Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1880-09-17

ou pay this score, said Stourley-
Sin fact, you had better doit all the way
up, and keep an account. We can settle
when we get to the city"
So he paid the score. and other scores
during the two days il took them to
walk to the great metropolis.
They arrived about 10 o'clock at night,
and put up at coffee-shop known to
Stourley, where they met many other
men who had come up TO look for a job.
Having secured beds, Stourley took his
young friend out to have "a last drink'
before going to bed, and gave taste Of
the glare and glitter Of those awful
haunts, the in-palacesST
There they feinslnad drinking and
smoking with others for time, and
when the houses closed, went to seek
their beds. Tom was not absolutely
drunk, but he was decidedly the worse
for drink.
He slept long and soundly, and when
he awoke he found broad daylight in the
room. Remembering Stourley, he turn
ed to finish his dressing, and saw a note
upon the table. 1t was from his friend
and ran as follows:--
DEAR ToM-There is a job at Rewitt
& Browns. Go at once. Inquire your
way. You are sure to get on. / will
COO Won tb l1v nd I,1, Tf o,,o
there to-day, look out for me on Satur-
day, when Twill hunt you up and square
accounts. ours, ever
Jack"
Tom did not like to look upon this as
desertion, but he was inclined to think
it was uncommonly like one, and went
down to breakfast with the heart of a
man who for the first time begins to real
ize how false some so-called friends can
be.
Having paid the bill, he shouldered
his basket, made inquiries, and set out
for Rewitt & Browns. Eventually, he
came to the sob" Stourloy had spoken
OF, and found they had all the hands
they wanted, having completed taking
on within an hour of his arrival.
The foreman was brusque, but not
rude. Tom would have liked to talk
with him little, just as workmen do in
the country--to ask his advice, and so
on; but few short, sharp words dis
missed him, and listless, and rather
weary, he turned away and strolled
down the street.
After this, he had three or four rough
days before he got work, but, being reso-
Lutte and persevering, he was taken on by
a firm in P street, and sent with a
number of others to assist in the erection
of some large houses in new neighbor-
hood.
1t was his intention not to mix much
with his fellow-workmen; but he found
it difficult to hold aloof. His compan-
ions, with good-humored chaff and oc-
casional biting sarcasms, weaned him
from his resolve to abstain, and drove
him to take little drink. A whole
year passed, during which he occasion
ally wrote to his father, and got letters
back. He said very little of his life, ex-
cept that he was in work and wanted for
nothing; but there were many of the
true comforts OF his dear old home he
sadly missed. He never got to like the
life. In the thick of it all, there was a
lingering love for the life he led at home,
and hundred times he was on the point
of returning, especially when he got a
letter from his father, who never ceased
to urge him to come back to his old
place; but pride held him in its chains.
"I'll go back by-and-by," he said to
himself; "but not now." And so he
fingered.
He met Jack Stourley ON several oc-
casions, and invariably found him out of
work, and unable to settle that little ac-
count between them, and after time he
ceased to mention it.
1t was not very long before Tom came
to the ground-not exactly to poverty,
but to that undesirable state in which a
man shifts rapidly from job to job, and
lives from hand to mouth.
1t took four years to do it, but it was
done. He fell into the position of an
idle, dissipated, thriftless workman, and
lived wretched life-stihing thoughts
of the past, present and future, in
drink.
Then came the following He was
locked up for being disorderly, and fined.
This touched a latent spark within him,
and the training and teaching of his
childhood row stood him in great stead,
and he crept from the court scarlet with
shame, and went back to his poor
room.
Like the prodigal of old, he arose re-
freshed, and with determination to re-
turn to his father, and set out at once for
the home SO long neglected and forgotten
He paused three times on the way home
to work, so thst he might return at least
decently clad; and, as he labored, be
thought again and again of the glad well
come awaiting him, and his heart was
light with hope and joy
At length, he sighted the old village,
and called to mind each well-remember-
ed feature of the view-the clump oi
elins by the brook, the mill with the
weather-yane on its summit, the quaint
church spire, the thatched cottages, and
the pond by the roadside.
All! there is the old home-unchanged,