The Newtown bee., 1879-07-23
THE TIDAL WAVE.

"Larnin'w said Obadiah Beales, with a contemptuous sniff, as he threw down an armful of scrags that were intended to replenish the none too generous flame in the open fireplace" larnin'! Whats the good of itP There ain't no need of it, as can see; an as for keepin' Hetty Moriah any longer at that 'ere school, an payin' such big bills, I jest ain't a. goin to do it."
 "Now, Diah," remonstrated Mrs. Beales, "you know there ain't no schools here fit to send our gal to, an we won't be doin' our duty by her unless we give her a good eddication. How proud we'll be of Hetty when she comes home with a diploma, an is able to hold her head as high as any O Squire Kings darters!''
 "Now, Mandy" said Obadiah, as he seated himself in low rush -bottomed chair, "there ain't no use of our tryin' to hold a candle to Squire Kings folks They ain't our kind, an we ain't no business to copy after 'em."
 Mandy sighed. but not because she was convinced of the correctness of her husbands opinion. She was an. ambi- tious woman-more ambitious for her only child, Hetty Moriah, than for her self, or Obadiah, whom it was impossi- ble to move from the old traditions. He was parsimonious fellow, " ho had in- herited more land than he was able to pay taxes upon, and followed in the footsteps of his predecessors so literally that those who had ever seen old Amos Beales, or the deacon, his son, would know that Obadiah came of the same stock. Graces may not be transmitted, but oddities are handed down from generation to generation.
 Mandy Beales was accustomed to these remonstrances from her husband, especially after the receipt of the quar- terly bill for Hetty's tuition; and as she drew the mock orange from the toe of the sock she was alarming, she had time to collect her thoughts and make an other appeal to paternal pride.
 We've as good right to do as well by our own child as Squire King does by his'n," said Mrs. Beales, plunging her needle into the ragged edge of hole the dimensions of which were rather dis couraging to the feminine reformer; for it looked as if, when the wearer of the sock set his foot down, he was likely to keep it there firmly until something gave way. "You ain't as proud as you ought to be of Hetty Moriah."
 |" I am, too," said Obadiah, doggedly. "The trouble is, we're too proud; an if we go to settin' her up an putin high fangled notions into her head, she won't think we're fit to 'sociate with, or that anything in Crowfeld is good enough for her. When she was ter home last vacation she thought the old house wasn't fit to live in"
 Well, it ain't," said Mandy. with considerable spirit. You know i, ain't never had coat of paint on it since we lived here, nigh on ter twenty years, an the roof leaks like riddle, so that them upper chambers ain't no use at all, keep in clear weather"
 "Well, it costs money to be maxim improvements all the time," said Oba- diah, to whom Mandys suggestions and hints were like water on ducks back "It costs like Jehu; and what's good enough for me is good enough for my children. But that ain't all," he con tinued, the allusion to his own neglect of duty increasing his consciousness of Hettys shortcomings; "the last time she was ter home she turned up her nose more'n ever at Tom Kennedy; an gal don't know which side her breads but tered on when she snubs such feller as that.'
 Tom Kennedy!" said Mandy, with much che same emphasis and more than into the |" larnin' with which he began the discussion. ''Tom Kennedy, in- deed! l hope Hetty won't take up with any of that trash. Not but what he's good enough as far as disposition goes, an clever enough, maybe; but he ain't never1goin' to set the river on fire"
 '' Well. who wants him top Hetty Moriah may do worse than to marry Tom Kennedy, who ain't nobody's fool'
 The discussions in the Beales family generally began with Hetty Moriah, and ended with Tom, who had long served as a bone of contention. He had been in the habit of dropping in evenings ever since Hetty Beales had been old enough to go out in company, and kept it up, notwithstanding the daughters absence, quite oblivious of the fact that Mrs. Beales, who welcomed him as guest, was opposed to him as a son-in- law. He had known Hetty ever since she was little girl-had grown up with her, in fact-and always acted the part of an elder brother, and it was quite natural that he should want to hear of her progress at school and the interest ing items with which she filled the letters Mrs. Beales very kindly made q point o reading to him.
 Tom himself was not what you might call cultivated gentleman, but he had