Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-04-11

JGOPSIs, LltbN WbS DuIub dG Tile STAKE
Well, I'm another John Rogers-not
that one. / wasn't never quite SO bad
off as that. So you like my shop, ell
I've got everything handy, you see, /
haven't always been SO well off as this,
he went on in a tremulous chirp
sWhen my wife was alive MY wife
was fine woman, harnsum and pretty
housekeeping, when | married her, but
trouble brung her down. She never
took kindly to it. Her folks called me
shiftless. I dunno; if shiftless means
working hard and getting little, s'pose
l was. l warn't one of the kind ter
worry and she was. Eight children
there were, and every one that come she
was sorry it come. And then, when one
after another they died, all but one, that
was what killed her at last. They were
my children, too, and-well Its given
me something to look forward to, seeing
'em up there, yer see, but my wife, she
wasn't right exactly in her mind, it's
my belief, after our troubles came. /
dunno's anybody's to blame for 'em.
There's more trouble In this world than
I'm able to account for, I'm free ter adj
nit. My wife, she took to her bed two
years before she died, and then I had to
learn new trade or two beside shoe
making. [ was hired gal and most ev-
erything else. [ made apretty bad mess
of it. [ don't deny it. Poor Jim-he's
our boy-run off. He couldn't stand it.
the Budsons. A harnsome set of girls
they were. 1t was heavy day for me
when l buried her in her grave. I've
been alone since, but I've had great
many mercies."
=" 1 thought YOU broke your leg last
winter, Mr.. Rogers. "
$50 did, but on the whole, [ ruther
enjoyed it. [ dunno when [ ever lived
so high, or had so many visits from my
friends.
And so Mr.. Rogers talked on looking
sharply up at me now and then, as if to
assure himself that [ was better lis
tener than the cat.
Two days after went for the rest of
the shoes, and Mr.. Rogers seemed so
glad to see me that L was again fattered
into staying.
"Gome, now, if you'll set down and
stay awhile, Ill tell yer a story. Per
haps you'd like to know how / come by
them lions? Wal, I'll tell yer, child,
how twas"
With a child's greed of stories. [ was
only too glad to listen.
[ told him his show'd find pretty poor
pickin's in this town, said Mr.. Rogers,
in conclusion. "I'd done its cobbling
for twenty years and more. But he
wasn't for listening to me, and SO he
went off, he and his menagerie, all
a-growling together %
Somehow, it appeared that, after all,
Mr.. Rogers was the hero of this story;
and again 1t seemed that Mr.. Rogers had
played prominent part in the decline
and fall of Amos Beldon's fortunes; and
again that Jonathan Wilder would have
done much better TO listen to Mr.. Rog-
ers' advice, and thus have ayerted ruin
and consequent auction bills. 1t was
very artless egotism, not hard to account
for. For years the old man had lived
alone, his own chief counselor and
friend. do not wonder that ne grew a
little larger Ia his own eyes than in other
mems; that his imagination, having
nothing else to do, built up the past till
his memory held fiction as dear rs fact.
[ am quite ready to forgive him his re-
Prospective castle building, though l
happened to be its credulous victim.
Then there were marvellous tales of
I" my son Jlm's adventures in that far
off wonderland. "out west" I believe
three scanty letters furnished these
rOmances their foundation of fact; but |
asked no questions, and believed with as
honest faith IN the gold paved streets
of San Francisco as in those of the New
Jerusalem.
He was good boy, Jim was, the
old man would say. 81 never thought
hard of him Tor goin' off. II he only
comes back to bury me, that's all / ask.
He'll be coming back one of these days,
rich and handsome, I hain't doubt. I
shouldn't wonder if he'd be looking
round for a wife. Let's see-how old
are you? shouldn't wonder if you were
just about right for him by that time.
You'd make a putty little pair
Though time had stood as still with
Jim as his father seemed to think, the
idea of my marrying him would have lost
none of its uncomfortable grotesque-
ness.
"Don't, Mr.. Rogers, I said.
g Bashful are you?" he answered,
lrylHg 10 look fOgu1Sn. " Don E you be
for not getting married though, like the
Miss Bucklands, and the Jewbury girls,
and the Bassett girls, and all the rest
There's too many On 'em; too many on
'em. [ used to tell my wife that I was
better'n nothin anyway. It's kind of
shabby in the men to go off and leave
the women to ole off here up country all
alone. I amt afraid but Jim'll find
somebody easy enough"
E'Oh, yes p I said, for I was afraid
had hurt the old mans feelings. "I'm
sure he must be very nice. -
One accomplishment of Mr.. Rogers [
shall never forget. He not only told
me stories as he worked, but he pro-
fessed to be able to read them from his
hands, which he held before him like
the open pages of a book.
''See! You can look at EN-" he
would say. "There's nothing hid in
'em. No cheating about it. Hard and
tough. Don't look much like book,
do they? But just hear me read to you
out of 'em.'
I was completely mystifed, especially