Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-07-10

lIods6n and say we should be Obliged
if he would come in and smoke a pipe,
and have n chat with us, if he has nOth-
ing better to do"
But Nelly either thought this was too
much politeness to he thrown away on the
handsome keeper, or else she had some
private quarrel with him, for ali she said
to him. and that brusquely, was, Ron
aid, you re wanted in the parlor.
Accordingly, when he came along the
opened it, he stoodShere uncertain, cap in
hand. And MIR. lIod-on had to repeat the
invitation explaining that they had
wanted him. to have some dinner with
them but that he could not he found
and then Ronald with less of embarrass-
lncnt than might nave been expected
for he knew those two people better now
shut the door, and laid down his cap,
and modestly advanced to the chair that
Mr.. Hodson had drawn in to one side of
the big fireplace. Miss Carry was seated
apart on a sofa, apparently engaged in
some sort of knitting work. but her big
black eyes could easily be raised when
there was need, and she could join in the
conversation when she chose
At first that was mostly about the
adjacent shooting, which Mr. Hodson
l. thought of taking for a season merely by
way of experiment and the question was
how long he would in that case have to
be away from his native country. This
naturally took them to America. and
eventually, and alas to politics, which to
Miss Carry was as but the eating OF
chopped straw However, Mr.. Hodson if
you could keep the existence of lords out
of his reach was no very violent polemic
and, moreover, whenever the Bird OF Free
| dom began to clap its wings too loudly,
| was there not on the sofa there Il not mat
tentive young lady to interfere with lit
tie gentle sarcasm Sometimes. indeed
her interpostions were both unCalled for
and unfair, and sometimes they were not
quite clearly ineligible. When, for eX
! ample. they were talking of the colossal
statue of Liberty enlightening the World
which the French Republic proposed to
present to the American Republic to be
set up in New York Bay, she pretended
/ not to know in which drection-east or
west-the giant figure was to extend her
/ light and liberty giving arm and her OBJ
1 lection to her fathers definition of the
/ caucus system is a despotism tempered by
/ boltingowas still darker saying. of which
Ronald could make nothing whatever
But what OF thaty Whatever else was
yelled to him, this was clear-that her in
reference was on his behalf, so that he
should not be overpressed in argument or
| handicapped for lack of information, and
he was very grateful to her naturally, and
far from anxious to say anything against
a country that had sent him so fair and so
generous an ally.
But, after all, was not this laudation of
the institutions of the United States meant
Only us IL hlIlNllAGSS- hS an llNluNtllItlo W
him to 90 thither, and better
his position? There was the field
where the race was to the swiftest,
where the best man got to the
'front.', and took the prize which he had
fairly won. There no accident of birth,
no traditional usage, was a hinderance
| The very largeness of the area gave to the
. individual largcness Of view.
YES said Miss Carry but they took
no heed Of her impertinence, in our
l,nr Il r,oiN III it1ly al
his mind fixed on Niagara
Nay, the very effort to arouse dissatis-
faction in the bosom of this man who
seemed all too well cOntented with his
CIRCUMSTANCES was in itself meant AS a
kindness. Why should he be content
/ Why should he not get on? 1t was all
very well to have health and strength and
hiLh spirits, and to sing tenor songs, and
be iavorite with the farm lasses but
that could not last forever. He was
going by him. Why, at his age, what had
SO and so done, and what had Soand-so
not done? And how had they started?
What did they owe to fortune?-what,
rather, to their own resolution and brain?
Ronald, my good fellow" said his
Mentor. in the most kindly way, if |
could only get you to breathe the atmos-
phere of Chicago for fortnight, am
pretty sure you wouldn't come back to
stalk deer and tram dogs for Lord Ailine
or any other lordship."
Miss Carry said nothing but she pictur-
ed to herself Ronald walking down Madi-
son Street-no longer, of course, IN his
weathcr-tanned stalking costume, but at
tired as the other young gentlemen to be
found there, and going into Burke S
Hotel for an oyster luncheon and coming
out a-ain chewing tooth-pick, and
stroliug on to the Grand Pacific to look
al the latest kilograms. And she smiled
0hough indeed, she herself had not been
behindhand in urging him to get out of
his present estate and better his fortunes },
for there was something crriously incon-
gruous in that picture; and she was quite
convinced that in Wabash Avenue he
wodld not look nearly as handsome nor
SO much at his ease as now he did.
- am afraid said he, with laugh,
If We put me down in place like that, |
should be sorely ut a loss to tell what to
turn my hand to. It's rather late in the
day for me to begin and learn new
trade.
" Nonsense. man" the other said. "You
have the knowledge already, if you only
knew how TO apply it,
The knowIedgeY' Ronald repeated,
with some surprise. Most of his book
reading had been in the field of English
poetry, and he did not see how he could
carry that 10 market.
MIR. Hodson took out his note book, and
began to look over the leaves
And you don't need to go as far as
Chicago, if you would rather not said
he.
"If youdo,' sad Miss Carry, flippantly,
mind you don't eat any of our pork.
F9ppa dear. do you know why wise man
doesn't eat pork in Illinois, Don't you
know 1t is because there is a trichIno-
. sis worth wo of that
Ronald laughed; but her father was too
busy to attend to such idiotcy
Even ii You would rather remain in
the old country he continued and en-
JOY an out of door life, why should you not
make use of what you already know? |
have heard you talk about the draining of
soil and planting of trees and so on. Well,
look here, now; | have been inquirng
into that matter, and | find that the High
land and Agricultural Society of Scotland
grants certificates for proficiency in the
theory and practice of forestry, Why
shouldn't You try to gain one of those GER
tihcateS, and then apply for the post of
land steward III bet you could manage
an estate as we'll as most of them who are
at it, especially one of those Highland