The Hickman courier., 1877-11-30
JACKS THANKSGIVING.

FIET51
which her own deft hands had laid out
to cool sufficiently before being placed
on the pautry shelves.
The hired girl was about forty-fve
! years old, and had been in the Peacock
/ family twenty-five years. She was an
authority in the house. As she stood
/ contemplating her preparations tor the
next day, Hepzibah heaved long, deep
I sigh
Give years :" she murmured 10 her
herself, ''and never word from him.
Poor boy dead, and in his lonely. un-
known grave, very likely, long ago -
She heaved another long and deep sigh,
and turned awav-for there were other
things to do, besides signing, in this
kitchen; and as she finished preparing
tie fine turkey for the oven she heaVed
one final deep sigh and murmured:
ooh, Jack-Jack You dear boy, II
yoE could only be here to help eat him
-ah, wouldn't / take comfort IN making
the stuihng."
But none who had ever known him in
that house, or in that ueighbOrhOOd,
knew where Jack Peacock was, or had
known for many long day. Jack had
been a wild boy, with no taste Tor farm
ing: but a decided taste fer exploring
the woods, reading poetry, roaming the
country generally, and discovering Gu
! riOus specimens of the mineral kingdom
in the understanding of which he had
q genuine talent and an absorbing inter
est
Farmer Peacock was a good man, only
narrOw-minded and burdened with one
idea that no man could be really
worthy member of society unless he was
either tiller of the ground or anxious
TO become such, circumstances being
favorable. He was as much attached to
Jack, in his way, as ever any man was TO
a SON But his way of showing it was
peculiar. He was given to informing
Jack, many times day, that be would
come 10 no good and his custom ofdoing
this as often AS possible in the presence
Of Others especially strangers was very
Calling to young fellow Ike Jack; and,
although he bore it well, it often stung
him deeply.
But there was deeper afront in store
for Jack.
One day he had been absent from sun
rise to sunset and when he arrived at
, home his father met him with an angry
frown.
Where Is my watch, sir?" he de
= maEded refused it TO you, 80 you
. took French leave and helped yourself .
: / haven't got your watch, and
haNn't had it, returned the boy, red
dening at his fathers tone and manner.
Don't lie, sir, rs well as steal, thun-
I dered former Peacock. Hand out my
watch, and then, perhaps, ! may listen
to your excuse for taking It without
leave"
But Jack had only grown redder and
redder, while tears of modification and
wounded feeling welled into his large,
clear eyes.
He euIpcd down his sobs though, and
answ, red proudly:
'Pm neither liar nor thief, sir; and l
viii not bear to lie called so, even by my
father. ! have borne your insults,
taunts and reproaches as long as ! can
bear them. But this Is the last. / will
4 no longer even try to submit. GfOod-by,
J mother; good-by, Hepsy, old girl. Il
2 will be a long while before Pm seen IN
this house again, TO be called liar and
/, 'thiefp"
Jack. who was a tall, well-grown fei-
low for eighteen, caught up his mother
+ in his arms, embraced her warmly, and
kissed her many times on the pale face
and the ewes that had grown so wild and
frightened at his talk of going away
e and then he turned to HePHbah gave
q her q good bear-like hug, imprinted
T rssounding kiss en- her cheek, and. with.
, out even a look At his father. rushed
from the house.
From that hour 10 one within 1t hae
! ( either seen him or heard from hi.a. a.
I day after day went by, and be neither
, | returned nor sent them any word, Mrs
Peacock took to weeping and Pining if
/ secret Farmer Peacock looked gray,
e and often uneasy; while HePzIbah made
Z loud lamentatiOu, and had no hesitation
! iu freeing her mind pretty hberaIly
about the way in which that dear boy
mad been treated in his own father
house.
But the ugly feature in the case wa
that the watch was really gone, and after
! Jacks disappearance it did not turn up
neither was any satisfactory way ot &C
7, counting for its loss discovered. This fac
! disturbed Farmer Peacock almost a
much rs Jacks continued absence.
Months and years went by, Mrs. Pea
4 cock grew slighter and paler; and tht
fine, but brown hair that Jack used t.
praise 20 became sprinkled all over witt
z the dust of silver. Farmer Peacock
. was "a upright in figure % ever, bu
people began to remark that he was very
spare and thin-Iooking; and there wa
face that were but faint lines wher
q Jack went away. As for ,Hepzibah, she
J still spoke her lamentations aloud anC
defantly.
When Hepzibah had quite finished
] preparing the turkey, she put it on q
+, huge platter, and prepared TO take 1t out
70 the ice-house, that il might be IL
prime condition for next days oven
Having dispatched that piece of busi
ness, Hepzibah then took survey o.
5 things in general, az she was in the habit
t Of doing; and, presently, her careful
eyeeell upon a great heap of bTushwOod
that was not in such 'skipshape" condi-
ton az was natural to everything on the
E Peacock farm.
' GNow what's the matter with that ere
, heap?' queried Hepzibah of the sur
rounding air, or of herself. "Its getting
too big, anyhow the pesky thing. How
5 the wind last night must "a blowed II
= about"
, While she spoke Hepzibah had gone
qsite close TO the brush heap, and stopped
: TO pick up an arm III of the lighter and
Il smaller twigs. The wind had, indeed
: blown the brushwood about, dislodged ii
IN many places, and scattered 1t so that
, through the crevices, Hepzibah could see
looked, her gaze suddenly fell on some
thing which caused her to drop the arm
= full of twigs with loud scream, and ther
10 fall upon the brush heap, scattering il
+ aside as though she had gone mad.
Very soon HePzibah had cleared {
large space, so that she could thrust he
arm into it; and then, regardless o
: scratches, she burrowed about with hel
+ hand until she held in its grasp something
= hard and cold, whose glitter bad caught
her glance through all the broken wOoc
and branches that inteTvened.
l She drew it forth in triumph, and il
} was a large old-lashiOned, heavy golc
) watch.
! My Jack, my poor Jack, my dear
Jack % sobbed Hepzibah, as she rar
0 quicker than she had run for many years
Z toward the house, holding the recovered
! watch high in the air.
Mrs. Peacock gave cry az If knife
had struck her when she saw the watch
Take it way Take it way J" she
screamed. d" The sight of it kills me
knew he never took it. o my boy
my 10Y w
Tgon uanz;bob hid tho watch in her