Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1892-01-29
AGAINST WIND AND TIDE
BY ANNA SHIELDS.

People in Maysville always shrugged
their shoulders when Mark Lamson was
mentioned, and usually the expressive
gesture was followed by some depreca-
ting remark.
"Comes of bad stock" old Judge Len
nox would say, in his pompous dictator
ial manner. "All the Lamsons were
worthless, and Mrs. Lamson was a
Hodge, and everybody knows what they
are"
The house in which Mark was born,
and where he scrambled up to manhood,
was large farm house, tumbling to
pieces inside, with a roof always being
patched against leaking, doors without
locks and with shaking hinges, windows
that ratified in every wind, ceilings that
dropped plaster whenever a heavy foot
shook the upper rooms and furniture in
the last stage of shabbiness. His father
and mother were slatternly in dress,
shiftless in household management, and
the handsome: bright boy was over-in-
dulged and neglected as their own indo-
lence suggested.
But Mark Lamson Inherited none of
The leading traits of his parents. Prob.
ably in some remote ancestor there was a
mixture of energy, resolution and ability
of which the Maysville gossips had never
heard, and for which they certainly gave
Mark no credit. 1t was In vain that the
Principal of the Maysyille High School
declared that Mark had graduated with
the best record he had ever given in the
school. 1t was useless for the lad HIM
self to keep his life free from blame, aud
earnestly cndeavor to do his duty.
Maysvii1e could not forget that he was
Lamson, and his mother was Hodge
-''bad stock!'
AS he passed from boyhood to man.
hood, Mark began the unequal struggle
against fate and circumstances, that was
dictated only by his own energy. His
father had been able to get bread from
the farm by lazy tillagc that gave the
bare necessities for the table; his mother
had very small income that gave the
three clothing of tie poorest description,
that Mark was not content, as they had
been, to dawdle through life and "make
out" with what they had.
And Mark, struggling to attain better
things, with only vague, undisciplined
longing for improvement, met no en-
couragement at home or abroad. He
tried to obtain a situation, but employers
were shy about giving work to Lamson; !;
he met but cool reception at the Mays
vile social gatherings, having no knowl-
edge of how to repair his own linen or
keep his poor clothing even tidy. Boy
like, he imagined new suit and gay
necktie were all-sufficient for party,
and did not heed the frayed cuffs and
broken collars at which the Maysville
bellies turned up their noses.
But, in spite of his fathers lazy COM
ments, his mothers frctful remonstrances,
Mark Lamson, finding no employment
outside, determined to see if the farm
would not find him in work.
''Oh, yes; do as you please" his
father said. sBut there is no money
for w-fangled fixings, and the land
is about worn out. Plenty of ie, to be
sure, but faint worth shucks."
So, single-handed Mark undertook the
work of bringing up the old farm. Early
and late he toilcd, repairing fences, weed
ing, picking stones, roofing out dead
stumps, preparing his land, without one
hand stretched out to help him, one voice
to wish him success. Thomas, the only
man his father employed, gave surly re-
fusal to aid, upon the ground that his
regular routine of shiftless farming took
all his time, and Mark patiently sub
mitted.
He was twenty one years old, when
into his dull, monotonous life came a new
stimulus hope, bright as vision and
almost as baseless. He fell in love lie
did not walk in cautiously, counting his
steps and weighing his chances, but he
fell in plump, suddenly, hopelessly.
There had been warm discussion nl
the Judges about inviting Mark - the
party that was to celebrate Essie's
eighteenth birthday and her final return
from boarding school. But the pet ot
the house had will of her own and q
lively recollection OF Marks handsome