Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-01-21
A M0GsaSin Among the H0hbyS.
BY RICHARD NJ. JOHNSTON.

IrlouuS. no WIS not 30 very very ilttie.
They called him so in distinction from
big cousin of the same name. Every
body liked him. Even Maggy 1'iller
over and over again said TINT she thought
a great deal of Joe. Yet she gave her
hand in preference to the big cousin, and
so Little Joe, sorrowful as it oil was, had
to bear it as we'll as he could. Maggy,
noticing at her very last refusal how
hardly he took it, offered the consolation.
which at such q time, if girl would
only reflect for q moment, is the very
poorest to be thought of. She told him
to never mind, for that it wouldn't be 80
very long before he would find girl to
suit him TO a t, and then he would be just
running over with Joy that he hadn't
married Maggy Tiller Indeed, Maggy
was very sorry for his distress, SO she
must say something, and she didn't
know of anything better. Then he rose,
and, after shaking good-by, said:
ono, Maggy, can't got you; but I'll
never marry anybody else. f"
He went to the wedding, and with the
other guests extended congratulations,
and partook with reasonable zest of the
good things. Afterwards he was as good
a neighbor as before, and good cousin
to both. My father said, out of course
only in the family, that if he had been
In Maggy Tiller's place he would have
taken Little Joe, and let Big Joe go
somewhere else; for in his opinion Little
Joe was more of a man; and so, he sus-
pected, thought Maggy's mother. How
ever, he added, nobody can ever foresee
what girls will do in such cases.
Joe-Little Joe, mean-tried to go
along about as he had been doing before
his bad luck, as he called it; for he
never denied a single thing. But he was
as healthy in mind as in body and he
felt that if Maggy and the other Joe
could do we'll, so far as hc was con-
cerned, they were welcome to do so. In
deed, he was better friend to them than
Jim Hobby, Big Joe's older brother,
whom Maggy had cast aside also and
who in pet went off and married Mandy
Brake, who wasn't us pretty as Maggy
and had rather poor health besides.
And they did do well that is moder-
ately well. If Big Joe's industry, man.
agement and prudence had correspondent
with his physical proportions, they
would have done splendidly. AS it was,
out of the good piece of ground which
they owned, they made quite enough to
live on, and perhaps trihe over; but
not nigh what Little Joe, who continued
to live with his mother, contrived to put
aside yearly for rainy days.
The two families lived only q mile
apart, and visiting continued to be kept
up the same as if nothing had happened.
In decent time after the birth of their
baby, Little Joe went over there and
handed around his congratulations again.
When the baby was named jos he
had to congratulate again; and he did so,
like the man he was. 1t may have seemed
to him somewhat monotonous whenever
he was there that the father was ever
lastingly saying that in some points, in
deed in almost every single blessed point,
he had not doubt that that baby was
ahead of anything of its age that could
be found in the whole State, let alone the
county.
"Why, Joe" he said, moro times than
his nearer could recall, "Maggy'll tell
you herself that sometimes | have to
loose my muls from the plough half an
hour before the dinner-horn blows, /
want to see him so bad. Look &C here,
Joe," he said nigh as many times to the
baby, "you know who that is sitting in
that chair? You don't? Why, that's
your cousin Joe, same name as you. Not
named after him exactly, but oil the same
Ask Cousin Joe if he don't wish he had a
Joe like you"
AT such times Maggy smiled little
scold; but it did no good. He would 60
ON about it, and keep at it, not oven
stopping at the dinner-table, occasionally
getting up and making Little Joe gctup,
repair TO the bed or the cradle whereon
that baby was lying, and note how, when
he was not growing he would be trying
just for the fun of it, to ram his fists OF
the coverlet into his ever-open mouth.
And then sometimes he would crown al
by crying to the youngster about thus:
"Going to be big man some day
aren't you?-a heap bigger than Cousin
Joe."
Such things he did often, not from any
thought of malice towards his cousin, but
out ofs>Srre exuberance of the conscious.
ness of bs,l superiority TO him. Little
Joe endured il all, and did what he could
in simple ways to help them along. Once,
when the baby was thoughtto be danger.
ously sick, he went there at nights, and
while the father slept, watched with the
mother during the silent hours. Before
Big Joe was awake next morning he
would be gone TO his work. During thai
time Jim Hobby never once came there
His wife did, and wanted to help; but
Moggy, knowing that she was not strong
enough to do any good, thanked her ant
sent her home.
One would think that such as tina
ought always TO come to an end. Some
| times IL does, as in this case it did. Early
in August, when the baby was only {
few weeks old, Big Joe got sick himself
People said it was from having had toe
much Fourth of July. Whatever wa
the cause, no sort of medicine, olt
womens nor doctors, could cure him
and SO he died, leaving .Maggy poor
lonesome widow. With her baby sh'
moved back TO her mothers, and IL wa
not so very long before she began t
look as bright as ever, and perhaps SOM
prettier.
could not undertake to soy exactl.
how Little Joe fek on the occasion o
his cousins death; but no said and h
did what was becoming,-no more
no less. He helped to put him ava,
deceAtly, and then helped Maggy to d
what was to be done before she could &c
back TO her native place. As for tn