St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-06-10

1 enced servants who looked upon Steve
merely as "Missie's husband
! In the second year of his marriage
he began to have some thoughts which
would have astOnished his wife, could
she have thought it worth while to in
, quire what occupied his mind in the
long hours when he paced the shrub
berry, or sat silently looking out of the
window. But Steve was now ready
for any employment that would take
him out of the purpOseless, dependent
life which he had so foOlishly chosen
for himself.
One day, greatly to his surprise,
Elizabeth said to him:
''Steve, | have a letter from cousin
of mothers who lives in Glasgow She
is going to Australia and wants me to
buy her house. She says it is a bar
gain:and | wrote to Barrett to 90 and
see about it. | have IA letter from him
this morning saying he was too i'll to
leave his bed. | wonder if you could
90 to attend to it p
Anything for change. Steve show
ed very proper business-like interest
and said:
Eyes, | would be very glad to go.n
every well /; | should think you knew
enough of titles and deeds and convey
ancing and all that sort of thing. |
will trust the affair to you, Steve"
SO the next morning Steve found
himself on the Caledonia line, with
flO0 in his pocket, and a valuable piece
of business on hand. The first twenty
miles out of Leeds he enjoyed with the
abandon of bird set free. Then he
| hA. A. l..
missed a train, and wandering about
the station, fell to talking with the en-
gineer of the next one who was clean
ing and examining the engine with all
the love and pride Il mother gives her
favorite child.
The two men fraterniZed at once,
and Steve made a trip over the Gale
dOnia line in the engineers small
cuddy. He was fine young fellow,
cone of scVen,' he said, "all machinists
and engineers - he was only serving
his time, learning every branch of the
business practically; he had brothers
who had made engines, and he hoped
to do so sometime.
In spite of sOilcd face and oily
clothes Steve recognized that refine
ment that comes with education and
when his new friend called at the
Queens hotel, he would not he ashamed
of his acquaintance even in the most
fastidiOus days.
"Mr. Dalrymple, am glad to see
yOu,n said Steve, holding out both
hands to him.
81 thought you would he, sir it is
not often make mistakes in my lik-
ings. will go with you now to see
my fathers works, if it suits you"
Never had such a place entered
stephen Gaskill's conception the i'm
mcnsc furnaces: the hundreds of giants
working around them, the clang of
machinery, the mighty struggle of
mind with matter, of intellect over the
revelation. He envied those cyclops
i'll their leathern masks and aprons he
ionged to lift their heavy hammers.
He looked upon the craftsmen with
their bare, brawny arms and blackened
hands, and felt his heart glow with
admiration when he saw the mighty
works those hands had fashioned. The
tears were in his eyes when Dalrymplc
and he parted mt the great walled-in
yard.
''Thank you," he said, ''you have
done me the greatest possible service
| shall remember it."
That night Steve formed Il strange,
but noble resolution. First of all, he
devoted himself to his wife's business,
and accomplished it in manner which
elected Mr.. Barrctt's warmcst praise,
and made Elizabeth wonder whether
she might not spare her agents fees for
the future. Then he had long conf
Dental talk with the owner of the
Dalrymplc iron and machine works,
the result of which was the following
letter to Mrs. Gaskill:
My DEAR WIFE, shall not be at
home again for ut least two years, for
have begun an apprenticeship to Dal-
rymplc is IN iron master. | propose
to learn the process practically. have
lived too long upon your bounty, for /
have lost your esteem aS well as my
own, and do not say but | have de
served the loss. Please God | will re-
deem my wasted past, and with His
help make man of myself. When
am worthy to he your husband you
will respect me until then think rs
kindly as possible of
STEPHEN GASKILL.
The letter struck the first noble chord
in Elizabcth's heart. From that hour
not even her favorite maid burst make
little compassionate sncers ut ''poOr
master"
Steve in lcathcrn apron and coarse
working clothes, began labOriOus, hap
py days that brought him nights of
sweet sleep; and Elizabeth began Il
series of letters to her husband, which
probably were imbued with the tender
est interest and respect. In a few
weeks she visited him of her own free
will, and purpOsely going to the works
saw her sclf-banished lord welding IL
pOndcrOuS hammer upon Il bar of white
hot iron.
Swarthy, bare armed, clothed in
leather, he had never looked so hand
some in Elizabeth's eyes, and her eyes
revealed this to Steve, for in them was
the light of love founded upon IA gen
uine respect. Steve deserved it. He
wrought faithfully out his two years
service, cheered by his wife's letters
and visits, and when he came out of
the Dalrymple works there was no
more finished iron-master than he.
He held his head frankly up now,
and looked fortune boldly in the face {;
he could earn his own living anywhere,
and better than all he had conquered
his wife-wOn her esteem, and COM
PEELED her to acknowledge a physical
strength and moral purpose greater
than her own.
4 Between Leeds and Braithwaite Hall
there have been for many years gigan-
tie iron works. The mills and rail
ways on the Riding know them well ;
their work is famous for its excellence,
for the master of it is a practical ma