The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-07-26


4" call your pa real mean" Joined In
Archie Berkeley.
You'd better not call him anything
of the kind while Pm around" said
Towser, with an angry look in his eyes,
and Archie shrank and said no more.
Tom was vexed and sore enough at
heart, but he wasn't going to let any
boy speak dlsrespectfully of his father.
81 say, though" whispered Harry
Blake, getting his arm around Toms
neck, and leading him away from the
others, "I'm real disappointed, old
fellow. Couldn't it be managedp I'D
lend you half the money"
Harry's mother was a widow, well of,
and very indulgent, and he had more
pocketmoney at command than any
one else in the school.
Towser shook his head.
No use," he said. Father don't
want me to go, for more reasons than
the money. He says I've got to work
hard all my life, and I'd better not get
into the way of having good times it'd
soften me, and I'd not do so we'll by
and-by."
How horrid'' cried Harry with
shudder. "I'm glad mother doesn't
talk that way"
Harry Blake was fair and slender,
with auburn hair, which waved natur-
ally, and delicate throat as white as q
girls.
Tom looked at him with sort of
rough, plying tenderness.
Pm glad, too" lie said YOU'D
die if you had to rough ii much, Harry.
"I'm tougher, you see. 1t won't hurt
me-"
A sturdy satisfaction came with these
words that almost made up for the dis
appointment about the camping out.
Still, il was pretty hard to see the
boys start without him. Ten days later
they returned. The mosquitoes were
very thick, they said, and they hadn't
caught so many fish as they expected.
Joe Bryce had hurt his hand with
gun-lock, and Harry Blake was half
sick with cold. Still, they had had
pretty good time on the whole. Mr..
Kane listened to this report with dry
twinkle in his eyes.
1.-TWO hundred dollars gone in giving
twenty young fellows pretty good
time" he said. "Well, all the fools
aren't dead yet. You stick to what
you're about, Towser, my boy"
And Towser did stick, not only then,
but again and again as time went on,
and first this scheme and then that was
started for the amusement of the boys.
Now it was an excursion to Boston; next
the formation of an amateur rifle COM
pany after that voyage to the fishing
banks. Every few months something
was proposed, which fired Towser's
imagination, and made him want to
join, but always his father held firm,
and he had no share in the frolics. 1t
seemed hard enough, but Mr.. Kane was
kind as well as strict; he treated his
son as if he were already a man, and
argued with him from mans point of
view; so, in spite of an occasional out
burst or grumble, Towser did not rebel,
and his life and ideas gradually moulded
themselves to his fathers wish.
At sixteen, while most of the other
boys were fitting for college, Towser left
school and went into the great Perrin
Iron Works, to learn the business of
machine making. He began at the foot
of the ladder; but, being quick-witted
and steady, with a natural aptitude for
mechanics, he climbed rapidly, and by
the time he was twenty was promoted
to a foremanship. Harry Blake came
home from college soon after, having
graduated with the dignity of 'second
dispute" as quizzical friend remarked,
and settled at home, to "read law" he
said, but in reality to practice the flute,
make water-color sketches, and waste q
good deal of time in desutory pursuits
of various kinds. He was a sweet
tempered, gentlemanly fellow, not strong
in health, and not at ali fond of study
and Tom, who overtopped him by
head, and with one muscular arm could
manage him like child, felt for him
the tender Difference which strength
often pays to weakness. 1t was almost
as if Harry had been girl; but Tom,
never thought of it in that light.
So matters went on until Towser was
twenty-one and beginning to hope for
another rise in position, VIXEN suddenly
a great black cloud swooped down on