Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-04-12

A6AO cSo NSe~NA
they're cackling yet. Say, mother,
mayn't / buy a jack-knife p
yes, guess so, if you are a good
boy and learn well at school,
James Henry walked off jauntily,
his hands in his pockets and slight
swing in his gait betokening his salts
faction, until eagerness getting the
better of his dignity, he gave two or
three jumps which brought him to t he
door of the hen house. Alas, for hui
man hopes! There were but twenty
eggs. Lacks four eggs of jack
knife, he said mournfully to his moth
er as he entered
His look of disappointment was too
much for her tender heart, and she
went into the pantry and returned
with basket in which reposed TWEEN
ty-four eggs.
There sonny she said, kindly, go
ana buy a jack-knife, but be sure to
get strong one.'
James Henry was the only son of
his mother, and she was a widow.
Years ago she was rosy checked
farmers girl, belle and a beauty,
who for while fiirted and kept the
beaux' hearts futterlng in the way
girls are so fond of, and then to their
chagrin married the least among them,
Matthew Arnold, with fine chateau
d'Espagne, but none in this country,
and a great fortune in hopes and
plans not yet realized. Mary's father
bought them a little house and garden
when he found her mind was made up
to marry Matthew, and they went to
housekeeping in that happy, inconse-
quent fashion people are apt to pity.
Had Matthew been rich, his friends
would have called him genius, but
as it was two years had not elapsed
ere the neighbors said he was shift
less no calculator , which, now |
think of it. are Synonymous with ge-
MUS.
But whatever the meaning Of the
word, the house (not the Spanish cas-
tle) began to wear dilapidated ap-
pearance, the fences leaned over in a
careless fashion, and the gate swung
idly in the breeze, for Matthew was
all the time at work upon something
that was sure to bring fortune-but
which never did. Sometimes it was
churns of marvellous workmanship,
which were to churn and work out
the buttermilk at the same time; then
it was clock with many new features,
and was sure to become favorite !;
again, steam engine, kind of a
perpetual motion it was, to use the
steam over and over again.
But, unhappily, they all lacked
some important element. The churn
wouldn't work, the clock wouldn't go,
and the engine refused to bulge an
inch.
Mrs. Arnold was the greatest pos
'sible contrast to her husband. But
for her they would have come to
want. She it was who not only at
tended to the household affairs, but
cultivated vegetables in their little
garden, sold eggs from their few hens,
butter from their one COW, and spun
and wove for their more fortunate
neiohbors. More than all the rest,
she was CHEEKY and pleasant as ever,
and had implicit faith in her husbands
genius.
Sometimes the neighbors condoled
with her, but Mrs. Arnold would say,
Matthew never made a thing |
couldn't use. There is the churn
now, use it to put meal in, aud it's
lust the incest thing you ever see for
that The old clock | couldn't get
along without. l keep my blankets
in it and the other woolens. Never a
mouse gets in 'em. You have no idea
what it is to have husband so handy
to make things.
But the time came when Matthew
went the way of all the earth, and
Mrs. Arnold still lived in the little
house. and continued to do so up to
the present, which brings US up to the
time when James Henry bought his
iack-knife.
The first few weeks after this new
acquisition, the only result was great
piles of shavings, and his mother said
she never had so easy time keeping
fires. Ere long, however, his devo-
ton to his knife precluded employ
ment. and Mrs. Arnold mentally
wished he was not so handy. He
was the veriest Ounce that ever yexed
a teacher but as he gratuitously fur
nished the scholars with tops, water
wheels and pointers, he was in high
favor with them. Impervious alike to
coaxing and ridicule, he seemed per-
fectly content to be forever at the foot
of his class as long as little Kate
Williams stood at the head. Kate
was lust 6 years old when James
Henry was 10, and as she was good
scholar, and the daughter of a village
LAWYER, she was held up to the schol-
lars as pattern of excellence. She
was sensible, and not easily spoiled,
and in those days evinced a strong
preference for James Henry over all
others, not even excepting George
Clifford. which continued even after
she was in Latin and algebra and
James was stumbling through geog-
raphy; and James felt little short of
idolatry for Kate.
But the time came when tops and
dolls bedsteads and rides on sleds
would not comfort her; when she
went to the academy and was escort
ed home from lyceums and singing
schools by George Clifford; for what
girl of l6 is regardless of beaux and
moonlight?
AS for James Henry he was the
cockuey's ideal of a Yankee. Tall,
lighthaired, shrewed eyed, simple and
laxative when be stood leaning up
against woodpile whiting. you'd
exclaim, "a live Yankee!' Strange
that this is the recognized type, when
in reality it is the exception. The
rule follows after youths of George
Clifford's style.
Meanwhile James Henry was not
idle. He had fixed up the old churn