The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-07-31
From The New York Ledger
Praying in G'cdfora's Store.
STORY TOLD BY TIE STAGE DRIVER,


Tadford wasn't a bad man. When
they called l'iin young Iadtord he was p
ioIlv fellow a. you could ask TO Ine ct.
! That was when the old man was alive
! and kept the store himself, and Tad. il ::
white apron stood behind the counter.
..The most obliging young fellow in the
! place. INV old woman used TO say; and,
! except the minister. the most gentecl.
He was quite beau then, and a good
many girls set their caps for him. and
/ eyerv one of 'em said they couldn't see
what he saw in Fanny Perkins. 10 make
him marry her. Even my Old woman
| said II and when suggested it might be
! her pretty face and her nice ways, She
said bother
However. he did marry her. and She
| kept house for him and the old man, and
| they were a. happy as two babies for
awhile.
Old Tadforl was pleased too. be
lieve he thought his daughteTin-iaw was
an angel
lie was kind d-hparted body, old Tad
ford was. He had risen from nothing,
step bv step, slow and sure saving IL pen
NY here and a penny there and putting il
in the bank and never took il out again
so that he had savings to The amount o.:
ten thousand dollars, and all that was to
be young TadfOrd'S when the old man
died-that and the house and store. |
don't suppose any man would have been
happier to have had his father live for
ever than young Tad. would have been.
He wasn't waiting for dead mems shoes,
but still he knew he was going 10 have it
all. you see, and it made him feel safe
enough about the future.
| think, for my part, the old man was
getting childish about those days. How
ever, a good many people that Were not,
did about the same as he did. What |
say is. let well enough alone. There
was his money safe and sound in the
bank. when what should he do but go
and take it out and buy coupon bonds
with it, every cent, and let all the ragtag
and bob-tail in the place know that he'd
done it, and had them in the house.
After that there was no peace. Now lie
hid them here, now lie hid them there.
lie put 'em in a box and he put 'em in a
bag lie had 'em up chimney and down
cellar, and he worried himself thin over
them. Worst of all was, he began to
lose his memory, and couldn't always
remember where he had put them. And
at last. after burglars had broken into
the store. he made an oil-sEin bag and
tied it on his back, and walked about
with his coupon bonds about him. And,
of course, it wasn't safe to let him 90
about alone with such a temptation to
those that would murder man for such
a sum. But he wouldn't listen to rea-
son, he would do it.
never shall forget the day that little
Jack Richards came tearing past our
house with IL face as white as a sheet,
and cried out as he passed:
''UncIe Riggan. ] say-lm going for
the doctor Somebody has been and
murdered old Mr.. Tadford."
darn't stop for my coat. | ran over
to the store without even stopping TO
tell the old woman what I'd heard and
there, sure enough, was poor Old Tad
ford. with n cut on his head, on the
floor, and young Mrs. Tadford, with II
baby three weeks old in her arms, sob
bling beside him.
Tom had gone 10 the city for some
thing. she said. and the old man had
been alone in the store. and Il customer
coming in had found him senseless be
hind the counter, and had called for her
that was all she knew. Wher the
doctor came he did his best. of course;
but he said. at the same time, it was of
no use. Ii was an apoplectic fit. hc
said, and the wound was from the cor
ner of the counter where his head had
hit.
When Tom came home, his fathers
dead body lay upon the bed, and he had
never spoken Il single word to any one.
There was such grief and excitement
that it wasn't until after the funeral had
taken place that any one thought of the
coupon bonds. They knew that the old
man had worn them on his back, in his
oil-skin bag that morning, for he had
asked his daughter-in-la TO sew new
string on, and Tom himself had tied it
about his neck, but no one hau seen it
since. 1t was gone. and whether some
one had robbed the old man OF 1t before
he died or after no one knew. The Gus
toner who called Mrs. TadfOrd down
stairs to tell her the awful news, said
the old mans neckcloth was off and his
shirt unbuttoned when he found him;
but the doctor swOre that the death was
a natural one, and the house was full of
strangers that day.
1t was gone, and the ten thousand
dollars with il, and that was the end of it.
After that somehow things took a bad
turn with young TadfOrd. \ new man
started a new store in the place, and
people took TO him because he had a big
window and ii Chinese mandarin nod
ding in It.
The girls liked him because lie was
single, and the old women because he
was good talker. Toms customers
fell off, and think it was 10 save him
self, that he began TO make Il regular
drinking place of his store Tie old
man had always had ale and cider, and
now he added whisky and brandy and
gin. All the loafers of the place began
to drop in, and Tom found himself able
to pay expenses: but lie wasn't comfort
able yet. At the height OF his trouble
he'd mortgaSed the place. and that was
forever on him like an incubuS There
is nothing like Il mortgage 10 worry a
man into his grave
Tom changed Il great deal. lie crew
cross and hateful. Poor Fanny looked
as though she had a hard time OF it
There We're more children now. and they
dangled about the shop and learnt bad
words. and saw the drinking. Decent
people dropped the Tadfords: and they
felt that. expect: but what could b.
done: Decent women couldn't 20 visit
ing in Il house that was nothing bat a
grOggery, and where they'd lind some
tipSy fellow ready - insult them. likely
Everybody pitied poor Fanny TaIsUFd,
but it couldn't be helped.
You've heard tell of this Praving Band
haven't you these ladies that 20 about
PRAYING down rhe rum-drinking.
1t i Just four weeks ago that they
came down here They tried the widow
Mullins first, but they did nothing there.
Out she came with her broom and drove
them from the place. They say she tore
one old lady's bonnet of. | make no
doubt Of it. TO see "a woman pretending
to be better than she i. Is enough 10
drive any woman TO desperation. and
Maggy Mullin is pretty lad, and those
pure fair, sweet-looking ladies must have
been dreadful for her to bear the sight Of
We men. now. expect ii. The nearer
women are TO angels the better We like
EN-; the farther off they seem from earth
and nearer 10 heaven, the giadder the
worst men feel somehow.
And when those tidy. calm. sweet souls
came down the street arm i'll arm toward
Tadford's store. some did laugh. but ii
was soft. like you would hear from babies
and some Just cried, and some said,
Lord bless 'eIn and help EN-" and Il
good many went down to Tadford's along
with EN-. TO see what would come Of it.
Tom Tadford stands at the door calm
aid solemn-like. and sees 'ern coming
down slow and steady, with their faces