in profound meditation
Young man. be said impressive
ly, when he looked up again, ii
You have got to drink from a skim,
mer, you have got-to-drink-
quick"
David ShaIp was a homespun
homemade pm sopher. There wa
small chance 70 sentiment, idleness,
or discomfort to re found on a single
acre Of the bleak, stony, Vermont
farm which form, the family herit,
age. From the time when the old
man, now bowed and broken, had
begun his life, each day had proved
10 him that only the sweat Of his
brow could earn his bread; what Da
vd Sharp knew Of men and things
he bad learned by shrewd observa.
ton, and that inner experience of life
which, in some form or other, comes
TO every one, no matter how limited
may be outward surroundings or cir
cumStances.
The young man carelessly leaning
against the kitchen door, where the
smoke from his cigar clouded the
clear blue of the heavens, smiled at
the words, and the glance " hich he
bestowed on toe speaker might have
been called contemptuous. Small
sympathy between them, evidently,
and though the young mans estimate
of the farmer was superficial an con-
sequently shallow. The latter re-
garded him very much as newly
arrived missionary might contem-
plate the savages OF Patagonia.
perhaps you don't know what
skinner I'm speaker Of" he re-
sumed. "While you're eaten the ten
o'clock breakfast, Jane bias left her
ironin' TO git you, my sisters son
shall have somethin' more substantial
to carry away from the table than
poached eggs, biscuits and Coffee
I've weeded out more'n half that pc.
tato patch down by the south barn
since daynght-on brown bread and
cold water. too. Perhaps if I'd have
waited till this genteel hour, Id have
found coffee nee essary TO my consti-
tutiou-and biscuitsl"
His nephew smiled again. No in
struction in the art OF oratory could
have made that word more impress
sive. When the old man had any,
thing to say, he generally said IL in q
way to be understood.
"More'n half that potato patch"
he repeated, "what are you goin' to
do after breakfast"
A yawn from the young fellow in
the doorway.
"Well, / doh't know. Can / have
one of the horses, Unc(e?'
Busy" was the laconic answer;
"so's their owner, allus."
"Then I'll lay low and catch a ride
to the village, if | see anyone goin'
down. want to see about some
trout flies, and look over the papers.
couldn't walk down, | s'pose, and
after the trout is ketched, Quill be
clad 10 get rid Of EN-. Well, before
you ketch a ride TO the village ind
look over the papers, I'll just say
n hp hal or iF inn NJ
for if you've got to drink out of
skinner, you've got to drink quick
faint as though | hadn't no pa
ternal affection tor my own sisters
boy. It's Just because | have. A
bettet woman than your mother
never lived. She KEEP me pretty
straight when ! was lad, and al
ways tender like, too, and | say to
myself when | think Of her; David
Sharp, 10y the grace # God and your
sister, you are what you are, not
that am any great shakes myself
anyhow, but that don't make n :
difference about tt skinner. So
when | think of y lur mother my
boy, feel d great nankerin' to pay
off that debt by givin' you lit, for
now that you've lost ner, wei, -
there amt no one to say things to
you-I mean disagreeabIe things.
that we are pretty apt to take like
pills, if We take 'em at all, in current
Jelly, so that we shan't taste 'em.
when your father left you all bis
money, be thought he was doin' a
big thing, and | guess he meant well
enough, but you see it makes a diff
ference whether you COW seed in the
burrows after the earth has been
turned up, or just scatter it along on
the top of the ground, and to my
tbinkin', young man. you wasn't
ploughed deep enough to hold it.
Money buys lots of things, fine
broadcloth. and patent leather boots
and blue neckties, and yaller kid
gloves. It buys hankerchiefs with
a big letter down in the corner, and
hair oil, and gold tcothpick. Il
buys lots of other things besides. L
can get books and learnln'. anC
travel, and chances for q man L
make sometbin' of himself. ",
heard. too, about lendin' il to th
Lord and to my thinkin', that is al
investment that pays pretty fair in
terest. There is riches that take t,
themselves wings, and fly away a
Of sudden, and there's riches tha
melts Just like snow-drift in April
but what don't run out Of the hole
on one side will on the other, and s.
you've got to drink quick.
Then, if there was morn twelv
hours in day, you might let fey
run through and never miss EN- bu
robins that was a singin' this morn
iu' got all through by sunrise. Th
red and gold all faded out of the SIX,
before you had peek at 1t, aud j an
bad the dishes all washed and pu
away before you was out OF bee
That's all a question of profit an