Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1889-12-18

! choosing the meat Tor next day, and
Jerry felt all the dignity of a connois-
seur as he called his silent partners
attention to various things You.
Sal, when you turns round. just see
this show yere. Amt that show o
meat1 See him Now he'll swaller that
there poker In arf a minute, and SO
on; and Sal thought Jerry was artful,
because he could tell the meaning OF
everything On Sundays Jerry had
nothing To do, and he STEPPED himself
in the pleasure of easing his muscles
to an extent which might damage my
theory-f had nothing more to say.
, He could not read, and he could not
understand newspaper language. but
his mate, Joe Toms, the hawker, trans
lated the history of the more select
murders to him. She ups and she
SEE, You amt never goin' to hear the
last, if you don't bloomin' well give
me my rights -Shan't, sez he 'Yo,
shall, she says; or my swell father'n
jest knock tons of stuffin' out o. you
/ swear you shall Not bloonlin'
shall, says he; and he outs with his
pistll and he corpses her. and then he
tries the same on hisself, and misses,
and now lies In the horspital Thus
would Mr.. Toms vary the language Of
the reporters, to Jerry's great solace-
ment The friends did not understand
politics. Jerry explained his theories
thus: ''One o. the blokes round Ber-
mondsey way comes to the yard when
l was a-havin' my bit o grub, dinner
time, and he seq, If you have a bit
left, mate, don't mind havin' of it
Amt bit since yesterday mornin'.' So
/ goes him halves, and then he seq,
Well be all right soon. l amt had
hover for fortnit; but swell gent
l don't know what they call him, but
he's one o them what sends the per
lice and the swaddies over the water
and things-and he SEE we'll have
wotesp ] seq: Did the cove give you
no grub2 If he didn't give you no
grub, what's the good of his jor9 !"
and jerry spoke no more.
And so the good days went on until
SAILS boy was born. She used to look at
the baby by the hour, and her eyes had a
mysterious yearnlng IN them; her
cold face grew soft in its plainness,
and she acquired look of quiet pride
very different from her old dim neu-
trality. The youngster grew nicely,
and he was a source of much somber
glee to Jerry. The man used to light
up his pipe and smoke in the gloomy
front room, while his son sprawled
desperately round on the floor, and he
thought it was rum that he never knew
how pretty child was before If he
strolled on to the pavement with the
baby in his arms, the costers and the
match girls used to chaff him as they
passed. WAIT till you ayes my lot;
you won't be SO fond o handlin' of
sem." Amt old Jerry pleased with
hisself2" and so on. Sal fixed all this
notice, and she liked to see her man
nursing her baby-she had position
in the world. She never kissed Jerry,
but she would slap him on the back
and say, You're proper old .bloke.
/ rubbed your two shirts through
while you was a-holdin' the kid.
Come, then?" and then she would nuz-
zle her hard face to the baby's neck
in ecstatic abandonment. When tho
youth tried to walk, he took the or
thodox two steps and came down.
After this he looked round for plau-
dts, and Jerry always gave grunt
of laughter, while Sal smiled and
looked proud. The more the baby
tumbled, the more fresh and entranc-
ing Jerry found the performance.
"How he do flop, to be sure" he OBJ
served again and again, and at length,
with a look of triumph-the look of
the successful authorize said: He
can have his proper name, but I'm
goin' to call him Flop. Sect" "All
right" said Sal, and she humored the
mans within. As for Jerry, he made
the lives of his chums burdensome by
explaining how this humorous con-
ception first occurred to him, because
even six times was not quite enough
for him to tell the anecdote to one au
ditor There are other parental bores
besides Jerry.
But the good days had to go. Jerry
got hit by winch handle; he took no
notice at the time, and carried on the
usual dull round, till he was bothered
by queer swelling on the hip, with a
slight pain, which was just enough to
prevent him from quite enjoying his
usual games with Flop. The trouble in
creased, until he took a day off and
imped to the hospital. The case was
remarkable, and it was at last settled
that Jerry should undergo an opera
ton, which happened to be of terri
BILE character. Sal could not exactly
understand what had taken place. but
she trembled when she saw her mans
pale, yellowish face on the pillow in
That grim Waru, ana she covered ner
eyes with her apron when Flop order
ed his father to come and have game.
Jerry's life was saved. but he was not
good for much in the way of work
when he came out, and during his
second stay in hospital he died, and
Sal saw him put away. She sighed a
little when the man said: Come,
ma am for she felt as if she should
stop there; and then she went along
carrying Flop, who tried to draw her
into talk. Sal stifled her means so as
not to brighten the babbler, and she
put him down when they got clear Of
the vans She moaned then: for Jer-
ry had been kind, and never hit her,
and she was going to the room where
his pipe and his clothes lay. All the
evening Sal never spoke but once,
and that was when the neighbors
tried to comfort her, then she made
answer, 1T amt no good talkin', poor
old Jerry's gone, and he was a good
chap, and got to work for the kid to-
morfer" She woke often in the
night, and when she did she patted