The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1874-08-13
SOInervilIe and Son.

"Going to that dreadful factory
again ?" said Mrs. Somerville, looking
up as her daughter entered the sitting
room, dressed for walking. 81 de-
clare, Nellie, you might as well be q
boy as girl, for any pleasure have
in your society. Every day you are
off to the factory, leaving ME alone"
al will come back soon if you want
me, mother but promised father to
come down and give him my opinion
of some patterns for moulding, that
are to be sent in to-day"
GAS if the opinion of girl of your
age was of any value. You need not
hurry back on my account. j can
bear the sorrow of havinga masculine
tom-boy of girl, instead of n gentle,
refined companion. Co..
Nellie Somerville pressed kiss up
on the fretful face pettishiy turned
away to evade the caress, and then
went out very gravely. Her step,
strong and elastic, was unusually
slow, as she walked toward the fac
tory, where her father waited for her,
and for the hundredth time her face
was was clouded as she debated in her
own mind the veXed question of her
duty. Not her inclinatiOn-that
pointed steadily one way-but her
duty. Hs FL .
From the time when, grasping her
fathers strong finger, the little girl
toddIed by his side, Nellie SOmerville
had been her fathers pride, and the
cross of her mother. Child after child
had been taken from the home of John
Somerville TO ill little grave in the
churchyard-the victims of an over
anxiety to guard them from every
breath of air; to fortify their constitu-
tions by incessant dosing; to force
health by combating imaginary weak
ness.
When Nellie was born, the father
ass .rted his authority, and the babe
was brought up almost In the open
air, and found perfect health and
strength in constant exercise, good
food and q total deprivation of all cor
dials and narcotics. III she cried she
was not dosed ON supposition OF pain,
but comfOrted by ride. on pspa's
shoulder, or a race in the garden.
When childhood had passed, school
days over, the girl came home from a
seminary in distant city, and shock
| eu ueT lnOIlcI ducH. n SDOu SCuOA-
ar, a fluent pianist. and promising
| linguist, she was adverse to embroid-
cry and work, fond of riding and
walking, and while essentially retin-
ed in thought and action, had no az
fectations or fine ladyisms, such as
/ Mrs. SOmerville considered the
crowning charms of wOmanhOod.
She entered into the details of house
keeping with q hearty Zest, though
her mother declared she beat eggs like
a ploughboy, and stirred cake like a
miIk-maid.
"You see, papa" Nellie said, conf
dentially, to her sympathizing parent,
"I can't half-dO anything, and NAM
ma thinks l am awfully unfeminine.
II eggs are to be beaten, beat them,
not dab at them as if was in q de-
cline. l do try to please mamma,
and / sat all day yesterday morning
working upon horrible combination
of zephyr and canvas for foOtstoOl.
But mamma says [ stab the work
but between you and me, papa, L did
wish the foot-stool was in a sufficient
ly advanced state to warrant me in
kicking it. wish / was boy; then
could be at the factory all the time.'i
John Somerville could scarcely look
at the handsome, healthy face raised
to his own, and wish it different in
any way; yet the hidden grief of his
| life was that there was no son to in
herit the name upon the factory sign
for three generations. "Somerville &
Son" were known for miles around
the village where the great factory
was located, and their names were
good in many of the leading cities OF
the country. John had inherited the
business from father and grandfather,
but his own SONS, three dark-eyed
boys, lay in thechurch-yard, and Nell
lie alone remained of six children.
More than once the thought had
crossed his mind, "if she was only a
boy,U as Nellie followed him over the
great building with the keenest inter
est in every department. there.
The business was the manufacture
of frames of every description, and
Nellie became familiar with every
detsil, from the purchase of the lum-
ber to the criticism OF the finished
work. She had nicely of touch that
detected the slightest inequalities oi
surface even in polished wood, and
her eye was at once quick and cor.
rect. Little by little, almost uncon-
sciously, John Somerville trusted Mel.
lie withimuch of the decision in pur.
chase, and the bookkeeping was
often in her care for weeks together
when there was 2 pressure of work
Mrs. Somerville whined and fretteC
over the strangely masculine tastes o.
her child, but her father became more
and more ayerse to parting with hel
in business hours. r.frs
Two years after Nellie returned
from school, and just after her twen.
ty-first birthday, she started ont
morning, as seen in the opening of my
story, to look at some patterns to b
sent for decision. Such matters wer
often entrusted entirely to her judge
; ment, so she was not surprised to finC
her father had gone out, leaving tn
decision to her. But after she had Civ
en- the order, had answered q lot o
letters lying upon the desk, had wan
dered all over the building aud return
ed again to the Office, she was surpris
ed at her fathers long absence.
One of the fOremen, in the finishing
, department, coming to the, Office 70
some last orders about the shipmen
of some goods, said that Mr.. Somer
Vile had appointed to meet him ther
at noon, and the proprietor of SOmer
vile d Sons frame factory was a ma