The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-05-06

then round into every corner of the
yard, and up and down the road, as If
he were afraid of his movements being
seen. M
"But I'll be too sharp for 'em yet, :"
said he, with chuckle. "Enoch Mar
rish amt quite master yet; and till that
happens Pll be my own. Not up to
walking, am IP Well, they'll see
they'll see. I'll walk to the beeches;
and tell 'om all about it at dinner-time.
Ono would think Enoch took me for a
child, or else sixpence that he's afraid
to lose. Well, well; l 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 'em l
will"
But he happily had something better
than will, or rather wilfulness, to help
him-he still had the stick he used to
swing and flourish. He tried to give it
q flourish now, as 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. Itwas not much of a
walk for a man to scheme after craftily
with view to a boast; and there was q
good path through the fields all the
way. Moreover, the walk was full OF
interest even to practical man.
There were the COWS; there were the
fences. And for man with the men,
ories of life bound up with every
step, there were ten thousand things.
In that brook he had caught not only
his last trout, but his first minnow.
Along this path he had walked every
Sunday to church with his wife till he fol-
lowed her into the churchyard; and out
of the ten thousand these were but two.
And then he had inherited memories;
for it had been Farmer Blackthorn Of
Leys Crofts from father to son from be.
fore the memory of man. 'Leave Legs
Croftr' he muttered. "a good joke
that; as if there could be Legs Croft
without Blackthorn! When / 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 yet more heavily on his stick
by the time he reached the foot Of the
slope; and he looked YEARLY at the
beech clump that had still to be gained
at has got to be long way-i
very long way, somehow" mused he
They must have been doing some
thing to the path to make it longer, Of
shifted the beaches farther away. Ol
may be they've been cutting some o
the nearest down. l must see about
that when get home; and If any
body's been up to mischief, and thinl
my eye isn't on 'em, they'll find ou
who's master still. No-I don't thinl
I'll go up to the beeches to-day. The.
won't run away; I'll do the res
another time-another time"
There was, to put the case fully, al
exceedingly low, broad and tempting
stile on the path at the foot Of tn,
slope; and resistance to impulse hat
never been Tom Blackthorn's 5tron,
point even in his strongest days. Iii
strength, or weakness, lay in sticking
to the results of impulse whatever the.
} might be- So he sat on the stile, and
having once yielded, there he was con
tent to stay. Presently he began +
want a pipe-which he found in hi
pocket, and his tobacco, too But
alas! when the bowl was filled AM
wanted nothing but fire, he turned on
, his pockets for his tinder-box in vain.
Millions will sympathize with Ton
Blackthorn; or at any rate so many n
will hear of him. What sorrow, afte
ALL can be greater in its pathetic help
lessness than that of worn-out oil
man falling back upon his pipe, and
when it is at his very lips, deprived Q
= its solace for the want of one littl
spark of flameP Poor old Tom ha
passed through whole army Q
l memories patiently. But now he wa
ready to cry. And then the sun wa
. so warm on his bowed shoulders, an
the air so crisply sweet, that the arm
he had passed through formed thei
: ranks, and, led by that pipe Of Tar
tulus, came on.
. And he might have disarmed ther
| with o whiff-it was cruel.
But presently hope downed. A ma
.. was coming towards him from the d
rection Of Hunchester-a man Nigh
have tinder-box and tinder TO spar
for charity. But "might "-he migl
r not; and that would. be the mockery {
fate indeed. The man came neareI
D But no sooner was he full in view tina
D he began to turn sharp up the level pat
and move up the hill.
Such balk was not to be borne. III
farmer put his hat on the end Of h
stick and waved it in the air. "Y,
t hoyl' he shouted; not with the lunI
n of old, but with some very effective r
IS mains.
!. And his signal was seen. The ms
Il turned back, came TO within half
g dozen yards of the stile, and looking
II the farmer without speaking
: al want TO light my pipe" said To
u Blackthorn, in a rather querulous wa
"Have you got such a thing as a tind
@ boxp / thought you were never goir
% to hear. But It's strange how de
n everybody's growing. ] Isuppose that
n what makes them all humble so th
a nobody else can hear email but n
T girl"
d The man was one to whom Farm
q Rlackthorn would never have spoken