The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-01-19
HOW BARRY BECAME A HERO.

At the unripe age of thirteen, Barry
I Munsou and Tom Finch were fast friends.
Social differences did not trouble them.
Their interest in base ball was equally in
tense, and their antipathy for algebra was
( equally deep-rooted. Tom worked out Bar
rvs mathematical problems, and Barry
wrote Toms compositions and either would
have made any reasonable sacrifice to secure
/ for the other admission to s circus.
/ When Barry hunson's sister Louise said
that Tom Finch was not ga proper asso
ciate." her brother defended his friend
stoutly.
81 guess he knows more'n you do, or
that goggle-eycd Maynard either"
This was double cruel thrust Miss
Louise Munson had finished her education
had any one doubted it, she might have
produced her diploma from the Rartan
Seminary--and, moreover, Miss Louise
Mnnson was an ardent admiier of Mr..
Frederick Maynard. This latter gentle
man, whom the iucorrigible Barry per-
sisted in designating google eyed. was
! the son of respectable tanner. who had
amassed a fortune by industry and hides.
| presume he began life without q dollar.
! hat appears to be necessary condition
at the outset of every rich mans career.
However, Josiah Maynard had been for
twenty years prominent man in Bar
borough, and new generation did not
stop to question how he obtained his
money. His sou Frederick knew nothing
of hides, and even less Of the struggles
which his father had undergone years ago.
This lucky myope looked upon the world
through Brazilian pebbles, and found it
fair. He grew into manhood with a de
cided predilection for gold-limmed eye
glasses and gorgeous cravats. To these
somewhat later, was added a profound
admiration for Miss Lonise Muns0n.
When Barry presumed to elevate Tom
Finch to a higher plane than that occu-
pied 10y Fred Maynard, his sister became
properly indignant. Tom Finch was the
son of a mechanic. who was permitted to
live chiefly through the gracious indulg-
epce of Barry's father. Had there been
no scarborough iron works, it was reason-
able to suppose that the Finch family could
not have existed; and certainly there would
have been no Marlborough iron works with
ont Munson. The Finches, therefore,
owed the Munsons a debt of gratitude
which they could hope to pay onlS mega
lively, that is, by preventing their Tom
from associating with Barry.
That is the way in which Miss Louise
Munson looked at the matter when she pro-
tested against her brothers intimacy with
Tom Finch.
Now Barry himself at the unripe a &c of
thirteen, stubbornly refused to give up
Toms companionship merely because
Toms father was a mechanic. Tom him
self was a iirst-rate fellow. He could play
short stop better than any boy in Balbor-
ough. He could make kites that would
soar heavenwa,d to the limit of two balls
Of Irvine. He was especially good at leap
frog, aud without him algebra would have
remained forever an unknown quantity.
Tom wore patches on his coat or not
After he thrashed big ] ohm Roper, because
big John snatched an apple from Bessie
Charlcck's desk in school, he became at
once hero in Barry's eyes. Aud at thir-
teen heroes are worshiped more devoutly
than in ripper age. AT twenty the worship
is apt to turn to heroines.
AS boys, then, Tom and Barry were the
best of friends. They had but one quar-
rel, that is, of a serious nature, and that
was caused Indirectly by Bessie Charlocl<.
On his thirteenth birth day Barry gave a
party, to which, in spite of many protesta-
lions from Miss Louise, Tom Finch was
invited. When it came to snpper-time,
Barry offered to escort Bessie Charock to
the diniug-room. Bessie refused to go;
she chad company" Barry was at fist
astonished and afterward indignant. Not,
however, at Bessie. 1t was perfectly right
that she should keep her word, and go with
the somebody else, as she had promised.
Barry S Indignation turned upon that some
body else, who proved to be Tom Finch.
81 wanted to take Bessie Chariock TO
SUPPER" said he, later in the evening.
why didn't you ask her, them" re-
joined Tom.
"'Cause you got ahead of me-
:. Well, if she would rather go with me,
| pose it's all right, isn't it?''
This was more than Barry could stand.
"She wouldn't rather go with you" he
said, feeling the blood mount to his face.
''She went because she knew nobody else
would go with you"
ooh, wouldn't they, now?' demanded
Tom, Indignantly. 81 guess any girl would
have gone if I'd asked her; and if she
hadn't l wouldn't 90 blubbering round to
the fellow who got the best of me-"
"You just wait till tomorrow ~ said
Barry, as he moved away from the corner
where this unpleasant dialogue had been
held.
Now Barry Munson hated girls in gen.
eral. and cared very little about Bessie
Charlock in particular. Basing his opin-
ion chiefly on what he knew of his sister
Louise, it appeared to him that girls were
nuisances, and that their mission in life, if
they had any, was to interfere with their
brothers plans. Could Barry have had
his own way about it, he would have in
vited only boys to his birthday party,
And yet he felt that some girls were less
Objectionable than others; Bessie Char
lock, perhaps, the least so of all. If it
became necessary to take a dose Of medi-
cine Barry's preference was decidedly for
sugar coated pills; and if he found him
self compelled to escort young lady to
supper, he naturally desired that she should
possess all the saccharine qualities posi-
BILE Helen Boughton had nothing about
her of sugary nature. Her face was sug
gestive rather of chalk, and her stupidity
was simply amazing. Barry, who, upon
Bessie's unexpected refusal, was forced to
offer his company to Helen, felt that he