The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-04-09

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doin's nodding toward the house.
"On the jury and would not agree with
the rest; he never does-sO knowing
and stubborn. whew! He OVERSEES the
Scripture account, for Solomon's wiser
than eleven men that can render . rea-
SON."
Let us 90 back nearly twenty years,
when the house and every field and
fence betokened industry and good
management. Solomon is seventeen,
Jim fifteen, and Mandy, the bound girl,
about the same age. Solomon has the
reputation, which quiet people often
have, undeservedly, for great sagacity.
He had early learned, however, what
folly wisdom is, when it leads to work;
and had saved himself many q trip to
the barn by not being able to tell a
blind-bridle from q saddle-girth, and
many an hours toll by not knowing
how to stir the apple-butter, SO as to
keep it from burning. Yet all, except
Jim. esteemed him wise beyond his
years.
"Do you know, JIM" said Solomon,
one day, with great benignity, :" that
animals have language of their own,
by which they communicate with each
other?"
'sCan snails talk?" asked Jim.
Certainly. why not? Hother of the
lower creation
"Wen, say, Sol, give us specimen
of the snail vernacular, with transla-
ton, won't you? Teach you goose
Latin, If you WILL" continued Jim, as
Solomon glanced angrily toward him.
"You may be a goose, but I'm not a
SNAIL" growled Sol; and he threw no
more chunks of wisdom to Jim for a
week.
Solomon has turn for books" ex-
plains his mother. ''Now. Jim," con-
tinues she, sis more for tradin'; but la!
he never keeps nothin'. Mandy, you
20 and get some wood, and be sure to
brush the snow of. it's so wet and
nasty. I do wish, Solomon, that your
father would come in; it's early yet to
pillow, and it SHOWS like winter"
'.It's too cold to work out to-day"
says the young man. decidedly, from
his big armchair by the fire.
Solomon, does your stomach feel
betterr' suddenly asks the old lady.
.'Could you eat a bit o. chicken if fixed
it for your
Lack of exercise and over-eating
cause this rather fat, healthy looking
boy occasional fits of dyspepsia. Hav-
ing eaten the chicken, he leans musing-
ly against the window.
''Wish had the paper from the post
Office"
Cant you step over and get itp''
asks his mother, kindly.
Don't want to be on the track when
the Express IS so near DUE" is the verY
lame excuse he offers for not going, as
he lounges into a chair again. The
railroad ran across the corner of the
Boyd farm, between the house and the
village, just on the other side.
It may be that John Boyd and his
wife made a mistake in allowing Solo
mon 50 much leisure for books. and Jim
so much money for trading. However,
we leave that for those parents to de-
eide whose boys have all turned out
precisely as they once planned. One
idea was uppermost in their minds, and
that was, to spare their children, if pos
sibls, the privations and hardships they
themselves had undergone. John Boyd
himself once had turn for books"
and a turn for trade, too. Yet books
were denied him; and many times had
he seen some duller man pocket the
+" big profits" resulting from q specula-
ton, into which he had not veptured
from want of capital
Time passed. The father and mother
died, leaving the farm to Solomon, and
its equivalent in money to Jim, who
proceedeth, forthwith, to q Southern
city.
Solomon did not have the usual
anxieties of courtship. He just married
Mandy. He needed some one to keep
house for him, and Mandy could "cook
just like mother qualification few
wives possess.
The neighbors often wondered how
Solomon Boyd, who never worked, and
who dragged around slower every year,
found money to pay his taxes and store
bills.
Sometimes Mandy wondered, too, and
fretted some over the leaky house and
broken well. Nevertheless, she trusted
all to Solomon's superior Judgment; for
you remember that he said little and
was reckoned wise.
One evening, when their little Mamie
was six years old, Squire Skinner came
over. Mandy was in the kitchen, get
ting supper. Hearing loud, angry
words from the sitting-rOom, she hastily
entered to close the door to the bedroom
beyond, where Mamie lay sick, when
the words mortgage. "sell the
farm. with oaths from Skinner, seemed
to freeze the blood in her veins, and she
stood riveted to the floor.
1--WE been put off as long as I'm
goin' to-" said the Squire. +" worked
hard for that money. and now I'm gOin'