Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-04-03
His Own Worst Enemy.

angel is a phrase that pretty accurately de-
scribes Mortimer Sewall as he was at the
age when the law begins to hold human
| beings accountable--seven years old.
He might have sat for bust of Innocence,
but would have been pretty sure to chip the
nose off the marble with the tack-hammer
on the day after it was finished His com
plexion was fair and clear as a girls, but
warm-tinteG with blood pure and heaIthful
for three generations back. His features
were delicate and refined in their lines, vet
strong and perfectly marked in proportions.
The dark brown eyes so frank, and soft, and
soulful, looked forth from under their long
lashes AS clear and innocent as the eyes of
Raphael's sweetest cherub. Over the wide,
white brow. around the cherub face, and
down the fair, round neck, foated wavy
mass of golden brown hair fine and soft as
silk floss His countenauce was mirror
for his emotions clouded by a breath,
cleared by touch, disclosing-as it is well
our older faces do not-the true image of
his thought.
Mortimer was. in word, one of those
beautiful children whose faces bear the i'm.
press of their divine origin, but whose dis
position and tendencies soon furnish evi-
dence, quite as clear, of the fall of the race
that they type.
His father was one of the unaccountably
belated men always to be found on the earth.
He should have been born hundred years
earlier, or not at all. lie was a Puritan.
who came a century after the Puritans had
finished their work and gone to their reward.
A stern, severely good man and inilexible
parent, he made no allowance in his theories
of family government inherited from a rig
orous ancestry, ior the changed conditions
IN Whlch MS chlldreh were 10 De reared.
iilIhSell Keeping pace WIN the activities OF
ms age ana oelhg SO absorbed therem that
ne coulu anord no tIihe LOT anything except
conllahus' ne TeiIeu Oh ulese 10 keep ms
ooy stralsht, ana STEADY, ana SLOW, In the
good Ola way
MY no, Is NO sir, without any Yes In
IL! ne was wont 10 say TO ms sou, as ne
lald down the rules To- NM GU are 10 do
as tell you, and wait Tor reasons until you
are old enough to understand them."
Inc musts and the must nots were
his sufficient rules OF government. The
sweeter wisdom OF the cans andthe nays,
TO supplement the Others, he never learned
However such pollcy may result IN other
cases, Mortimer, not having been born re-
generate, rapidly developed into decelver.
with strong sense OF duty, natural bent
toward goodness, hial love grounded In
Tear, and that knew and asked nothing bet
ter, the boy might have put on the virtues
that were LAID out for him like his Sunday
clothes But Mortimer unfortunately, was
not that kind OF a boy; and while not rebel
lous or positively Vicious he began early to
have way OF his own
by the time lie was twelve years old, the
public school, and furtlve experiences with
THINGS
which his father was blissfully Ignorant
lie became plausible instead OF frank, and
deceptive when by nature he was honest.
lie was too shrewd, and perhaps too dutiful,
to JON issue with his parents but in flank
ing dangers and obstacles he was juvenile
6eneral sherman.
Ills mother was heart-wise, as all mothers
are IN regard TO the children they love most.
| Nhe was woman OIL hlgh intelligence and
the sweetest character; mild fond anxious,
and trusting more to Impulses and affection
IN guiding her children than to direct com
mands. She sought to keep her beautiful
hoy very near to her, feeling that there he
would be happy and safe. But other boys,
and girls too, came between them, and de
manded her attention and care And so the
irst-born grew away from her.
When he was sixteen he began to be a
trouble to his father He was out late at
night, at times, on plausible pretexts, and
was heard OF in bad company-quite un-
planned, OF course ON holidays. At such
times his father would indulge in brief gusts
OF anger which he called asserting his au-
thority,' their only effect being to make
Mortimer not the less determined, but more
cautious.
If you cant be Christian, do be gen
| ttnb
" And gentleman you shall be if You stay
in this housel These lawless ways and vag
abond companions are not to be tolerated
DO you hear me, sir Your place is at
home when you are not in school. shall
see TO il that your opportunities for making
a man of yourself are not neglected, and
upon your own head will be the blame and
the shame II you throw them away !"
Yet the sunny temperament and the open
hearted, generous traits that he inherited
from his mother kept the lad from becoming
sulen under this repression, or from growing
deliberately bad in his habits or thoughts
lie was always open to influences on the
side OF his affections and sympathies, and
would willingly make sacrifices and gladly
perform any service for those that he loved
Authority he obeyed, when the issue was
forced upon him, but he did not much re-
spect it. His father he looked upon as a
well-meaning governor, whose Ignorance OF
boy nature was double misfortune.
But one day when Mortimer was eighteen
the authority that had been so irksome to
him suddenly weakened, failed, and ceased
Whether his fathers blood had been un
duly quickened by his fastening to catch a
car, or whether the temper expended in
dealing with an unusual number of beggars
tramps, agents and other unfortunate peo
pie who took the liberty of giving him q
chance to emulate the neighborliness of the
Good Samaritan, had been too much fol
him, was not clearly known. But Mr.. Sew
all suddenly stopped when i'll sight of his
door, on his return from business at night
staggering for an instant as if he had re
ceived blow from an unseen hand in the
air, gasped once or twice vainly for breath
and dropped to the sidewalk-dead.
An instant here-alive, alert, busy il
thought and in full bodily activity tn,
next moment inert still, lteless-gOne
Yet to the passers-by who carried the body
home, thoughtless or ignorant of the slender
threads on which the most robust existenc,
hangs, the mystery was not life, but death
So little do the wonders OF life impress us
> So awed are we when death makes ou