St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-01-16

II feel very thanktul-tor the
past" was what Cousin Parker
whispered feebly, SO that Abram,
who stood by him protectingly, lean
ed his great ear down, and alone
| heard him.
He feels thankful for the past!"
roared Abram, with a kindly, en-
couraging smile for poor Cousin Par
| ker.
"Oh, he feels thankful for the past,
does hep exclaimed Miss Perkins
"Well. land l should think he ought
Why, he's had money every year-al-
together, two or three Thousand dol
lars at least"
Hes expectin' a change for the
futur'l'' called out Abram. "a big
change. He's awful hopeful"
A smile of pity went around among
all the Taskers present. Mrs. New
York TaSker, as it was a warm day,
held her vinaigrette to her nose, and
complained little of feeling faint.
The dismal photographs hung about
the walls in black frames, she said,
gave her quite a turn. They were
photographs of deceased Taskers,
standing up, man and wife together,
very stiff and straight, holding on to
chairs for dear life, or leaning an ell
bow upon romantic Italian scenery,
or Venetian baluStrade The hair
cloth sofas and chairs, too, were
rather awe-inspiring. Much as Mrs.
New York Tasker admired the family
into which she had married, she adj
mitted that they were, some of them,
very odd country-people. And this
poor Cousin Parkerl What an odd
ity he was, to be sure!
"He has tried next to everything
to get on" went on Abram, the
mouth-piece, after prolonged listen
ing to Cousin Parker's whisper
He went West and tried to grow up
with the country. But he didn't
stay long enough to grow. He start
ed a newspaper, but he took the
wrong side in politics, an got fired.
Then he fined a circus and fggered
as the hind legs of an ellerphunt; but
the folks got on to his disguise, he
saws, an they kinder fired rocks at
him, an so he cum back home to Mis-
Parker an the nine children kinder
hopeless. But his hope picked up
when we as a family cum forward
an let him hev two hundred dollars
last year. That started him up
agin inventin', an he useter sit UP
nights, he says, hopin' an inventin'"
Miss Perkins gave a sniff Other
Taskers present probably would
have shifted had not the prim New
England spinster kindly done it for
them.
Then, again, there. was a whisper.
"He says he has at larst finally
turned inventor, an is goin' to make
it his business" roared Abram, still
leaning down to Cousin Parker. I'm
mediately there was buzz of loud
protestation from every right-mind-
ed Tasker present.
''He says he again wishes to say
that in the past he has had very hard
luck" roared Abram again.
ASK him if he thinks if he should
turn to and do a little work now and
then by accident his luck wouldn't
change said Miss Perkins, sharply
Cousin Parker gave her such sad,
beseeching look that she wished she
had kept quiet. Miss Perkins did
not wish it to be understood that
she was heartless but it made her
very impatient to take hold of Cousin
Parker and shake him. Oh that she
could have him under her charge for
a time at Newburvportl She would
get this inventor nonsense out of
him. Yes, indeed
Abrams ear was so long near
Cousin Parker's mouth that the Tas-
kers knew something interesting was
coming. At last he roared: HE
says he's got a smart partner. The
smart partner has sold one of his in
ventions for him. His name is Eph-
rain Shouter. Hecomes from a fam
lily of lawyers"
depend upon it then, the smart
partner has got all the money, and
Cousin Parker has got the expert
ence," said the New York Tasker,
with a wise shake of the head
He says the invention was sold
to the Stannard lie company, fer-fer
what, Cousin Parker?''
A further inaudible whisper, after
which Cousin Parker looked more
sheepish and more crestfallen than
ever. Every Tasker in the room
leaned forward with interest
"Fer-I can't believe it-fer two
hunderd thousand dollarsl" roared
Abram.
A great sensation
1.-TWO hunderd thousand dollars;
and the smart partner took a hun
derd an'-an' seventy-five thousand
for his fee, an'-gave him twenty-five
He says he wants to pay up his
debts to the Tasker family"
For the space of two minutes there
was perfect silence. Not a Tasker
spoke or moved Finally Miss Per-