Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-05-03

promptly procured for him. McSpadden
liam for college ; but when the first vacation
came, and the hero requested to be sent to
Europe for his health, the prosecuted Nc
Spadden rose against the tyrant and revolted
He plainly and squarely refused William
Ferguson's mother was so astounded that she
let her gin-bottle drop. and her proiane lips
refused to do their office. When she recov-
cred, she said in half-gasp. lis this your
gratitude? Where would your wife and boy
be now but for my son?"
William said, 'Is this your gratitude !
Did l save your wifes life or not? Tell me
that !"
Seven relations swarmed in from the kitch-
en- and each said. "And this is his graft
tude r.
Williams sisters stared, bewildered, and
said, "And this is his graf" but were in
terrupted by their mother, who burst into
tears and exclaimed, To think that my
sainted little Jimmy threw away his life i'll
the service of such n reptile ~
Then the pluck of the revolutionary Nc
Spadden rose to the occasion, and he replied
with fervor, ''Out of my house, the whole
beggarly tribe of you / was beguiled by
the books, but shall never be beguiled again,
once is sufficient for me-" And turning to
William, he shouted. .les, you did save my
wite's life, and the next man that does it
shall die in his tracks ="
Not being clergyman, place my text at
the end of my sermon instead of at the be-
ginning. Here il is, from MIR. Noah Brooks
1tecollections OF President Lincoln in Serb
ner's Mol.t.ly:
~. H. Hackett, in his part of Fdlstq9. was
an actor who gave Mr.. Lincoln great delight.
With his usual desire to signify to others his
sense of obligation, Mr.. Lincoln wrote
genial little note to the actor, expressing his
pleasure at witnessing his performance. Mr..
Haekett, III reply, sent n book of some sort
perhaps 1t was one of his own authorship.
de also wrote several notes to the President
One night, quite late, when the episode had
passed out of my mind, l went to the White
House IN answer to a message. Passing into
the Presidents office, | noticed to my sur
prise. Hackett sitting in the ante-room rs in
waiting for an audience The President ask
ed me If any one was outside. On being told
he said half sadly, oh, l can't see him,
can see him l was in hopes he had gone
away. Then he added, Now this Just illus
trates the difficulty of having pleasant friends
and acquaintances in this place. You know
how liked Hackett as an actor, and how |
wrote to tell him so. He sent me that book,
NM theie tHouSlt the matter WOulu emu
He is master OF his place in the profession
L suppose and well fixed in it but Just be-
cause We had little friendly correspondence,
such as any two men might have he wants
something. What do you suppose he wants?
could not guess, and Mr.. Lincoln added,
Well, he wants TO be Consul TO London.
Oh, dear 80
Will observe, in conclusion, that the
William Ferguson incident occurred, and
within my personal knowledge, though l
have changed the nature of the details to
keep William from recognizing himself in it.
All the readers of this article have in some
sweet and gushing hour of their lives played
the role of Magnanimous-IncIde hsro. l
wish l knew how many there are among
them who are willing to talk about that cpl
sode. and like to be reminded of the conse-
quences that flowed from it.
MARX TWAIN
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