Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-09-05
The Stury Tellet.
ONLY A HUSk.

ONLY A HUSk.
Tom Darcy, yet young man, bad grown
to be a very hard one. At heart he might
have been all right, if his head and bis will
had only been right; but these being wrong
the whole machine was going to the bad very
fast, though there were times when the heart
felt something of its old truthful yearnings.
Tom had lost his place as foreman in the
great machine shop, and what money he now
earned came from odd jobs of tinkering which
he was able to do, here and there, at private
houses for Tom was a genius as we'll as q
mechanic and when his head was steady
enough he could mend a clock, or clean a
watch, as we'll as be could set up and regu.
late steam engne-and this latter he could
do better than any other man ever employed
by the Scott Falls Manufacturing Company.
One day Tom bad job to mend broken
moving machine and reaper for which he re-.
ceived five dollars and on the following
morning he started out for his old haunt
the village tavern. He knew that his wife
sadly needed the money, and that his two lit
tie children were in absolute suffering from
want of clothing, and that morning he held
q
the better part had become very weak and
shaky, and the demon of appetite carried the
day.
So away to the tavern Tom went where,
for two or three hours, he felt the exhilara-
ting effects of the alcoholic draught, and
fancied himself happy, as be could sing and
laugh but, as usual, stupefaction followed
and the man died out. He drank while he
could stand, and then lay down in corner,
where his companions left him.
It was late at night, almost midnight, when
the landlords wife came into the bar.room to
see what kept her husband up, and she
quickly saw Tom.
Peter" said she, not in pleasant mood,
"why don't you send that miserable Tom OAR
cey home? He's been hanging round here
long enough" -.s ..
Toms stupefaction was not sound sleep.
The dead coma had left bis brain, and the
calling of his name stung his senses to keen
attention. He had an insane love for rum,
but did not love the landlord. In other years
Peter Tindar and himself had loved and
wooed the sweet maiden-Ellen Goss-and
he won her, leaving Peter to take up with the
vinegary spinster who had brought him the
tavern, and he knew that lately the tapster
had gloated over the misery Of the woman
who had once discarded him.
"Why don't you send him homer" de-
manded Mrs. Tndar, with an impatient
stamp of the foot. .,..,. ...s
"Husb, Betsy He's got money. Let him
be, and he'll be sure to spend it before he goes
home. I'll have the kernel of the nut, and
his wife may have the husk!' ''"
With sniff and snap Betsy turned away,
and shortly afterward Tom Darcy lifted him
self upon his elbow. ,;.a &c.. ...>...'
"Ahl Tom, are you awaken
"Yes." .......
"Then rouse Up and have warm glass;"
Tom got upon his feet and ,ssteadied him
SELF ..E+".,.I... 80. :..'.' ~ ..
"No, Peter, I won't drink any more to-
night" -. ..3 III .r..- = ..-:.,s
''It won't hurt you, Tom-just glass"
II know it wontw said Tom, buttoning up
his coat by the only solitary button left Il
know it won't" 81
And with this he went out into the chill
air of midnight. When he had got away
from the shadow of the tavern, he stopped
and looked up at the stars, and then he look
ed down upon the earth.
AYE" he muttered, grinding his heel in
the gravel. peter Tindar is taking the
kernel, and leaving poor Ellen the worthless
husk-a husk more than worthless and I
am helping him to do it, | am robbing my
wife of joy, rebbing my children of honor
and comfort, robbing myself Of love and
life-iust that Peter Tindar may have the
kernel and Ellen the husk Well see|
1t was revelation to the man. The tav-
ern keepers brief speech, meant not for his
ears had come upon his senses as fell the
voice of the Risen One upon Saul of Tarsus.
"We'll see!" he replied, setting his foot
firmly upon the ground and then he wended
bis way homeward.
On the following morning be said to his
wife:
"Ellen, have you any coffee in the house ?"
"Yes, Tom" She did not tell him that her
sister had given it to her. She was glad to
hear him ask for coffee instead of the old, old
cider.
II wish you would make cup, good and
strong"
There was really music in Toms voice, and
the wife set about the work with a strange
futter at her heart.
Tom drank two cups of the strong, fra
grant coffee, and then went out-went out
with resolute step, and walked straight to
the great mandatory, where he found Mr..
Scott in the Office.
"Mr. Scott, want to learn my trade over
again"
"Eh, Tom What do you mean?"
81 mean that it's Tom Darcy, come back
to the old place, asking forgiveness for the
past, and hoping to do better in the future"
"Tom p cried the manufacturer, starting
forward and grasping his hand. "are you in
earnest? Is it really the old Tom p
"It's what's left of him, sir, and we'll have
him whole and strong very soon if you'll only
set him at work"
"Work! Aye, Tom, and bless you, too
There is an engine to be set up and tested
to-day. Come with me"
Toms hands were weak and unsteady, but
his brain was clear, and under his skillful
supervision the engine was set up and tested ;
Tbora boo