American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-01-04
VOL. NXIII.

cred to the memory of Ruth. moss con
cea ed the remainder. except the figure:
is Then he thought of the sam,
words - to the memory of Ruth" graVeI
On his heart. which the moss could never
reach to cover.
AT the tea-tablc he left his toast scarce
ly tasted. Good Mrs. Holm, suspccting
some freak OF appetite. sent Joanna. her
trustiest maid, to the closet for II jar o
strawberry jam. He declined it. Though
she could conceive of no ill beyond the
reach of her jam to cure. she lamentcd
Low that she had spared her ounce jelly
Her alarm WIS fully aroused when. la.
ter. Jerry did not call for his evening
doughnut ard glass of milk. She imne-
diateiy put some thorOughwort on the
hearth to steep. Then her womanly fan
cy cOnjured a thousand possible contin-
gencies. She opened her Bible TO look al
Jerry's signature ut the bottom of a See
town Bank bill, between the leaves of the
book of job,
If anything should happen to Mr..
| Tictom,' she said TO herself as she
smoothed out the note tenderly," / would
name my parlor tongs after him. And
with this consoling promise her heart
grew happier.
Jerry meanwhile sat in the old parIor
before cheerful fire of birch and pine
wood. He would have taken flight into
his idesl world, but the days disaster
held him down. Nevertheless. fire and
tongs had for him their wonted charm.
| He felt like some great captain who has
| lost a battle We all know how. For are
we not all captains of something in our
| little way? Have we not all had our
losses of battles, or marbles, or sweet
hearts, or chances of promotion
Next morning he approached the days
labor with reluctance. The fire was per-
fact and the woman who put tl,,. room fn
rights had added many wOmanly touch
that he felt.
But he must begin the day with an en-
try unheard of in those books-those
stately scrupulOus volumes of the See
town Bank. A suspense" account! The
word had fearful look in English. If he
only knew Greek, that he might put it in
that ctlaracteri
He looked out of the window upon the
wharf at which a Nova Scotia schooner
was unloading wood. He watched it as
it came tumbling out. What landscape
is to the painter, what block of marble
is to the sculptor, a cargo of wood was to
Jerry TictOm; he confessed its capabili-
ties, but he could not bury himself now
in their contemplation.
Jesper Frown was saving wood near
by, thinking of Tommy Teet, and wishing
he were messenger of a bank. ''But he
viii drop off one of these days." thought
Jesper, land then" Now FrOwn was
thesenior of Tommy by ten years, but call
mel think all men mortal but them
selves.''
II were only wood-saweI, - thought
Jerry.
The negro steward of the schooner was
deep in the, to him, intellectual employ
meit of frying fiap-jacks for the captains
breakfast. Occasionally he went from
thecaboose to the cabin with the product
of his art. returned and began again his
latpr with sleepy uncOncern. jerry looked
and wondered if he had any suspense ac-
count-ifS ambO's cash was short. Perhaps
not; yet SambO had his troubles-a tale
of unrequited affection, too unhappy for
thii page. Once in his little journey the
da1xy rolled his eyes unwittingly toward
the window where Mr.. Tictom stood, and
thn person drew back out of sight. feel
ing that everybody and everything. from
tha negro TO the ruler on the desk before
him. Knew of his misfortune.
He turned to his ledger. No he would
page. So he placed it under ''Collec-
tion -
DIR. Suspense
To error %;
Every letter of the word looked to him
as though raised upon the page.
The news of the error had Travelled from
one director to another with a speed which
would have surprised electricity. The
weekly meeting came. the records of the
last meeting were read, and the resolu-
ton stared the Board in the face What
should be done?
MIR. Vent who had had a wears expert
ence in the State Senate. and had Crap
pied with all manner of parliamentary
difficulties. moved it be Laid upon the tai
ble." As it was already upon the record.
the President ruled the motion tout of
ORDER" thereby wounding the pride of
the mover, who commended HAT if he knew
himself anywhere it was among pariia-
men tary problems.
Mr.. Wright, genuine Jackson man,
moved lit be expunged." This was losr,
because the Board wished to avoid any,
thing that looked like leaning to Jackson
ism.
Mr.. Snap hal maintained his wonted
ominous silence during the debate. FL
nally, he snarled out in his ay.-'.Why
don't you give Tictom leave of absence
and increase his salary?'
This suggestion uttered almost It ran
dom by the speaker, was met fivOrably.
There came near being >plit upon the
salary question, a few maintaining that
four hundred and fifty dollars was liberal
pay. At last it was voted as follows:
''That Mr.. Tictom be requested to take
months vacatiOn.-that his salary be
raised to five hundred dollars per annunl.
and that Mr.. Amos Meeker, the assistant.
be appointed acting cashier during the
absence of Mr.. Tictom.' The meeting
adjourned.
1t was now MIR. Grim's turn in the thun-
derbolt line. He looked as little like Jup-
tier as Jerry, yet there was dignity al
most Olympian in the manner with which
he announced the vote of the Board to the
unhappy cashier.
Mr.. Iictum was bewiIdered. A months
vacation! Why was that? A months
leave of absence! Where could he 90
What could he do? The winters wood
was all indoors.
For quarter of a century, every work
day. he had left widow HOlm's door. turn
ed down by the church, fingered a little
before that old slate slab i'm the church.
yard, near the fence. nodded to every one
he met, adding a smile if twas child or
a stakeholder, entered the bank, mended
his pens, debited, credited, paid and re-
ceived moneys, and returned again to
muse before the fl i'm winter, or to watch
bed Of growing pansies in spring and
summer. And now, to find all this inter-
rupted 1t was a fearful thing to come
upon him in his old age. Younger man
-''the boy" nOw-wOuld have gloried i'm
it, but to Jerry it brought only distrlc-
ton.
And that fifty dollars additional to his
salary! Another embarrassment. The
quarter-days now came around so fast he
could not spend his income, and his last
six months salary lay undrawn. Why
did the Board add to his perplexities at
this crisis?
Jerry could think of nothing more pa
thetic than parting with key, and he
would have esteemed an eX-trIrnkey the
most unhappy man living. For five-and-