The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-09-19
TADE.

What name had by bis sponsors in
baptism, If he had any, been bestowed
upon Tade Brown it is very doubtful if
ANYBODY knew. Indeed he himself
could hardly be supposed to have very
definite ideas on that subject, and might
even be considered as being in fair
way to lose all remembrance Of his
family name, since he was never address
sed by it. He was Tade and simple Tade
and nobody in all Titusville ever thought
OF calling him anything else.
1t really did not make much differ
ence. If Tade had preserved his family
name that would have been the only
remnant of family things which would
have remaii Ell in his possession. He
was his own family. He did remember
family a mother who did now and then,
on rare occasions when her wits failed
to supply the deficiencies of her purse
and she was forced into sobriety. was
sober enough to know her own son from
the other boys who swarmed in the
cour' but beyond this Tade had no do
mps' ic souvenirs.
Exactly what had become Of his moth
er was point upon which Tade was en-
tirely uninformed. He knew that she
had disappeared, and that for practical
purposes " as as sufficient as a mure ex-
tended knowledge would have been The
chit difference in his life that heI dis
appearance made was that there was
now no one who had a recognized right
TO thrash the poor little cripple, and he
got far less drubbing than had been the
case while he was still the object of a
mothers solcitude. AS for being taken
care Of, Tade had taken care Of himself
almost from the time he could drag his
crumpled body about, and he had now
and then been forced, when his mother
was more than usually inebriated, to
supply her with the means Of procuring
fresh means of iutoxication FIR m his
hardly earned store of pennies. To-
the missing Mrs, Browns credit, how
ever, it is only fair to say that she did
not as a rule take Tade's pennies from
him. She may not have been model
of maternal tenderness, but few mothers
would find it possible to be models OF
material tenderness who were forced
by untoward circumstances to pass fire.
quent and sometimes long intervals in
the reformatory, 1t is exceedingly diff
ficult 10 attend properly to ones home
duties when at any moment police
officer may appear to hale one away. be-
fore the Judge for little eccentricities
committed in moments OF excitement
and mental exaltation resulting from
an over indulgence in ones cups,
1t is to be feared too, that Tade did
not 80 deeply respect his mother as is
expected of nice little boys. He had, it
is true, souvenir of her in the shape OF
his twist back, out of shape because Mrs.
Brown, in moment of alcoholic absent
ed mindedness, had laid him in his baby
hood out of second story window: and
as he would inevitably carry this through
life he was little likely to forget her but
as to troubling himself to discover what
had become Of her or to sorrow because
she did not return, it is to be feared that
Tade did nothing Of the sort.
Everybody in Tltusville knew Tade.
He was quite a public character. lie
had been bred, and for that matter kl-
most horn, in streets. and his manners
we're such as might have been expected
under the circumstances, AS to morals,
1t would be scarcely correct to say that
he had any beyond a certain instinct,
got, heaven alone kows where or how.
to 'treat folks square," as he would have
said. In disposition he was the sunniest,
iolllest, most bouyant soul alive, and one
could but wonder where he got dispo.
sition 80 cherry, and how in the world
he could manage to keep it under the
trials Of the lot which had fallen to him
in life.
Tade's business was whatever for the
moment offered him the means Of turn
ing penny. To-day he was bootblack,
tomorrow a newsboy, and the day after
something else. There was certain folks
who were in a spasmodic way kind to
the forlorn little hunchback. and who
gave him odd jobs of one sort or another
70 do In the way of errauds and the like.
He held horses, carried parcels, did any.
thing that was asked Of him, and all
with an air of cheerfulness that seemed
alone worth more than the price which
was paid to him for his services.
Where or how he lived, nobody took
the trouble to inquire until it came into
the head OF Miss Aston to ask that ques-
tion, Miss Aston was tho only daughter
of old Peter Aston, the richest man In
Titusville. Mr.. Aston had big count
ing-house down by the wharves, where
an army of clerks made his millions for
him, apparently by the the very simple
process Of adding column of figures to-
gether all day long. He was fusty and
crusty old man, upon whom forty years
OF bacheldorhood and twenty of idow-
hood had left their traces in hardness
of manner and a stern air which kept
all the world and especially the clerks
aforesaid in great awe Of him. Indeed
there was nobody except his daughter
who was not more or less afraid of Peter
Aston, and it is TO be suspected that he
was pleased that 1t should be so, since
he smiled to himself grimly under his
beard when any sign Of this universal
terror came under his notice.
But Miss Bessie Aston was not afraid
of her father in the least, and since he
had no law above her slightest wish,
there seemed to be no especial reason
why she need to be, He did not now
then venture to object to some Of her
whims, but 1t was done with 30 evident
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