The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-09-09
THE FOoT Boy.
BY THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH

When young man had passion
which almost amounted to mania for the
collection of minerals. Whenever |
could find leisure or whenever [ was
wearied with professional toll | used to
take my hammer and my leathern sach-
el and wander off to any locality where
| might be likely to find good speci-
mems. OF course, during such eXcur-
sions l met with curious adventures
Some ignorant people, who could not
divine what use | made of fragments of
stone, thought was harmless lunatic
Others supposed | was in search of
gold. Now and then person would be
encountered who believed made money
in some mysterious way by my collec-
ton. In one instance l met with hu-
man "dog in the manger.' | was
passing along the road, and saw that a
farmer was engaged in carting off the
superfuous stones in his field and filling
a hollow with them. As | knew the
small powders in that quarter were fire.
quentlv of anthophyllite, rather scarce
mineral, l went to the heap of stones
and began to examine it. The farmer
was at my side in an instant.
"What air you gOin' to do with emp
he asked.
explained nay purpose as courteous
ly as possible.
"Well, you can't have a stone out O.
there - he said.
ssBut,'' | demonstrated "you are
going to dump them in that hollow in
the road; and what difference can it
make to you?"
"WelI, so be; but if they're of any
use to YOU they're of use to me. >"
s'That don't follow. A thing may
be of use to me that is not the slightest
use to YOU, and Cice rerSG."
eff any thing I've gotis of use to you
it's worth something to me, fctSy tcerSy
or not ."
tNonsense!' said. "There's your
head, my friend. If it were boiled and
scraped it would make skull that as a
specimen would be of use to me; while
it's evidently worth nothing to you"
And | marched off, and as [ went
heard him utter some very naughty
words.
But this is not the story started to
tell YOU. l have something more in
teresting; only, like most elderly gen
tlemen, it takes me some time before |
begin.
One day l had gone up the Schuylkill
River, and had made my way back into
the country a mile or 50 beyond Valley
Forge, when, as l was examining a
rock that cropped out by the roadside :,
| found | had an attentive observer. |
looked, and saw boy, about twelve
wears old, who was watching me very
closely. | returned the compliment
He was clad in a jacket and trowSers
that were almost mass of many-eol-
ored patches-se much patched, in
fact, that / could not determine their
original color. His head was partly
covered with ragged palmettO-leaf
hat, with a twine string in lieu of rib
bon; and he carried a torn linen bag in
one hand and broken trowel in the
other In spite of the dirtiness Of face
and hands, there was something pleas
ant in his appearance and his eyes were
keen and intelligent. ....
''Hallo!" | exclaimed, "are you out
mineralizing, too, young man?"
tNo, - said he. ''I'm gittin ithem. >
And he drew from the bag and showed
me the rhizoma of the Blood-root, the
Sanguinaria of the botanists and the
''Red Puecoon'' of the South and
West.
"And what do you do with them, "
inquired, amused at his manner. ''Are
you young rOot-doctorH H'
"Not yit, u he replied. 81 git 'em
for a chap from Philadelphy. He gives
me a cent pound for 'em an comes
an takes 'em away. I've got nigh, Oh
TO a hundred pounds this week. Ihel
gittin' skeerce round here, though. .
l entered into conversation with the
little fellow, who told me of disuseC
quarryin the neighborhood, where there
were ''odd kind O. stone, " and, induced
by the offer of "a levy as the eighth
part of dollar was called at that time
agreed to show me to the place. Whrr
he got there l found a sufficient number
Of good specimens to fill my bag; ant
while l was hunting around through the
stone-heaps he kept close by me, talk
ing all the while
1t appeared that he lived in little
tumble-down house in the neighbor
hood, with his mother, who took IL
washing and did odd jobs around the
neighborhood; and he worked at any
thing he could get to do in the summer
time and went to public school in the
winter. He could read, write, anC
cipher as far as ''decimal fractions ,