Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-05-20

laughs as he looked at my fOrlOrn face
and then back at the horrible thick
bodied little beast that came bouncing
along in our rear.
''Never mind, Rosy" he said; the
dog sham trouble you and one Of these
days I'll turn him into a cow"
1 confess 1 had but small faith that
such transformation could be effected.
Chunk was tied in the stable and care
fully fed by my husband.
About a week later he had another call
which would take him into the very
heart of the '.hoop-pole country Be-
fore starting he took the old watch be-
fore mentioned, hung the guard about
his neck and placed the monstrous
thing in his pocket. Then the fowling-
piece came in for handling and was
laid across the front end of the
spring-wagon. Chunks rope was fast
ened to the rear and jerome drove of,
while stood in the door, laughing at
his ludicrous appearance. l thought he
did it for drollery; but at night he re-
turned, sans dog, gun and watch, and
accompanied by a boy who led spotted
two-year-old heifer-a little beauty, not
withstanding she was as lean as hound.
named her Calico on the spot. The
next spring she gave milk, and to this
day Calico is one of my staunchest
friends and allies. l accused Jerry of
having swindled somebody dreadfully in
that trade. He called me his second
conscience and told me "qtiiet right
down. for it was all perfectly straig ht
and honest.
II traded" said he, "with old Tony
Wallace. He had four head of young
cattle and scant fodder for three, so,
you see, the heifer or one of her COM
paniOns must have starved before spring.
He was keen to trade; said the dog and
gun would help him to his winter S
meat, and the watch would stand the
old woman and himself three months
credit at Jupp's grocery for tea and to-
bacco. Then, too, if you must know it,
/ gave him three dollars in money
more than he has had at one time in
many a long day.
We moved into our new dwelling
when it was little more than half COM
pleted. The work stopped when the
funds ran low, for jerome would not con-
tract heavy debt to the builder. We
were not alone in occupying an I'M
finished domicile. 1t would have mat
tered little to us if we had been. We
passed under our implanted Intel and
proceeded to arrange our few things
with hearts as light as birds at nest-mak-
ing. / took my little school into the
parlor, and managed to teach it faith
fully, and do my house-work out of
hours. More than this, took boarder
l took him one day in Jerome's absence,
and 1 am firmly of the opinion that
if our lives had not been controlled by
principle rather than impulse, we would
have quarreled seriously over that.
"What did you do it for?'' asked DR..
jerome, with volume of discomfort in
his voice.
For the money!" replied. "Four
dollars a week!'
Meroenary womanr' he exclaimed.
''To sacrifice the sacred privacy of our
table and freside for the paltry sum of
four dollars a week!'
Mr.. Lemuel Robertson, our boarder,
was short, rather stout man of about
forty-five, should say, though he car
ried himself with the slow grave dignity
of a much older man. He had one of
the very kindest of faces, which, when
you talked to him, had a way of express
ing evevy degree of interest by looks of
Interrogation and exclamation. His Ian
guage, which was always scrupulously
grammatical and we'll chosen, was also
most carefully pointed and emphasized.
He had not been in the house three days
before jerome gave him-behind his
back, of course-the sobriquet of Pro-
fessor of Pragmatics, and before the
end of the week he had the audacity to
call him Professor" to his face. The
innocent creature looked flattered, and
remarked, in his stilted phraseology,
that he had never been member of any
faculty, but had frequently, in the course
of his life, been mistaken for such a Dig
nitary.
1t was impossible to find out much
about Mr.. Robertson. When he applied
to me for board and lodging he informed
me that he was bachelor and obliged
to find home wherever he could; that
he had thoughts of becoming perma-
nent resident of Crummelsville, and
Much, you know, madam, depends
upon mans first anchorage in place.
The doctor, madam, the foremost doc
tor in the town, is a person of position
and influence, and l would very much
like to be able to say have my home at
DR.. Chilcote's.'
never told Jerome this; it would
have made him spiteful.
I assigned my boarder a chamber in
nocent Of plaster, with a coat of pretty
paper tackled over the laths. His lug
gage eame-three heavy trunks-was
carried up. The trunks contained books,
tools, and some odd-looking pieces of
ioinery. His clothes were few and very
threadbare. But he paid me four dol
lars every Saturday. He was very I'M
obtrusive, keeping his room for the most
part when about the house, and spend
ing many whole days away, rambling in
the woods and tramping up and down
the numerous rapid little streams that
thread this part of the country. He al
ways carried gun on these tramps, but
never brought home any game. He was
very neat in all his habits and delicate
and fastidious eater. I soon grew to
like him, and Jerome certainly did not
hate him, after he discovered that they
had one taste in common.
Both were afflicted with what Miss
Bremen, in "1he Netghbors, calls a