Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-10-21

less than flying into the face of half the
race. Out-of it at least has risen much
We should be proud of. and not little
of which we should profoundly feel
ashamed In Joers case the aim was
doubtless well enough, and the object,
though mainly vapor. not to be des-
pissed; but the means. All. there's the
thing to put ones foot upon.
Joel went homeward that evening
after squaring with John Earling, as
he put it, with soul not overfowing-
ly sunny. 1t was autumn and the
weather was very gentle. but his men
tai eye seemed jaundiced. John Earl
ing's denunciation kept playing kind
of hide and seek in his mind, for a.
often as he thrust it back at one open
ing it popped out at another. '.Pshaw!
what does the spoutin' of youngster
like him amount to-" he muttered. and
turned off from the street and went
over on the knoll, that looked down
upon the river and across that upon
the wooded eminence where Absalom
Heaters cottage stood among the au-
tumn-painted trees Il think I'll build
about Ticking the few fallen maple
away with warming humor. 81 guess
I'll build good one"
The sun falling to the westward was
filing the tops of Absalom's woods
with shattered fire, and the long rays
slanting under the trees on Joel's
knoll made it seem a very pleasant
place. But when he had crossed the
little hollow and come to his own gate
among the lawns and homes that
covered the gentle broad-backed ridge
on which the town was mainly laid,
his spirit seemed to darken with the
evening shadows.
With all his farms, and bank, and
store, and mills, and houses, and fat
horses, and the rich bounty of good
humor which nature had given him
at the start, his blood of late years
seemed often very heavy. plague
the stuff, / believe it's too thick to run
| WELL" he would sometimes say, smit-
ing himself upon his great chest over
the heart. That slowly throbbing or
gan seemed to clog little by times.
Perhaps he fed it too well, or the red
tide that ebbed and flowed within it had
tired and thickened with its half a cent
ury of motion. The edge of his spir-
| it, too, seemed worn and blunted by
his third of a century of uninterrupted
delving after wealth. What an array
of numerals 'twould have taken to
cover his calculations, to exhibit his
| dealings, or represent the moments of
| his labors! Were his possessions worth
it? With something like this moving
| in his mind he stood with his hand
upon the gate-post looking at the long.
| low house. with its porch across the
! front clambered over by woOdbine and
| a howerless rose, and some great clay
urns painted green and running over
with smilax that stood on either side
the graveled walk. well, I'll build a
! good one in the spring. he said.
MAY be it ain t W orth while, but L II do
it. Then Pm ready for something else!"
| After tea, when Harry had gone up
| to his room, which had an easel in one
corner and two or three dauby pictures
on the wall. and lit a cigar and lain
down in his hammock with his lazy
blue eyes looking up into the wreath
ing smoke, Joel went into the sitting
room and, unfolding a newspaper, be-
gan to read by the drop-light- Open
stone had grown in these years and
| had gas, Joel being the largest holder
of its stock. In the mellow flare he
| looked tired, and his hair glistened,
| for it was streaked with gray and had
fallen away from the crown of his head.
which ghstened little in its stead. 1t
| was not usual for him to remain thus
at home in the evening, as his habit
was to be about his business from seven
in the morning until nine and ten
o clock, and often later, in the night
His had been a wonderful example of
American push as applied to money
making. He seldom read except on
Sundays; then he went over the entire
weeks papers, letting his wife for the
most part do the church going.
That lady, as a natural and very
agreeable result of her husband grow
ing wealth, had felt her social weight
increase with the years Besides Rev.
Mr.. Cuttleton was now wldower,
and she felt, much as she had ignored
his wife, new demands left at her door,
and if possible freer flow of holy feel.
ings. She seemed rather more pleas
ant to look at as she sat on the other
side of the comfortable from Joel,
idling with bit of needle-work, than
when we first met her at old Jade
Erric's some sixteen years before. Hell
outlines were rounder, for Mrs. w hit
| ney nau long since NObtu ~oIh luuSI'
icate, though from appearances she
did not consider eating at all vulgar,
and perhaps she was a trif1e less sal
low. Clearly there was something on
her mind as she sat trifiing with her tat.
ting. She glanced at Joel, but feal
she did not notice how worn he looked
for the matter that covered her mind
Joel she said at length, as she lay
back in her easy chair running her eye
up and down the kind of thread Jacobs
Ladder that she held up before her
joel. don't you think it about time
that Harry was going away to col
lege?"
Il think he's worthless enough
now." said Joel, gruffiy, without tax.
ing his eyes from the paper. He was
evidently in that condition of weari
ness where man coutemplates almost
any thing but good bed with displeas
ure.
Mrs. Whitney frowned at the Jacobs
Ladder. Not much had been said OF
Harry's future of late, and nothing
touching John Earrings, as Mrs.
Whitney curiously enough disliked
him all the more since he had freed
himself from their begrudging bounty.
She said nothing for time. Joel held
the paper up with his head back lit,
tie, slightly showing his third chin in.
side his big collar, though evidently
not getting much out of his reading.
In moment he laid the paper down
and looked at Mrs. Whitney. Her men
tai eye had been too much under cover
to see before that it was not favora-