The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1890-11-21
A LECTURE ON A SPOON.
he Hired Man Got 1t, but He Failed 70
COMPREHEND a Word of 1t.

The Hired Man Got 1t, but He Failed 70
Comprehend Word of 1t.
81 remember" said the reconteur of
the party, ''a dispensation of what might
be called Spartan justice. 1t happened
when was boy and made lasting
impression, as incidents of the kind do
on youthful mind.
sour folks at home had some old sill
yer spoons that had been in constant
service for generations, and were small
and thin, and carried in their shallow
bowls the marks of every tooth in the
family. Each spoon had a history and
an association, as spoons did have In
those days, and they were looked after
with the greatest care. My mother
placed them under her pillow every
night, and the whole family would be
regularly awakened by midnight clat-
ter of rafting spoons, as they had rest
less habit of falling out of bed, so their
value was enhanced by the many sleep
less nights they cost.
s'Well, one of those precious spoons
was missing, and there was great to do
u.
toned, but no one had seen the missing
spoon. That night a colored girl, who
had been taken in some months before
by my mother, and who was a bright and
rather precocious character, told of see
ing q new hired man on the premises
hiding something in his jacket. She even
essayed to find the jacket, and, sure
enough, between the lining and the out
side was found the lost spoon.
."My mother was so happy in recover
ing her property that she wanted the
man to go scot free. Not so my father,
who was solemn church goer. L will
give him lecture on the sin of stealing,
he said, 'and keep him, as he is a useful
man. I am very sure he will never steal
from us again.
81 accompanied my father to the
kitchen, where the man was raking
ashes over the Goals of hot fire and pre-
pairing to go to bed. He sat submissively
still as my father appeared, carrying a
large Bible, and he listened to the lect-
ure that was delivered with an unmoved
countenance. slept and awakened sew.
eral times before it was finished. My
fathers solemn, monotonous voice af-
fected me like a soporific and l did not
try to fathom the language he used.
''The culprit was a German, and |
have since learned that he did not under
stand one word my father said to him,
nor even the nature of the accusation
against him. 1 thought then, as I lis
tened to my fathers bass tones in that
grim monologue, that the punishment
was adequate to the sin. 1 had been
lectured myself, and would have con-
fessed to almost anything to have es-
capped the consequences.
1.-THE lecture was supplemented by a
prayer, in which my fater implored
divine forgiveness for the offender. The
German took it all in good part and re-
manned in his situation, but was no
doubt carefully watched. Some years
after the colored girl acknowledged that
she had put the spoon in his jacket in
order to get rid of him and crafty her
love of mischief. AS he never alluded
to it in any way we could not tell what
he thought of the services of that night, or
how much of the long moral lecture had
been comprehended. But am certain
he never understood the criminal nature
CT the occasion. Detroit Free Press.