The Republican journal., 1877-10-11

and forthwith proved that his guess was
right by going.
"Gad, Id forgotten all about the va
termelons Perhaps they're at 'em al
ready" cried Arthur, jumping up and
running around the end Of the piazza to
the garden
When he returned, it was to meet a
combined y0ley Of proteStationS against
his foolish project OF keeping watch all
night, from his father, mother. and Amy
But he declared it was no use talking !;
and where were the gun and the beans Z
So they adjourned from the piazza, q
lamp was lit. the articles were hunted
up, and the gun duly loaded with good
charge of powder and Il pint of hard
| beans 1t was about ten o'clock when
Arthur, with parting protest from bis
mother, went out into the garden, lug
ging his gun and Il big easychair, While
! Amy followed, bringing one or two wraps,
| and a shocking old 0VcrcOat hunted up in
the garnet, for the chill hours after mid
| night
The front of Mr. Steelcs lot abutted on
one Of the pleasantest and most thickN
| housed streets of the village; but the lot
was deep, and the rear end rested on Il
road bordered 10y few HOUSES. aud sepA-
rated from the garden 10y a rail fence easy
to climb over or through. The water
melon patch was located close to this
fence, and thus in full view and tempt
| ingly a, cessbIc from the road
Undoubtedly the human conscience,
and especially the boyish articles, recog-
nizes a broad difference between the theft
OF growing crops of apples on the trees,
fn1. m ct h.. to1 al
ons in the field land that of other species
OF property. The surreptitious appro-
praton of the former class of chattles is
known in common parlance as "hook-
ing, while the glaVer term stealing"
describes the same process i'll other cases
The distinction may arise from a feeling
that, so long as crops remain rooted to
the ground, they are natures not mans,
and that nature can't be regarded as
forming business contracts with some in
dVldualS to the exclusion of others, or III
fact as acceding to any of our human
distinctions of HtPltiA and tuttNt, however
useful We find them. Ethical philosophers
may refuse 10 concede the sanction Of the
popular distinction here alluded to be
tween hooking" and 'stealing," but.
after all, ethics is not 4 deductiVe but an
empirical science, and what are morals
but Il collection Of usages, like orthogra-
ply and orthoepy However that may
be, it is the duty Of the writer in this
instance merely to call attention to the
prevalent popular sentiment Oh this sub
lcct, without amy attempt to justify 1t,
and to state that Arthur Steele had been
too recently a boy not to sympathze with
it. And, accordingly. he laid his plans to
capture the expected depredators tonight
from practical considerations wholly, and
quite without any SENSE OF moral repro
baton toward them.
Closely adjoining the edge Of the mel
on patch was 4 patch Of green corn,
standing ten feet high, and at the fullest
perfection of foliage. This Arthur Sc
lcctcd for his ambush, its position being
such that he could cut of the retreat to
the fence ot any person who had once
got among the melons. HeWing down a
bill of corn in the second row from the
front, he made a comfortable place for his
easy chair. Amy fingered for while, en-
joying the excitement of the occaslon
and they talked in whispers; but finally
Arthur sent her in, and as her dress
glimmcrcd away down the garden path,
he settled himself comfortably for his
watch
IN the faint moonlight he could Just
descrN the dark shapes of the melons on
the ground in front Of him. The crlcllets
We're having a high time in the stuhbc
around, and the night air drew sweet au-
tunnal eNhaIations from the ground for
autumn begins by night long time be
fore it does 10y day. The night wind
rustlcd in the corn with 4 crisp artlcu-
latcncss he had never noticed in the day
time. and he felt like an eaVesdroppcr.
Then for Il while he heard the music of
some rowing ScrcnauerS, down IN the VII
| lage, and grew pensiVe with the vague
"reminiscences Of golden youth, romance,
and the sweet past, that nightly music
suggests. vague because apparently they
are not "reminiscences of the individual
but of the race, a part Of the conscious
hess and ideal OF humanity. At last the
music was succeeded by the haying OF d
dog in some distant farm yard, and then
ere the ocean OF silence had fairly smooth
ed its surface over that, a horse began to
kick violently in ncighboring barn.
Some time after Il man chopped some
llindlings in u she'd a couple Of lots off
Gradually, however, the noises ceased
like the oft returning vet steadily falling
ebb Of the tide and Arthur experienced
| how many degrees there are OF silence,
each more utter than the last, so that the
final and absolute degree must be some
thing to which the utmost quiet obtain
able on earth is uprOar. one by one the
lights went out in the houses till the only
ones left were in the windows of the
Seminary, visible over the treetops Il
quarter of a mile away
THE girls keep late hours" thought
Arthur. And from that he fell TO think
ING of Lima MAYNARD and the careless,
almost insolent, grace of her manner, and
that Indifferent yet penetrating glance of
hers. Where did she come from ! Prob
ably from California or the far West; he
had heard that the girls ont there were of
bolder, more unconventional type than at
the East What a pity She did not fancy
Amy,
What was that moving across the mel
on-patch He reached for his gun. 1t
was only a eat though after all. The
Slight noise in the corn-patch attracted
the animals attention, and it came across
and poked its head into the opening where
-AIlllul Sill. AS tHt tltdltlt SdW llllll ltS
start of surprise would have shattered
| the nervous system of anything but Il
cat 1t stood half thrown back on its
launches, its ears tlattened, its eyes & Tar
| ing in a petretaction OF anazement. Ar
thur sat motionlGss as marble, laughing
inwardly. For full two minutes the ivy"
stared at each other without relaxing It's
tense attitude, the eat by almost lmper-
ceptble degrees Withdrew one paw and
then another, and thus backing out OF
| the corn patch, turned around when At a
safe distance and skunk away.
\ few minutes later a dog, that enthu-
sast in perfumes. jumped through the
| fence and trotted across the melon patch,
his nose to the ground, making collec-
ton of evening smells Arthur expected
nothing but that he would scent his
neighborhood, lind him out and set up a
| barking. But CHANGING to find the eat S
| trail ntf wont thn 1nCr IN n tn1l RIM with