River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-11-15
SEEKING A "SITUATION ;"

| this" cried Steve Parker. :" Look at this
New York Herald! Look at that entire
pagel Situations for Mqlesg Nothing
to do but to go and pick and choose your
place. / tell you, Harry, if you could
once walk down Broadway, the very
thought of living in Oldborough would
sicken you ever after"
Then he lowered his voice, that Mrs
Flaxman, Harry's mother, might not heal
him.
The good Quaker lady sat sewing at tho
| other side of the room, pleased to see hel
boy so eager and interested. She caught
now and then chance word of Stoves
harangue-" marble stores" brown stone
palaces" liveried servants" aud dia-
mond studs in his shirt-bosom, worth
thousands of dollars, STRIP
"Who is it that shows so costly front
Stephen?" the mild little lady asked. She
was always anxious to be companion t.
| Harry and his friends.
Mr.. Clements, ma'ami" cried Steve
Zone of the first young men in New York
| He's clerk in a clothing store on Broad
way. He boarded with us last summer
He used to say to me. Parker, come to
! town, and we'll make man of you
You're wasted in a country village like
Oldboroughp That's the way he used to
talk to me, rubbing the hight down on
his upper lip triumphantly.
~ always thought thee fitted into the
grocery shop very well, Stephen" said
Mrs. Flaxman, quietly. "Thee might be
little more prompt in waiting on Gus
toner, it is true. But if l were to see
diamonds on a tailor's clerk, I should
suspect something was wrong with the
diamonds-or the clerk"
Steve scowled, and even Harry thought
his mother unjust. The glitter of those
diamonds he remembered well-their red
and yellow blaze of splendor. 1t threw a
halo of magnificence now over all New
York.
Steve and he talked in whispers after
that, and went out to the back gate to fin
ish their discussion, which lasted until
late at night.
The next morning Harry Flaxman
found Steve's complaint the burden of all
of his own thoughts. ''What can a man
do in placel like thisY" "Pretty bust
ness for man like mem he thought, as
he drove the COW TO pasture, swapping the
whip at her, and after breakfast, went to
the doctors office, and brushed all the
bottles with their gilt labels, ''Magnes, !"
'Quin. Pills." etc.
Yet this ''man" was only fourteen, and
if you had asked him yesterday who
were his best friends, he would certain
" have counted old Brindle an ong them.
A year ago, too, Harry Flaxman had
been one of the hsppiest boys in Old
rs Ill ha1 1ffa oil
the place in his office.
Harry is good boy" he had said to
the widow, and has enough knowledge
of Latin to qualify him for doctor, as doc
tors go. l cannot afford to take him as a
student for nothing. But let him come
and keep the Office in order, and stay in
it when | am out, and l will board and
pay him er ough to clothe him and give
him the useIof my books and such instruc
ton as Ican."
The Doctors deeds had been better
than his words. Hary's light duties left
him plenty of time to study. He recited
his English lessons to his mother at night,
and had begun seriously at the very
foundation of medical course.
Mrs. Flaxman was widow, and poor.
A great load had been lifted from her
mind. She fancied Harry grown young
mana successful student-a physician
DIR. Harley's partner. 1t took her but
an hour to build castle in Spain, and
she built it every day.
Meanwhile, Steve Parker had been
down on days visit to New York, and
brought back very different ideas, where
with to dazzle Harry.
DIR. Harley, during the week that fol-
lowed, observed that the boy was careless,
inattentive, and lost in his own thoughts;
surprising that some care of his mothers
troubled him, he said nothing, but re-
solved TO call the next day at the widows
and she what was wrong.
The next day was too late. Henry did
not come to the Office in the morning as
usual. An hour afterward, the doctor was
sent for to Mrs. Flaxman's,
Harry" said the old woman who came
to the doctor, "has run away, and 1t has
gone near to killing his mother. I've seen
that Parker boy putting the mischief into
the lad for weeks. Henry's not bad 'un
in the grain"
"He left this letter." said Mrs. Flax
man. when the doctor reached the house.
aThe poor boy didit for the best. But
but / would rather he had diedF'
The poor little woman was not strong,
and the sudden blow had shaken her ter
ribly, but she would not hear word OF
blame of Harry. The letter he had left
was to say that he had gone to make for
tune for himself and her; that he had in
fiuential friends and the best prospects in
New York.
@The influential friend is the young
man Clements, whe wore paste dia
monds,n said his mother, "and the pros
rects' are the advertisements in the news
paper"
aHe left no address," asked the doc
tor.