The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1873-07-12

By MuRAr.s

Z af9N sSAf -gs S151I
" Thirty miles northof Salem stood
many years ago, the house and
barn Of one Asa Cuttle, farmer and
cattle jobber. 4, He was . rough
spsGmea Of Our type, but ss true
- sfeel The worA in his boyhood
had used him pretty badly; but the
death Of an uncle somewhat enrich.
ed him in this words gooda Cut
tie being naturally industrious and
. hard working man, contrived in
ssis years time tol greatly improve
the property, and with the aid Of
his Two eldest boys. had cleared q
good portion of the land. He
taerstoss seood pretty high in the
speeuniary and moral credit of ibis
section. His eldest boy, Ned, was
astrona, healthy lad of sixteen.
and Charley, his brother, was but
a-year younger The remainder Of
Cut&le's "oliye branches" went down
on . descending scale from eleven
to zero!Yaa lliw s4ssg wai A a.:
} One day Nedand his father we're
in the barn piling mp, wood for vim
zter's use. aoSuddsnly Asa Cutie pun
his bsoad hand ON Nels shoulder
and said: t1uo9 os ,s109szsdg alAg
Ius do you see that spike, Nsd."
id ssYes SIR 10 ,zaal Fsoo9 OF ~,
5 tsYour father can tell youps story
sbeut that spike,'' asaaG
hSWhst storyi' asw ,sfoa bsb
dawn, hoy, and I will tell
you,' cmtimuAd the farmer, filing
hisapipe.e qfl ssadigs . .
SO Nod quietly obsysd, and wonder
cd what his respectable dad had to
say to him. .Ilaoo fed8 tssfgi foa
J s'Your grandfather, Ned, was a
hard dfinker. He sold his land,
hb houss, his furniture, and lastly
himself for rum. II was your I'M.
Gle Morris that bought the place
upa Again after his death I was
bern here, Us you wefs, and I al
wsys'clung to the old spot When
the Britiahers had their tee pitched
over in Boston iharbr 10 feed the
6sh with ydur gtandhther went
soldiering. The regiment he was
In came 4hia way and thsshoaeeh he
ivsdin being thsa deserted he en-
tered il. Remorse seized him, and
he picked up that rusty spike you
ESQ., mp there inl that cross beam.
He zwss going to'hang himself =
Some dcomradss sntsred at the mo-
msntand your grsndfAthes did not
hang. Reelection made him bet
ter man. Returning to the house
at night, he tied . piece of wood
to the spike, on which he wrote
these words: ssThis spike is not to be
removed from its place until one
hundred years has elapsed" Wen,
when uncle Morris took the place,
the barn wanted . ssnewI coat
What was to be dones Why, Nor.
ris took that cross beam out, rebuilt
the barn and nailed the old timber,
spike and all, as you see it now over
the new beam. It is fifty six years
ago to day since your grandfather
placed that spike mp there and was
going - hang himself. Now, Ned,
It's not likely that I viii ever be at
the taking Of it out. You may be,
or Charley may be. Now, ren,em-
Der. don't you ever touch it until
the hundred years are passed and
gone. Do you hear!"
! "Yes, SIR" ps9os e $50 -as'
"And tell Charley and Agnes all
about IL; do you hear!' as ~
: eyes, sir" ,dilAsd 10 sss saa
: ''Go ahead; split and pile, lad,
split and pile;" and Asa Cutie FL
led tile barn with smoke from his
black clay pipe. s,
In an evil hour Ned Cutie stole
q sheep. IT was once hanging
matter. But Civilization has some
what progressed since those days,
30 that young Cutie escaped with
as nice 2 beating as New England's
boyhood ever got. Shame drove
him from his fathers roof; and off
went Ned to Boston with all he had
in the world, q bundle and seven
teen cents in good lawful copper. g
Ned Cutie had been about thirty
hours without food and felt ,preci
ously sheepish. He was standing
near the theatre door wondering
where al the gay dressed, laugh
ing crowd were going to, when .
voice said:
! Young man, take this note for
'me to Beacon street; run as hard
,as you can and bring the answer
mere ooil5 tsel sds Tez .slsg
lThe man WA gone before Ned
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