Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-05-14
FABLE THE SIXTH.

FABLE THE SIXTH.
ONE Is ENOUGH TO WAIT AND WOO.
1t was another sort of harvest that
was over at Legs Croft; and it had been
as ample in its own way; and prices
ruled high, by reason of the war.
Everything ought to have been well
with Farmer Blackthorn, supposing
farmers TO be made for the price of
bread alone Everything looked admir-
ably well, now that autumn and rest
had come.
All things except the farmer. The
new life that had come to him some
sixteen months ago had flickered down
again, and left him more broken than
when he had just gone begging for a
hundred pounds As he leaned over
his yard gate in the sun, nobody would
have known him for once hale and
hearty Tom Blackthorn, loud OF voice
and carriage. and full of spirit and
pride. i was not that he had grown
older by full ten years, but the spirit
seemed withered out Of him. The
genial laugh. instead of hardening. had
changed into a feeble sorl of smile.
There was plenty for him to do and
to see after-poverty, al any rate, was
makes a man fight: and there was no
more fight to be seen in Tom Black
thorn face or shoulders or trembling
hands. All the work he was doing was
TO lean over a gate, and even that
seemed too hard: all he was looking
after was drake with a dozen ducks in
the pond, who were perfectly able to
look after themselves
T2,1. ha 3 =
ton at last. full of fascination as it is,
and slowly. very slowly, drew the gate
open. Once If would have been with
ciatter and swing, so that all the place
could tell when the master went out.
and when he had como home. Before
passing through it. he looked carefully
up at every window Of the house. and
then round into every corner of the
yard, and up and down the road, as if
he were afraid of his movements being
seen.
But I'll be too sharp for EN- vet"
said he. with a chuckle ..Enoch Mar
rish ain t quite master vet; and till that
happens I'll be my own Not up to
walking, am /? Well. they'll see
they Il see. I'll walk to the beeches;
and tell en- all about it at dinner-time
One would think Enoch took me for
child. or else a siNpence that he's afraid
to lose. Well, well: mustn't COM
plain. He's good farmer. for all he's
so near. But he's not master yet-no,
no. / can walk; and I'll show EN- l
will
But he happily had something better
than viii, or rather wilfulness, to help
him he still had the stick he used to
swing and flourish. He tried to give it
a flourish now. a. soon as, often looking
behind him, he had escaped out of
sight But it was a failure: and he
was presently glad TO have something
strong to lean on heavily. The beeches
were the clump on the hill towards
Manchester. over the ridge of which
Patience had watched in vain for her
lovers coming. 1t was not much of a
walk for man to scheme after crafty
with a view to a boast: and there was a
good path through the fields all the
way Moreover. the walk was full of
interest even to a practical man.
There were the cows: there were the
fences. And for Il man with the mem
cries of a life bound up with every
step, there were ten thousand things
In that brook he had caught not only
Along this path he had walked every
Sunday To church with his wife till he fol-
lowed her into the churchvard: and out
OF the ten thousand these were but two.
And then he had inherited memories:
for 1t had been Farmer Blackthorn Of
Legs Crofts from father to son from be-
fore the memory of man. Leave Leys
Croft he muttered. "A good Joke
no. 81 i
without 4 Biackthorn. When l leave
it, at last, they'll have to change the
name-yes. change the name But,
short and easy as the walk was. and
varied with COWS and memories, he was
slouching vet more heavily on his stick
by the time he reached the foot of the
slope; and be looked YEARLY at the
beech clump that had still TO be gained
1t has got to be a long wav-a
very long way, somehow" unused he.
They must have been doing some
thing to the path to make it longer. or
shifted the beaches farther away. Or
may be they've been cutting some of
the nearest down. / must see about
that when l get home; and if any
body been up to mischief. and think
my eye isn't on EN-. they'll find out
who's master still. No-I don't think
I'll 60 up to the beeches to-day. They
won't run away; I'll do the rest
another time-auother time"
There was. TO put the case fully. an
exceedingly low, broad aud tempting
stile on the path at the foot of the
slope; and resistance to impulse had
never been Tom Backbone stronr
point even in his strongest DAYS His
strength, or weakness. lay in sticking
to the results of impulse whatever they
might be- So he sat on the stile, and,
having once yielded, there he was con-
tent to stay. Presently he began to
want a pipe-which he found in his
pocket, and his tobacco, too. But.
alas, when the bowl was filed and
wanted nothing but fire, he turned out
his pockets for his undertook in vain
Millions viii sympathize with Tom
Blackthorn; or al any rate SO many As
viii hear of him. What sorrow. after
all, can be greater in its pathetic help
lessness than that of q WORKOUT old