The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1881-12-31

A NEW YEARS STORY.

1t was the last day in the old year,
and yet it did not seem much like winter,
though the maple trees were bare and
the flowers all dead. The oaks were
covered thickly with leaves. True, when
the wind blew it rustled through brown,
dry foliage very different from the living
tihts of months back; but when you
looked at the soft, muddy roads, or the
clear blue sky, you scarcely realized that
it was just past Christmas.
John Hudson, keeper of the lighthouse
at Fishing Point, was brushing his
weather-beaten coat (once black; now
almost sage-green and giving part
ing directions to John Hudson, j Junior
called slack by his famihars. "Now
mind and don't set the house on fire while
I am gone. / must fix that chimney
when get back, or We'll be burnt out
yet; and don't take to fooling with the
oil-there isn't very much of it left now.
There's that cord of wood In the yard; 1
guess you had better fill the wood boxes,
and pick up a bit. / guess the inspector
will be round before long. and we want
to have everything taut and trim when
he comes. Get your dinner when you're
ready; may be back in time, aud may
not, with all these errands to do in the
village; but anyhow, | shall be home
this afternoon. Good-by, sonny" and
the he tramped briskly away through
the trees.
Stub Stub here, sir. You must
stay home with me. Father don't want
you. There's rat, sure's live, Sick
it, Stub S-s-s-sick it ~
"Now," said Jack, after an exciting
chase in which boy and dog had howled
and barked most powerful duet, "now,
Stub, we'll wash the breakfast dishes
won't we?"
Stub looked knowing assent, and sat
gravely on a chair (Which he first
knocked the cat off, while Jack washed
and dried the few dishes as def as girl.
He had lived here as long as he could
remember. His earliest recollection was
looking at the bright reflector up stairs,
and seeing IN 1t a sweet, loving face,
with tender blue eyes, near his own. His
next memory of the face was in a coffin,
pale and still, while his father held his
hand, and the minister from the village
talked IN low sad tone. But this was
years ago, when Jack was Gas he would
inform you) "only little fellow" Now,
| from his dignifed age of ten years, he
/ felt himself arrived at mans estate. His
/ father was formerly a sailor, but in con-
/ sequence of losing some of his fingers in
! the icy regions of the north, he had to
/ accept the position of a lighthouse
/ keeper-loving the sea too well to think
/ for moment of any work furtherinland.
! Such stories as he used to tell Jack in
/ x1-hn lNo
/ off by snowdrifts from the rest of the
world. Such thrilling adventures de-
! lighted the boys ears in the long, soil
tary evenings. Stories of the time on
Labrador, when tremendous whale cap
sized a boats crew, and two men got
drowned; of the mutiny that once broke
out on the Fair Betsy, and the sneaking
Italian who got put in irons for start
ing it.
Jack would go to bed witha " creepy y
kind of feeling after these stories, but
the morning light always drove away the
shadows, and he would vow to himself
never to let such ridiculous stories
brighten him again. "Stub. let's play
Robinson Crusoe in the yard, now the
dishes are all washed; Jane Ito the cat),
YOU can come, too, if you want, " said
Jack, opening the door. Stub accepted
the invitation for himself and Jane by
making dart at her as she lay blinking
near the stove, and rushing her out
doors with scant ceremony.
"This shed here shall be the cave,
and I'll wear fathers fur cap and be
Robinson Crusoe. You can be Friday,
Stub. You are black and you don't
know much; and Jane shall sit up here
on the woodpile and be the parrot. Now,
Friday, you just stay there while | so to
get some sticks for the wood-box;" and
Jack, making his work into play, worked
/ with a will, while the waves romped and
/ tossed about on the shore like merry
/ children, and little gray cloud, nc
bigger than mans hand, rose slowly IL
: the north and made another dash OF
color in the brilliant sky.
"Why, l declare, if it amt going to
snow! | wish father would hurry mp;
How quickly the clouds have come and
/ they look heavy, too, as If they were
/ lust bursting with the piles OF snow
flakes hid away in them. Ny Won't II
| be Jolly coasting though I! 1t hasn't
been half winter yet-no snow, except
a little that melted right away, and none
of the ponds frozen over. l guess |
had better see if my sled's all right; and
away Jack ran on this hollow pretense
this delightful piece of self-delusion
about the condition of the " Artful
Dodger;" for had he not examined II
daily for the past two months, and
IonGed impatiently fer chance to use
to- Nv There's snowflake, as sure's
the world: and there's another, and an,
otber-syarms of 'emT' exclaimed hap,
nv lack to his small but select audience
IL Sinh and Jane. They were very am
;ahIe and frisked and gamboled with at