The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-09-19
Our JOe--.A Tale Of the West Riding.

CHAPTER II.
our choices our destiny Nothing is ours that
our choice has not made ours"
1t might be thought that young man
with $4,000 would find an open gate into
life. But Joe's experience was not at first
fattering When Perkins was aware OF
the quarrel between father and SOP. he
found out he had no opening ia his office.
He did not care to put himself in opposi'
ton to Benjamin, for the manufacturer
was of litgious temper; he had paid
the firm deal of money, and was likely
to continue to do so. Joe's offer was de-
clined, and the lawyer even advised him
to make things up with his father and go
into the mill.
"He's more than bit masterful, L
know, joe" said Perkins " but If two
men ride t. same horse, one must ride be-
hind: and that's thy place, joe"
"Unless / ride my own horse"
"For sure; only thou'lt need a strong
Put up wi thy father bit, my lad. He's
gotten that used to telling folk they must
do this and that, that he thinks t vary
stars sud do as he bids them"
"But, Perkins, I'm man now, aud
have right to my own opinions"
"A pity on thee, lad. If ia can't smile
as t wind smiles, thou'lt vary soon take
cold. Well, good morning to thee. Pm
particular busy at present"
Joe had got his first rebuff from a
stranger. He felt it harder to bear than
his fathers hardest words. At the bot.
tom of them he had always known there
was an anxiety for his interest. Josiah
Perkins had looked only at Josiah Per-
kins' welfare. AS soon as he knew that
Joe had quarreled with his father he had
decided to throw Joe over.
Aunt Martha's first visit only convinced
him that the breach was wider than he
had supposed. For a moment he was
angry at her for leaving Brierley.
elf you had stopped beside him,
should have had some one to say good
word for me-" he said, reproachfully.
Gay, lad, but why didn't ia stop and
say ia own good words ?"
"What shall do? Perkins does not
want fathers il-will. | dare say every
one will feel the same"
Il am going to Leeds. l shall take a
house and furnish it, and let such rooms
as don't want. Thou come, too. There's
Halifax Brothers. | reckon as they hev
as good name as ovid Perkins,
The suggestion pleased Joe. 1t took
him out OF the immediate neighborhood
OF his father, and yet was not far enough
away from his usual lifecenter to give
him feeling of loneliness and remoteness.
For West Riding man honestly regards
any circumstance as calamity which re-
moves him far beyond the precincts of
his own birthplace. His application to
Halifax Brothers was also successful and
there was perhaps no law firm in the
West Riding that had higher reputation
In civil cases requiring a shrewd clever
ness just touching something that might
be called by less respectable name. If
Benjamin Brierley had wished his son to
be lawyer, Halifax Brothers would have
been the ideal masters at whose feet he
would have wished him to sit.
When he heard from Perkins where
Joe had placed himself, he felt a real
sentiment of respect for his sons ability.
"T lad is no fool" he said, hopefully,
TO himself as he drove back to mill " If
he wants to max his brass by ither folks
cheatery and quarreling, there's nobody i
Yorkshire could teach him to steal by
line and level 80 we'll as Tom Halifax"
Martha had similar opinions in her
own hours of private meditation and in
her class.meeting she took herself severely
to task for her easy submission to Joes
inclinations. For it must be acknowl-
edged that Martha had had very differ
emit hopes for her nephew. If his father
wished to place him among the mobiles of
the Bradford House of Wooden Lords,
Martha had had her dream of seeing him
hold forth to admiring thousands from a
Wesleyan pulpit But Joe had never
taken kindly to the chapel, and he had
broadly opposed Methodist faith and dis.
cipline. Benjamin had rather enioyed
this form of Joe's dissent. In religious
matters he had no objection to his exer.