The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-12-06


"Td sooner dig 'em into the ground t.
fertilize the soil! It's swindle! The
markets are in league against mel"
And the vineyard of young grape
vines which he had planted so carefully
on the rocky terraces at the south side
of his farm, succumbed to prolonged
drought, and an embryo cyclone car
ried away the roof of the best barn,
and then came the grim tyrant rheuma-
tism, and old Chudwell felt that his
cup was indeed full!
And then came the man who had a
mortgage on the place-a grim, square,
business-like parsonage, who chewed a
cherry-tree leaf as he talked, and had a
particularly aggravating way of half
closing one eye.
Cant pay itP" said Mr.. Blifl. "But
it runs out in October, and / was led to
believe it would be paid up promptly, "
81 was a-calculatin' to pay it., said
Simeon Chudwell sadly. "But I've had
such bad luck"
"We don't allow for no such thing as
luck where business is concerned, " said
Mr.. Blifl
Couldn't you give me another yearP'
said Simeon imploringly.
"Well, no. said Blitil, still masticat-
ing the cherry-leaf. "The fact is, Mr..
Chudwell, I've got better investments
for my money than six per cent. mort
cages. Capital is capital, nowadays!
And moneys worth its face value"
"Well, I'll see what ! can do" said
Mr.. Chudwell with sinking heart.
He did. But, so far as his vision ex-
tended, nothing could be done. And
so he sat and waited grimly for fate to
do its worst.
Not the least of his griefs was the
being compelled to sit, ike superan-
uated old man, at the window, and see
Joseph Fielding's strong arm doing
what he had been wont to do, Joseph
Fielding's brain planning out the work
which he alone had hitherto had the
charge of.
You're such master hand at work,
Joe," he said one day in the bitterness
OF his spirit, II wonder you lower your
self to hire out. should suppose you'd
got enough money laid up to live on
independent
"Oh," said Joe mildly ignoring the
sarcastic sting of the remark, 81 have
got little. I'm one of the kind, you
know, that's always lookin forward to
rainy day. And | don't mean to be
caught without an umbrella"
But on this especial day it seemed to
him that Joseph Fielding had heaped
up the measure of his offences, in this
matter of the tiger-lilies, past endur-
ance.
"I'll teach him." said Mr.. Chudwell
to himself. "And I'll teach her too.
Tiger-lilies, indeed!"
How he contrived to limp as far rs
the front porch he who had not left
his armchair without help for weeks, no
one knew. But when Tiny went out to
look at her tiger-lily roots that evening,
just between daylight and dark, the
ground was all plowed and riddlsd, as
if some infuriated beast had torn it
with it's hoofs. While the lily bulbs,
withered by the sun and torn apart, lay
scattered wildly about.
"Who has done thisp" she cried with
gasp of grief and terror.
II did, defiantly answered Chud-
well, looking up from the newspaper
he was reading by the light of the
lamp. with my stick! I'll have
none of this posy and tiger-lily BUSH
ness on my farm, and you and Joe
Fielding may as well understand it first
as last"
Poor Tiny! Well, what else could
she have expected Had it not been
so all her life long?
The summer went by, and Tiny Chud-
well had no tiger-lilies blossoming
by the door-stone. Yet Joe Fielding
always kept a tall stalk of the vivid
orange-howers in the broken tumbler
on the sink, where Tiny washed the
dishes.
$50 Blifl has sold the mortgage
said Mr.. Chudwell, one day, with a
strange working of his thin and wrn-
kled lips. "Well, l don't know as l
could have expected anything different
of him. But / would like to know who
has bought it! No man likes to have a
trap sprung upon him Unexpectedly,
They needn't think I'm going to make
them any trouble, though.
I'm ready to move into the little
house at Flinn's Corners any day re-
ceive legal notice. Though l little
thought, when | borrowed that two
thousand pounds, it would ever be fore,
closed on me like thisr'
"Well," said Joseph Fielding, who
had come into the house to get new
buckle for the harness he was mending.
81 don't calculate the new mans going
to be SO dreadful hard on you, squirrel
"Do you know himP' said Chudwell
sharply.
'Do know himP" repeated Fielding.
Like book! And he says you're
kindly welcome to live on here all your
days, just as if there hadn't been no
mortgage on the place, so long as you
don't object to his moving into the
other part of the house"
What" cried Chudwell.
Father, father!' exclaimed Tiny,
flinging both arms around his neck,
"it's Joe has bought the mortgage!
And we are engaged to be married.
And he has decided the place over to
me. And you are to stay here always
always, father!"
81 don't deserve this" said the old
man huskily. 81 hain't been pleasant