Weekly Trinity journal., 1873-05-31
A NEW CAsABIANCA,

The man looked at the boy proudly,
sternly, sorrowfully. The lad looked in
to his fathers face sadly, exultingly hero
ically. 1t was u living tableau no artist
could reproduce.
Billy" said the father, Il took your
mother and sister to church yesterday"
"Yes, sir"
"And left you to see to the things"
Yes, sir" replied the boy, gazing out
at the cricket as it hitched down the g,,ts-
post, and finally dropped into the gas
with chirp.
"And you didn't water the pigs"
1000 Oh, sir Geroody Oh, me !
Lawsy, lawsy me I" The slender scion
of an apple tree rose and fell in the hands
of Mr. Coulter, and up from the jacket of
the lad, like incense from an altar, rose
cloud of dust, mingled with the nap Of
jeans. Down in the young clover of tho
meadow the lark and the sparrows sang
cheerily, the gnats and flies danced up
and down in the sunshine, the fresh, soft
leaves Of the vines rustled, and all was
merry indeed. Billy's eyes turned up TO
the face of his father in appealing agony,
but still with a sharp hiss the switch cut
the air, falling steadily and mercilessly
on his shoulders. And along the river
the willows shook their shiny fingers in
the lifting fog, and the voices of children
going by to school smote the sweet May
wind.
"Oh, pap, I'll not forget the pigs no
more"
aspect you won't neither" The wind
by a sudden puff, lifted into the room
shower Of white bloom petals from
sweet apple tree, letting them fall grace
fully upon tho patchwork carpet, tho
while a ploughman whistled plaintye-
ly in the distant fields.
couch! Crackce Oh, pap, papr'
"Shut your mouth, ri I'll split you to
the backbon
How many delightful places in tho
woods, how many cool spots beside the
murmuring river, would have been moro
pleasant to Billy than the spot he then
occupied.
"Oh, me oh, me yelled the lad
And still the dust raised and danced in
tho slanting jet of sunlight that fell
across the room, and the hens out at the
barn cackled and sung for joy ovcr.new
laid eggs in choice places.
AT one time during the falling of tho
rod the girl quit washing, and thrustng
her head into the kitchen said, in sub
dued tone, my land, amt Bill gi,tin an
awful one ?"
"You're mighty right" replied tho
mother, solcmnly. Along toward the
last Mr.. Coulter tiptoed higher at every
stroke. The switch actually screamed
through the air as II fell. Billy danced.
"Now, go, SIR" cried the man, tossing
the frizzlcd stump Of the gad out of the
window. "Go, now, and the next tmo
you water them pigs"
And while the finch poured out n cata-
ract of melody from the locust he went,
Poor boy ! that was terrible thrashing,
and, 10 make IL worse, 1t had been prom
ised to him the evening before, so that he
had been dreading it and shiverng over
it all night.
Now, as no walked through the break
fast room, his sister looked at him in q
commiserating way, but on passing thro'
the kitchen he could not catch the eye Of
his mother. Finally he stood in the free,
open mir, in front of the saddle closets.
II was just then that speckled rooster
on the barn-yard fence Topped his wings
and crowed vocifcrousy. A turkey cock
was strutting upon the grass by the old
cherry tree. Billy opened the door OF tho
closets.
"a boys will Is the winds will, and
the thoughts OF youth arc long, long
thoughts" Billy peeped into the closet.
and then cast glance about him, as
If to sec if anything was near. AT
length, during a pleasant lull in the
morning wind, and while the low, tendorly
mellow flow OF the river was distinctly
audible, and the song of the finch incrcas-
ed in volume and tho bleating of new
lambs in the meadow died in huttering
echoes under the barn, and while the fra
GRANGE of apple blooms grew fainter, and
while the sun, now flaming just above
the eastern tree tops, launched IA shower
over him from head 10 foot, he took from
under his jacket behind. double sheep
skin, which with an ineffable smile, he
tossed into the closet. Then as the yel-
low flicker rose rapidly from the grass,
Billy walked off, whistling the air of that
once popular ballad:
Oh, give me back my fifteen cents !"