The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-06-19
MR.. SPARKS AND HIS GHOST.

"NO, sir. You must come down 8
peg. You can't get work because you are
looking for something genteel. There
is plenty OF work, but you are afraid of
it. There are hundreds of young men
like you, crying out in bitterness that
there is nothing to do, when there is
much to do. When mans family is
starving, he cannot afford to be genteel
| or fastidious. He ought to be willing
to do anything. If 1 were a man,
would find something to do, and would
| do it. If you don't find something to
! do, [ will. I am sick and tired of this
miserable complaining and m 0ping."
So declaimed Miss Jane Ann Sparks,
aged forty, to her nephew, Charles Sum
ner Sparks, aged twenty. Miss Sparks
was not hard nor an unjust woman.
| She prided herself on her discrimina-
tion in dealing out sympathy and kind
words, and she had made many sacri-
fees for other people. She was now in
| charge of the family of a deceased
brother, who left an invalid wife and
! several children. Miss Sparks had de-
voted two of the best years of her life
to this family as a pure love offering,
and they knew that she had managed
we'll. But Miss Sparks was desperate
now. The winter was upon them, and
Charley had been out of work for weeks,
and the younger boys were idling and
shlvering about the streets, looking in
vain for something to do. There was
no fuel in the house, and there were no
provisions. Charles had been well to
do, and had had for some years a good
place and an easy time. His aunt knew
that he had tried earnestly to secure
employment, and that he was miserable
because he could not. She knew that
he had done everything about the house
that it was possible for him to 40 that
the house had never been in such good
repair the yard and sidewalks never
SO clean the fence and gate in such
good order. But what did this amount
to, with only bread and potatoes for
breakfast, and nothing in the house for
dinner? So her words were tinged with
reproaeh. She was vexed, too, because
Charley had not jumped at an offer
made in the morning paper (Which she
had borrowed from neighbour
Wanted, eight good looking, we'll
dressed young men for special duty.
Good wages will be paid, and strict per-
formance of duty demanded. Apply at
Opera House Block, Room g."
Miss Sparks was vexed because Char
lev would not see rare promise in this
offer, and because he had said in his
dismal, disconsolate way:
Humbug No use to apply there.
There will be three hundred men clam
oring for the place"
But under the influence of his aunt'B
stinging words lie said he would go, and
he would take the place if it was to hang
a man. His aunt put out his best clothes,
and brushed his coat and hat herself,
believing that in this one case, at least,
it was necessary to be genteel.
Charley found a crowd about Room 8,
but the men were going away with
shakes of the head. He was assured
that only four of the eight men had
been secured, and that the four were
idiots; that no sensible an would take
the place. Charley was glad in his heart
that no sensible man would. There was
still chance, and he pressed forward
into the room ready to do anything.
A large, red-faced, decidedly Jolly
and decidedly emphatic man was master
of ceremonies. He WIS engaged in ty-
ing upon the back of a man a large
placard, four feet long, upon which
Charles Sumner Sparks read: