Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-08-30
The Mothers Strataqem.

The Mothers Stratagem.
One sunny morning few years ago,
Jan kammerick came up from the cabin
of his barge-which his men were
slowly working through a lock near
the quaint and ancient city of Antwerp
and set his huge Dutch feet upon the
deck. His first act was to below fero-
ciorIsly at the good natured fellows who
were doing their best to get the barge
through without even so much as even
scratching the fresh paint on her sides ;
his next was deliberately and cruelty TO
kick small moon-faced boy who was
lying on his back, and looking up at a
carved wooden figure whose grotesque
head grinned from a side rail.
Many of the loungers along the banks
of the lock knew old Jan kammerick
for mean and cruel Flemish boor, who
maltreate5 his wife, his children, his
bargemen. and who sometimes flew
into Such terrible fits ef-aHger that he
thrasned his own sides with his round
fists. You may see people just like him
in some of Tenier's paintings,-men
with low. cunning faces, small, twink
ling, greedy eyes, thick lips; men with
broa shoulders and stout limbs; men
who seem always ready to get down
and hunt on all fours, like the animals
they so much resemble. No one in
Antwerp-not a market-woman on the
shore of the Scheidt, nor a bargeman
on river or canal-liked the choleric
and brutal Jan kammerick; many times
the wretch had narrowly escaped a
ducking at the hands of mob because
of his cruelties; and on this occasion,
seeing the poor child who was kicked
begin to cry and to crawl away toward
q refuge under pile of rope, every one
shouted:
Jan Kammerick, Jan Kammerick
you are a mean, bad man, and no one
will be sorry when you come to harm. ~
or Jan Kammerick. you shall be COM
planned of to the Judge OF the district! ~
The women shook their fists at him,
and the men muttered that the boy
must be taken away from his cruel
father and cared for. Kammerick's
poor wife, who was washing her pots
and kettles on deck, looked as If she
inwardly sympathized with the people
on shore; but she trembled, and dared
say nothing
Jan was in such a dreadful temper
that the cries of the people on shore
made him more furious still.
s'It's none of your business" hs
shouted, show much pound and kici
this brat, He is good for nothing bu
whiting and breaking knives. If h'
carves any more of his pudding face
out of nv boat rails, FL send hin
adrift. Then you will have what yor
want! Then, neighbors, you will hav'
a pauper on your hands; and when yot
feed him in your kitchens, he will carve
doll puppets out of your table-legs."
Then he vanished down the hatch
way, followed by the maledictions o
the bystanders.
"If L were you," cried one Of them t.
the boy. 81 would run away"
The barge went on through the locks
and the boy still creuched in his cor
ner.-The tears yet dimmed his eyes
but he had already forgotten his bruises
There was no resentment in his heart
toward his wretched father. His mint
was filled with a thousand beautiful
and fantastic images,-delicate fancle
which he now and then sought to EN-
body in bits of wood that he laboriousll
carved with clumsy knives or chisels
He longed TO be free from the rude wori
which he was compelled to do upon tn
large barge, and to study. that he Nigh
become great sculptor in wood. Whel
the barge passed near come OF the curl
ously adorned old houses of which Their
are so many in Antwerp-houses who's
windows, whose roofs, whose arches
whose doors were richly and profusel.
adorned with carvings of birds ant
foliage. of beasts and dragons. of mysti
cal figures from mythologies, or comica
transcripts from everyday Dutch life
he studied them carefully and wit
passionate alteration. He had neve
been allowed TO go into the streets, an
ook at them for hours at time, as n
could have wished to do; for old Jan
who piled to and from little villag
on the banks of the Scheldt, at som
distance from Antwerp, would neve
allow his child to go on shore durin
any of their tri-weekly visits to tn
city. He yearned for a sight of tn
grand churches of which his mothe
had told him-cathedrals in whose sol
emn stiffness he could stand undi:
turbed all the day long, drinking i
beauty at every pore. The harshnes
and hardship of his life, the beatings
his unnatural father, would have bee
as nothing to him if he could have bee
allowed to learn something Of art--Bu
old Jan not only refused to allow hlI