The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-09-27

t4Ao vucAAco. 4 1Vl40Wo0 Hlk1 Oy6L EUUW UUU
stumps, and broom and heather without
taxing my eyes OF Of him. ~ paused.
raised my gun, took aim and fired. He
was gray befofe I fired, but white after.
wards, for he fell upon his back with his
belly in the air. The next thing /. SAN
was my father leaning against = Tree AboNt
six yards behind my vlrSlfAs l had killed
the rabbit almess between lay fathers
le9ss At the moment my delight at my
success uvefpowered every UtheF fbsl!ng.
| sprang on The dead Rabbit ike young
savage, and waving 1t above my head,
cried:
- oh, papa. it was my first shoti'"
90 1t is very well to be good shot, he
answered, with what afterWard appeared
to be forced smile, but you ought 70
have obeyed me. II you had stayed where
/ stationed you you would have run no
risk in hitting me-
"Oh, hope have not hurt you
- No, NO, my son, but another time be
more CAREFUL
His face looked pale. stopped down
and saw some rents IN one leg Of his pam
falcons.
"sGood heaven, dear papal Can |
have hit you! ] see something like shot.
holesl'
:" Look at your own pantaloons. They
are torn as much as mine.'
That was true, and felt treasured at
once.
"The terriers, Waldo and Waidina, aft
er trying to worry the dead body Of my
game, were off on another scent, and
waited with great impotence till my ia
tler Sh0I1ld lOqd ,,nv n11n A<Afh
Come, my boy, let us co. he said.
You have done enough for the first time.
Wen eefne back and have some more of
II One of these fine days, plsase God.'
!" He whistled for the dogs. went back to
our gig without limping very perceptibly,
and drove homeward. I observed that he
got out with some difficulty, and that his
leg seemed to drag after him.
90 Something hurts you, dear papa l
said
I" He made no answer-only told me
rather abruptly to put the guns away, and
went up slowly to his own chamber.
My brother and sister came running
to know if had any good luck, and were
delighted when they saw my rabbit. l
felt too anxious to be able to enjoy their
satisfaction, and all the time was looking
round me with one eye, and listening to
every sound in the passage. / saw our
old cook Gredel come out, and few mo-
ments afterward l saw DR.. Manginn go
in, He locked in hurry, and ran up
stairs without noticing us children. He
was there still when our supper was
served, and | suppose he left while we
were at table. Our dear mother came
down to us as calm and sweet as usual,
but she looked anxious and pale.
Papa is not hungry and does not care
for tea, she said. He is little tired
and not very well. But it will pass off in
a few days. Come and kiss him before
you go to bed tonight. as usual
My heart was very full. could hard
ly eat my supper. / kept furtively watch
ing my dear mothers face, dreading to
read my condemnation in her eyes. But
she did not seem disposed to be displeased
with me, and she stayed at table (though
with some impotence, / thought till our
youngest-my little brother-fnished his
last mouthful.
"As soon as our napkins were folded
she ran up to my fathers room to see il
we might come in, ana called to us over
the stairs:
"tCome and say good might to papa
81 got up first, thanks to my long legs.
He was lying on his back, propped up by
three pillows. But he did not look very
badly.
I" l kissed him, trying not to cry, and
whispered:
"'Dear papa, please tell me that did
not hit you
Frank he replied, you are good
boy, and love you. Goodnight. That
is all have to say to you.'
1.-The little ones who had followed me
began to climb up on his bed, as they
often did in the morning, in their night
gowns.
"'Take care,' he said, you'll hurt my
leg; I've got the rheumatism
But could not believe it such a sud.
den and violent attack of a sickness he
had never suffered from before. / looked
all round the room trying to see some
thing that might show me how it was
BY the light of the chamber candle per
ceived his pantaloons. They had beer
hung UP near the window, and fancied
that one leg was cut all the way down.
had not time to verify this observation, fol
my mother, no doubt seeing what was
lOOhlaS at, NlOoCI buC Jul tdlAo.
!" You may easily imagine what an anx.
ious night it was. As often as closed
my eyes, fancied that saw my fathers
leg torn with the shot, and so terribly
swelled that the doctor had to cut off his
clothes. But this night was not the worst
Day after day things grew more wretched
My dear father co lid not conceal his suf.
ferings, my gentle mother could not hide
her great anxiety; even the children be.
came unhappy, got into corners, and cried
without exactly knowing what they were
crying for. Our kind old friend, the
doctor, was in and out of the house nearly
every hour. l could not go outside our
own front door without having kind in.
Quiries to answer which were dreadful
to me.
AZ shut myself up at last, saying had
some books I had promised to study in
the holidays. My mother had a table
fixed for me in little study of my faith
er's between the library and the sitting.
room. / sat there most of the day, but
did not do much studying. The greater
part of the time was looking through an
cid medical book on gun.shot wounds Oh
the Law Encyclopedia, unless was crying
too much to see the words.
"All this went on a long, long fortnight,
when one morning between eleven and
twelve, saw our doctor coming up the
front steps in company with three elderly
strangers, all of them with the red rib.
bon Of the Legion Of Honor in their button.
holes
They went right up to my dear faith.
er's chamber, and after staying there q
quarter of an hour, they came down into
the parlor, where they were closeted with
one another. My anxiety was so great
that took the liberty of trying to make
out what they were saying. The few words
could hear made me perfectly wretched.
They were talking of a shot-a shot out
of my own gun-whieh had lodged in
the bend of the knee. They talked OF
Inflammation, tumors, white swelling, and
other matters with long Latin names,
which, though / heard them then for the
first time, have remained engraven on my
memory.
They all agreed upon the importance
of the case, and the urgent necessity of an
operation, though none of them seemed
willing to undertake it. The responsibility
seemed too great and the success too
doubtful. The fear was that the patient,
whose system had been weakened by his
two weeks suffering, might sink under the
operation. A rough voice repeated two or
three times over. l had rather cut out ten
rifle-b balls
Doctor Manginn, however, urged the
operation, saying that he knew my faith
er's strength and constitution, his habit
ual calmness and his regular habits. He
grew SO earnest that at last / heard him
say:
Then shall call in Doctor Sedillot,
who will be less timid than you.'
There came loud chorus of voices,
the doors opened and closed again behind
them, and the house was left in misery
and gloom.
"Our good doctor paid us no more Wis