The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-12-23

6llAAO -d4l ClDOu tlO RAONOs cu1AS~ AHS---~ - "
robins singing singing In his shop.
Jedd looked and looked; but when the
grass and the daisies grew tremulous as
In sudden wind, and the grave began
to open, Jedd could look no longer; and
he shut out the strange sight by placing
iank, bony hands over his eyes.
Merry Christmas, sir, : said a nesl-
tating voice at his side.
jedi started.
Merry Christmas, sir, repeated the
voice, dolefully.
And then Jedd turned his eyes on the
speaker. It was very shabbily- dressed
lad. He had on felt hat OF no color
whatever, q roundabout jacket, and 2
pair of white duck trowsers, much too well
ventilated for the season. His physique
was as delicate as girls; and it 1t had
not been so dark Jedd could have seen
| face In which there was q strange mix
! ture of the Madonna and the devll-the
expression of boyhood contendlng, and
sad experience written all over 1t.
| But the snow was falling heavily, and
he only saw a very little fellow sur
mounted by very shocking hat.
eff you please, sir, : said the BOY,
pleadingly.
5" Humph -
| And Jedd was about 70 bid him 60 his
way, when it struck Jedd that, after
what he had seen, not even the love OF
charming collins could tempt him to
turn off the gas again in his shop; and to
| leave it burning until morning was bit
of extravaganza not to be thought OF.
It occurred to him to hire this promis-
.cuous wisher of merry Christmases to SIT
/ In the shop till he should have returned
from the Spuyten Duyvels; so he
changed his brusque manner, and IN
quired, in tone which was intended to
be extremely conciliatory:
"What's your name, bub?"
/ "The last one, sirs" asked bub, look
ing up.
"The last one, sir2" repeated Jedd
mimicking the lad. Chow many have
| youa 2"
A good many, sir. In Nantucket
they used to call me Poor Tommy, ano
Orphan Tom, and Tomtit. But or
board ship the sailors called me Nan
tuck-and they called Nantuck very
often, and made him work good deal. >
And the boy shivered with cold, as the
keen north wind swept around the cor
ner with evident predatory designs on bis
tattered jacket. +. 81.
ssNantuck9' said his interrogation,
turning up his pinched nose with disap
probation, as if the name filed his ven
cradle nostrils with every ancient and
fish-like smell"
/ "Well, Tomtit I like that best, you
know-if you will keep shop for me ar
hour or so, I'll give you shilling.
9sI don't know how much shilling
| is," said Tomtit, alias Nantuck, eagerly,
FsbutiIl do it thankfully"
"The key is under the mat. Unlock
the door, and don't touch anything.
| Don't jar those lovely collins they
might fall on you, and kill you, you
know" Jedd never once looked toward
the shop. eff you see a grave in the
middle of the floor you mustn't be
frightened, you know. I'm not.
And Jedd shuddered.
81 don't see any grave, +" said Tomtit.
throwing open the door.
The undertaken summoned all his
courage, and glanced into the room
but the mound, with its daisies and the
weeping willow, had vanished.
| "Dev' fish strange, " he muttered. ST
qOGs there" Then facing his clerk pre-
tenn: 'You won't steal anything, be
cause there isn't anything to steal, you
know" s
The boy looked YEARLY around him,
and seemed to think that the temptation
wasn't very strong.
''But he might take lid, though, >
thought Jedd.
However, there was no alternative but
to trust him. Somehow or other, and
God wills it so, the most suspicious are
oblSqed to place confidence in fellow
mortal. Not you and I, gentle reader
we would do Il willingly, for it is good
4 to believe in humanity. Among other
things, the old man of three-score had
not learned this.
Tomtit glanced over the apartment.
There was only the ghost of fire in q
small stove all sorts of grotesque
shadows peopled the room, and the dim,
blue light, which fell like an imitation
Of moon-rise on the long, narrow houses
of the dead, made them look frightful.
4 A coffin is an ugly-lo0king thing any
way one can fix it, and twenty collins
are, of course, twenty times uglier.
1 "Queer place, soliloquized Tomht.
CT rather Like it, though" And the
boy smiled sickly smile: "He thought
I'd be afraid. A man who has been on
whaling voyage here little thirteen
years-old drew himself up to his full
height" isn't likely to be scared by
j two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, four
teen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty empty
boxes. I guess not -
i The child must have been exceedingly
weary, for he had no sooner located him
self ON one of the tall black stools thar
he sank into o profound slumber. His
4 body swayed to and fro in a very unde
cided manner. At last it gave an extra
A curve, and Tom fell. He broke neither