Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1879-11-29
= nrofarred the more brilliant LIGHT o

Iy preIerIeu tn6 uiOIt uililidut uSuu vi
Toms pitch knot; so that as the long
winter evening set in, the master and
pupil were seen sitting before the large
| fireplace with their heads buried in the
pages of the books, along which they
pleaded slowly, but to such pu pose that
at the end of the winter Tom could read
his fable and solve his problem in a
manner very creditable to himself and
master.
1t was uphill work with poor Tom,
but he never lost the little he gained, and
managed to make what lltsle he accom-
plished to tell on the future.
One day his father brought home a
stranger, and told Tom that he YVES APP
prenticed, during his minority, to this
man, who wOuld make him a black
smith. y f2{s TTors -
But am not going to be black
smith, cried Tom in a passion; I'm go
ing to COngressr'
"The more need that you should learn
to shoe the horse that carries you there"
replied his father with shrug.
Tom packed up his worldly goods, not
forgetting his books, and trudged away
to distant village, where he pared
horses hO0fs by day, and studied. and
read at night by stealth, for he was al
lowed neither knot nor candle.
Six months the poor fellow tried to be
faithful to his duty, but one night when
his master had thrown his grammar in
to the fire, and lathed him for his dis
obedience, Tom took leave of the work
shop. sCA&A18 El1It LIZ
He made his way, barefooted as he was
over boys and briars, until he ventured
into the main road, and by dint of beg
ging ride now and then, reached the
city, where, as Ben Franklin had done
before him, with his roll under his arm
he sought and obtained employment.
Perhaps The happiest day of Toms
life, was when he found himself in the
antiquarian book store with plenty of
leisure, plenty of books, aud nothing to
fear from friend or foe.
1t is wonderful how he read and read
and read! The parched earth does not
more greedily take in the rain. ~
When his Intellectual thirst was par
TALLY satisfied, he began to work. He
saw the ladder up which he must climb
and Selling the lowest round, he made
his way steadily upward. NfS
We all know by what steps an ambi-
tiOus man makes progress patient
tOil-by self denial-by courteous de-
pertinent by the constant acquisition
of knowledge.
Years passed by. during all of which
Tom had looked in vain for his early
friend, the stranger. In his timid awk-
swardness, he had not thought to ask the
name of his bene;actOr, and the only OPP
pOrtunity TO do so had been lost.
Well, years slid away, and Tom was
elected member Of Congress from the
very county where he spent his strug
Cling boyhOOd. - g W
He went to Washington not in cow
hide shoes and butternut-cOlOred home
spun, but dressed as his Imagination
had pictured, as he looked after his ben
efactOr, on the eventful day of the sleigh
ride.
A nObler looking Dap. the ladies in
the galleries, never had appeared upon
the floor, than this Yankee member, who,
if he spoke through his nose, always
drove his arrows home to the mark:
One day there appeared in the House
the venerable form of an eX-member,
whom all present delighted to honor. 1t
needed but one glance at the genial face
for Tom to recognize in him the giver of
the Latin grammar. s -
He had come, he said Ito listen to
the gentleman who had so ma0fully de-
Tended the right, and to wish hiia God
speedr' III
If" said Tom, with his old modesty,'
''if it has been my good fortune TO do
anything for our csuntIy i'm the hour of
her peril, owe my ability to do so, in "a
great measure, to yourself"
ITO meF echoed the astOnished gen
tlemaD; ito mel l do not recOllect ever
having he'd the pleasure of meeting you
before in my life" j..
"Ah, sir, have,you forgotten. then, the
little schoOl-bOy amOqg the hills of New
Hampshire, to whom you so Kindly sold
a Lain GRAMMAR?
The gentleman unused.
"SOld-sOld a Latin grammar! Now
that you recall the incident, 1 do recOl-
lect 3 little fellow vino. interested me,
and 10 whom l gave some school books"
"Well, sir, i am that boy! You told
me that l might pay for them when L
got to Congress. If you will honor me
by meeting few friends at dinner l
will settle the bill"