The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1879-10-24

This man is a mere hedger and ditcher,
one who works for any master, most
often for the railway, but who is never
certain of job all the year round. He
has swarm of young children, and he
has just lost wife. He is absolutely
FRUSTRATED, aghast probably at the flu
ture before him, and his utter incapaci-
ty to do his duty by his motherless lit
tie ones. Jack" said the parson, stop
ping short suddenly, and looking
straight into his companions face, II
wonder whether you could rouse him
If you could only get him to make
sign, cry or laugh, or take the smallest
interest in commowaffairs. Jack, be-
lieve you are the very man. You might
get at him through the children-that
marvellous hanky-panky of yours, those
surprising tricks; a child takes to you
naturally at once. Try and make
friends with these. Perhaps when the
father sees them interested and amused
he may warm a little, speak perhaps,
approve, perhaps smile, and in the end
give in. Jack, will you try?"
Jack Newbiggin was by profession a
conveyancer, but nature had intended
him for new Houdin, or Wizard of
the North. He was more than half a
professional by the time he was full
grown. In addition to the quick eye
and the facile wrist, he had the rarer
gifts of the suave manner and the face
of brass. He had even studied mes
merism and clairvoyance, and could
upon occasion surprise his audience
considerably by his power.
They entered the miserable dwelling
together. The children-eight of them
were skirmishing all over the floor.
They were quite unmanageable, and
beyond the control of the eldest sister,
who was busted in setting out the table
for the midday meal; one other child.
of 6 or Z years, a bright-eyed, exceed
ingly beautiful boy, the least-were not
natures vagaries well known-likely to
be born among and belong to such sur
roundings, stood between the legs of
of the man himself, who had his back
to the visitors and was crouching low
over the scanty fire.
The man turned his head for mo-
ment, gave blank stare, then an imper-
ceptible nod, and once more he glowered
down upon the fire.
Here, little ones, do you see this
gentleman? he's ccnjuror. Know
what conjuror is, Tommy" cried the
parson, catching up a mite of 4 or 5
years from the floor. "No, not you;
nor you Sarah nor you, Jack and he
ran through all thier names.
They had now ceased their gambols,
and were staring hard at their visitors
the moment was propitious. Jack
Newbiggin began. He had fortunately
filled his pockets with nuts, oranges and
cakes before leaving the parsonage, so
he had half his apparatus ready to
hand.
The pretty boy had soon left the
father at the fire. and had come over to
join III the fun, going back, however, to
exhibit his share of the spoil and de-
scribe unanimously what had occurred.
This and the repeated shouts of laugh
ter seemed to produce some impression
on him. Presently he looked over his
shoulder, and said-but without ami
nation:
ct be very good of you, sir, surely !;
very SOOu lOI w tdhc oO W Vic
little chicks. 1t does them good to
laugh bit, and l. amt much as they've
had to make 'em lately"
at is good for all of us, now and
again, 1 take it," said Jack, desisting
and going toward him-the children
gradually collecting in far-off corner
and comparing notes.
"You can't laugh, sir, if your hearts
heavy; if you do, it can only be sham. "
While he was speaking he had taken
the Bible from the shelf, and, resuming
his seat, began to turn the leaves slowly
over.
"Pm an untaught rough countryman,
sir, but / have heard tell that these
strange things you do are only tricks
amt it SOP"
Here was, indeed, hopeful symp-
tom! He was reused, then, to take
some interest in what had occurred.
"All trick, of course; it all comes of
long practice" said Jack, rs he pro-
ceeded to explain some of the simpler
processes, hoping to enchain the mans
attention.
"That's what L thought, sir, or I'd
given you job to do. I've been in
want of real conjuror many long
day, and nothing less'n do. See here,
sir" he said, as he took small, care
fully-folded paper from between the
leaves of the Bible; do you see this? y
1t was half of a Bank of England
note for 9100.
"Now, sir, can any conjuror help me
to the other half?"
"How did you come by it?" Jack
asked, at once.
"Pll tell you, sir, short as I can make
it. Conjuror or no conjuror, you've got
a kindly heart, and I'm main sure you'll
help me if you cam"
Dan then described how he had
picked up the basket from the 10 AZ
Liverpool express.
"There was the linen; I've kept it
See here; all marked quite pretty and
proper, with lace round the edges, a:
though the mother loved to make the
little one smart"
Jack examined the linen; it bore d
monogram and crest. The first he
made out to mean II. l.. NJ; and the
crest was plainly two hammers crossed
and the motto, Il strike NOT com
mon crest-and he never remembered
To have seen IL before