River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-11-22
JAcK sPROUT's COMMISSION.

JACK SPROUTS CONVERSION.
Jack sprout swore terrible oath. In
fact. he swore quite number Of oafhs,
for be was very angry. Ii was nothing
wonderful for Jack Sprout 10 swear, even
in the presence Of his wife, for he was
sadly given to the habit Of profaDe Ian
gusge. And yet Jack was good bus
band an iadulgent father an industrious
man; an accommodating neigbbOr; and
he poss essed many other exeellencies Of
character which might have made him a
valuable mersber Of society had il not
been for certain loose habits which had
marked his course from childhood. His
parents had been careless and pr0fane
before him; his father had been a tough,
rough customer; so j ack naturally enough
came up in the same track. But he was
good looking, and kind hearted, and gen
| ial. and social, and so had gained for a
wife one of the best maidens of the town,
as well as one Of the handsomest.
Master Freddy Sprouf, aged five years,
stood bv bis mothers side. with sadly
| begrimed and tear-sreaked face, and
| his story was that solomon Gordon had
/ whipped him with stick, and the boy
| legs still bore few slight tokens of the
castigation. Two other boys had come
home with Master Freddy, and their tes-
/ timony corroborated that which the suf-
ferer had civ n. Freddy, with some Of
I his playmates. had been throwing stones
at Mr. Gordon's dog, and one of the mis-
siles hurled by Freddy had hit the ami
NAL and caused him to howl with pain.
/ Of course the stone thrown By such tiny
hand could not have inflicted much in
4 Jury upon the canine brute; but Solo
mon Gordon loved bis dog, and when be
saw what had been done be caught Mas
ter Freddy and gave him thrashing for
I be il known that Solomon Gordon was
4 Just such another man as Jack Sprout-
warm-hearted, generous and neighb0rly
4 but rough, uneducated, strong-willeo and
impulsiye.
Jack Sprout put on his hat and pre-
pared to sally forth. His lips were pale
and tightly compressed, and the huge
muscles in his arms worked like bundles
of ropes.
Dear Jack, pleaded his wife, "don't
60 out now
sLet me alone, Abby No man shall
strike child OF mine without having q
/ chance to strike me. ] shall 90 and see
Sol. Gordon, aud I'll give him such a
4 licking as he won't forget in a hurry =
4 AND Jack closed the sentence with q ter
ribie oath.
s'No-no, Jack-dont go. What good
will il do2 Wait until you are more cool =
"Psbawl Go away, Abby. There is not
power enough on earth 10 save Sol. Gr
4 don from drubbing; and I'll give Il to
him before the sun goes down.
( And as Jack Sprout looked at that mo
ment he gave awful evidence that be was
4 able to make good his word; for more
magnificent structure of framework and
muscle was net to be found In the town
"Dear jack cried the wife, taking hei
4 husband by the arm, oh, do listen 10 me
one moment Freddy is not much hurt
and he ought OF to have thrown stones
at Gordons dog. You know both Solo
4 mon and his wife set everything by the
the little animal. and he would not bark
at the boys If they did not plague him
If you go and find Gordon as you are
now YOU will only make matters worse
i Oh, ] wish you would drop il"
4 Jack only shook his head and smiled
one of those smiles which are so terrible
/ upon the face Of an angry man.
Z" o Jack, if you would only try The
effect Of Kindness upon solomon! He il
/ q good man al heart"
Jack interrupted his wife with de.
risive sneer.
Don't laugh at me, Jack. / tell you
IL would be better TO do so than TO resort
to blows If you were attacked j would
not blame you for fighting to protect
yourself, but this is not case that calls
for your strength Of muscle. There is 1
higher and nobler strength that you car
use now"
"Ohol uttered Jack, "you are preach
f ing. You are giving me some OF YOU
Sunday-schoOl lessons. Butt don't want
'em. You may experience religion a.
much as you please, but you mustn !
preach the stuff 10 me"
Jack spoke the wife, with stern
solemnity, shave been any worse since
began To have an interest IL religious
thingsg"
"No, Abby, you were good always
"Then why viii you not listen TO me-
If you viii stay with me now-if you viii
wait until your anger is cooled-aDd the1
go and speak kindly to Solomon Gordon
/ give YOU my solemn word that you vii
feel a thousand times better than you vii
if you--"
But Jack would not hear his wife out
He had sworn that he would thrash Solo
mon Gordon, and he would keep hil
word HIS temper was at the boiling
point, AMI be was fairly aching 10 get hil
hands upon the man who had dared II
strike his boy; for Freddy was his pet
and every blow that had been laid upoi
the ehild's body had been a mark of fir
upon his own heart. So he put his wife
away from him and hurried from The
house, slamming the door after him.
I Away went Jack Sprout with rapid
heavy strides; and had solomon Gordon
fallen in has way just then he would mos
assuredly have been severely beaten, for
though Solomon was a stout, bold man
vet Jack was regular Hercules
But Jack was destined 10 get pretty
thoroughly cooled of before be met ths
object Of his wrath. As be approached
the bridge that spanned the river just be
low the falls he heard loud cries Of alarm
and upon hurrying forward he found thai
q boy had fallen from one OF the project
ing timbersfnto the water he looked ovel
the railing, and saw the little fellow JUS
coming to the surface of the foaming, boil
ing food-a curly-beaded boy Just about
i the age of his own darling Freddy
stretching forth his tiny arms in an agony
4 Of despair. II was terrible place, that
seethinr, roaring pool, where the waters
I of the great river came pouring down
from the high dam; but Jack did not hes
/ itate: he forgot bis enemy.-forgot every
4 thing but the danger of the little one--
and, only stopping to kick Of his boot
and throw aside his coat, he leaped down
I into the roaring food. lie caught the
7 boy 4 his arms and then struck out foi
I the snore. 1t was 8 mighty conflict, but
F 4l,n r4-nrr, ,nor v,prUegeraE More fbar