Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-05-13

pinched for possession unlimbered them
selves in the presence of little Abel and
reached out their long fingers yearningly |
and caressingly toward the little child.
Then the hoarse voice would growl
salutation that was full of tenderness,
for it came straight from the old mans |
heart; only, had you not known how
much he loved the child, you might
have thought otherwise, for the old
mans voice was always hoarse and dis
cordant, and that was why they called
him Old Growly. But what proved his
love for that puny babe was the fact that
every afternoon when he came home
from the factory Old Growly brought his
little boy a dime; and once, when the
little fellow had fever on him from
teethmg, Old Growly brought him dol
lar Next day the tooth came through
and the fever left him, but you couldn't
make the old man believe but what it
was the dollar that did it all. That was
natural, perhaps, for his life had been
spent in grubbing ormoney, and he had
not the soul to see that the best and
sweetest things in human life are not to
be had by riches alone.
As the doctor had in one way and an
other intimated would be the case the
child did not wax fat and vigorous.
Although Old GYowly did not seem to
see the truth, little Abel grew older only
to become what the doctor had foretold
"a cripple. A weakness OF the spine
was developed, "a malady that dwarfed the
child's growth, giving to his wee face
pinched, starved look, warping his ema-
ciated body and enfeebliDg his puny
limbs, while at the same time it quickened
the intellectual faculties to degree OF
precocity. And SO two and three and
our years went by, little Abel clinging
to life with pathetic heroism and Old
Growly loving that little cripple with all
the violence of his selfish nature. Never
once did it occur to the father that the
child might die, that deaths seal was al
ready set upon the misshapen little body;
on the contrary Old Growly's thoughts
were constantly of little Abel's famous
future, of the great fortune he was to fall
heir to, of the prosperous business career
he was to pursue, of the influence he
was to WELD in the world--of dollars,
dollars, millions of them which little
Abel was sometime to possess; these
were old Growly's dreams, and he loved
to dream them.
Meanwhile the world did we'll by the
old man despising him, undoubtedly,
for his avarice and seltishness, but con-
stantly pouring wealth, and more wealth,
and evermore wealth into his Golfers. AS
for the old man, he cared not what the
world thought or said, 50 long as it paid
tribute to him; he wrought on as of old,
industriously, shrewdly, hardly but with
this new purpose: To make his little boy
happy and great with riches.
TOYS and picture books were vanities
in which Old Growly never INDUCED; 10
have expended farthing for chattels OF
that character would have seemed to Old
Growly like sinful extravaganza. The
few playthings which little Abel had
were such as his mother surreptitiously
bought; the old man believed that the
, child should be imbued with a proper
! regard for the value of money from the
t very start, so his presents were always
cash in hand. and he bought large til
bank for little Abel aud taught the
child how to put the copper and siive
t pieces into it. and he labored diligentl!
2 to impress upon the child of how grea
benefit that same money would be t
| him by and by. Just picture to your
E self, it YOU can, that fond, foolish OLE
8 man seeking to teach this lesson to tina
d wan-eyed, pinched- faced little cripple
G But little Abel took it all very seriously
r and was so apt a pupil that Old Growl
f made great Joy and was wont to rub hi
| bony hands gleefully and say to him
/ self: "He has great genius this DO
S of mine-great genius for finance"
!. But on day, coming from his factory
4 Old Growly was stricken with horror
t find that during his absence from HON
e a great change had come upon his chile
d The doctor said it was simply the pre-
e gress of the disease; that twas a mary
IL that little Abel had held out so long
II that from the moment of his birth Il
seal of death had been set upon him
that cruel malady which had drawn h
:. face and warped his body and limb
e Then all at once Old Growly's eyt
v bocneu 10 U6 Opeucu W lno eiut"i a.
y like a lightning flash it came to him tn
: perhaps his pleasant dreams which !
4 had dreamed of his child's future couI
e never be realized. 1t was bitter avail
N ening, yet amid it all the old man WI
Ie full of hope, determination and batti
j. He had little faith in drugs and nursin
d and professional skill he remembers
d that upon previous occasions cures hi
1t been wrought by means of money; tee
le had been brought through, the pangs
IS collie beguiled, and numerous other a
st ments to which infancy is heir had
u the same specific been batfled. So no
re Old Growy set about wooing his lit
ir boy from the embrace of death-soug
!" TO coax him back to health with none
a and the dimes became dollars, al
d the tin bank was like to bur
I Of fullness. But little Abel droop'
and dropped, and he lost
el interest in other things, al
"a he was content to lie drooping-eye al
as listless, in his mothers arms all day.
Or last the little flame went out with hard
" so much as a hutter and the hope of {
a house Of Dunklee was dissipated forev'
lie But even in those last moments Of {
is little cripple's suffering the father stru
is glcd to call back the old look into {
Of fading eyes aud the old smile into t