Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-05-02
The Stone by the Roadside.

ii0 OtUii0 W ui0 llUQu0iuG'
Where the town of Randolph now car.
ries on it's busy traffic, Egbert Bacon's
farm was once located. Egbert Bacon
was my grandfather. His farm covered
more than seven hundred good acres,
and considered himself wealthy, as he
undoubtedly was He started in life a
poor boy, and his honest accumulation
was the result of his toll.
Grandfather was very peculiar man.
Many persons consider him penurious,
but he was really liberal; and from the
fact that his charities were given with
secrecy, people supposed that he never
contributed to good works. 1t was in
his old age (and he lived to great Pc
riod) that a company of spectators
bought his land, because of the fine
water power that ran through it, and as
soon as they erected the mills the place
began to go forward until Bacon's farm
was a thing of the past. | can recollect
when the first mill was built, and / well
remember my boyish curiosity in watch
ing the mechanics who worked upon it.
Ny grandmother was about the same
age as her husband. She did not long
survive his death, and / missed good
friend and counselor when she left me.
Grandfather expected me to be a farmer,
but as / never had any taste for hard
work, my thoughts and inclinations went
another way. Of course he was not at
all pleased with my stubbornness, but
my good grandmother always stepped
between me and his wrath, and shielded
me much from his displeasure ~
The old gentleman was a sturdy man
at seventy years. He invariably dressed
in~broWn clothes, and wore so broad a
brim to his loW-crowned hat he might
easily have been taken for a Quaker at
first sight. But get him angry once
land his irritability was easily aroused(
and he would let fly such sharp and We
hement sentences that it was sometimes
difficult to imagine they were not pro-
fame.
I was nineteen years old, and was deep
in love with Sallie Miller, the young
lady who played the organ at the Gross
Roads Church, and was the finest dancer
among all the girls in the country
Grandfather had conceived dislike for
Sallie because she was musician. He
had no ear for music, and was not
= moved by discord of sweet sounds" and
nothing so quickly excited his ire as to
scrape a violin within its hearing, or
strike chord upon the piano.
Much against my own grandfather S
inclination, he permitted me to enter the
law Office Of Mr.. Smart, as a student
Had t not been for the good Offices of
j r oh bcI
the wish of my heart gratifed. But she
smoothed the way for my grandfather's
consent But he never ceased to ridicule
me for my pretensions, and positively
and positively refused to give me his con-
sent to marry Sale Miller. 1t would
not have been wise thug in me to
cross the old gentlemans whims, for |
was his heir; and he could have found
another without much difficulty, SO [
never urged my case but humored him
in every way could think of.
"What are you thinking about father"
she inquired. She always called him by
that name.
II was thinking" he slowly replied,
taking the pipe from between his lips
and dropping both hands upon his knees,
that few years hence, and one won t
see good old hickory logs burning upon
andirons. Stoves and CRATES, and that
internal coal that makes gas enough to
suffocate a household, will supply the
place of our old-fashioned fires"
[ ought to have held my tongue, for
he was not speaking to me; but I wanted
to show off some of my smartness, and so
I replied:
COIL my dear sir, there is really no
occasion for having stove which per-
mits the gas to escape. We have now
gas-consnming stoves, and one is not
troubled in the way you suppose"
'Pray, Mr.. Smartness, permit me to
inquire how long you have been possessed
of this valuable information? [ have
known it for some years, or rather have
heard it said, that these stoves were gas
burners, but it's all lie; there's not a
word of truth in it. I've known them
them to send out as much gas as would
kill an OK, if he were confined in the at
mosphere. Now, sir, don't you feel like
a fool?"
"Come now, father" replied my grand
mother, don't be so severe on the boy"
(she called me boy to the day of her
death); she only told you what he heard,
no doubt, and of course every one is
liable to make mistakes, especially about
such matters"
That puts me in mind continued
my grandfather, of asking you how you
are coming on with your piano-playlng
friend"
~ scarcely see her, except on Sun
days"
Humph!" returned my grandfather,
clearing his throat. [ didn't like the
ejaculation. | often heard it before, and
/ regarded it with the same apprehen-
sion that mariner does an ugly cloud
that rises up to the windward. ..b5mg4
Humphps he continued, blowing
column Of smoke toward the china orna-
mnnts ON the mantelpIece. "What are