Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1895-08-03
after sll; and rm going TO keep 1t up,

The. summer afternoon passed away;
II was five minutes OF six, and the
| children clamored for dinner. Rob had
not put in an appearance, though Es-
theirs fingers were giving the finishing
touches to the table. The minutc-hand
seemed to speed over the face of the
cuckoo clock; she felt as if 1t wore
trying TO cheat Rob, and looked
nnxiously down the path, hoping to
see the boyish figure dash in sight.
"Coolloo! coollool" began the old
clock, triumphantly. Still no Rob.
Esther was tompted to have Jane de-
lay the ringing of the dinner bell, but
restrained the impulse. 1t would be
violating the compact, and, besides,
Rob must learn self-rcliance, and cx-
! pect the consequences of his own heed
lessness. So the dinner bell added its
voice to that OF the coolxoo clock, and
1t was a funeral knell, as we'll as
business-like summons to dinner, for
1t tolled the untimely death of Esther's
little project. When the family assem-
bled, there was an empty chair at the
table.
"Oh, dear!" walled Sue; and "Iow
mcan!' added Freddy, giving the table
leg vicious kick; for you see, Rob had
indiscrectly confided to them his secret
the day before, and they were looking
forward to the caudy-pull as much as
he. AS for Esther, she was thoroughly
disappointed in Rob, and she had be-
gun to have such hope of him; it was
too bad.
Dinner was half over when Rob,
flushed and breathing heavily, entered
the room. Such chorus of reproaches
greeted him from the children that
papa and Esther forbore to add their
voices
you keep still till your opinions
asked, said Rob, goaded into this re-
proof by the children's gratuitous crit
icisms of his hardness
Eyes, children, be quiet" said Mr.
Jordan. You speak rather roughly,
my boy; but know that you are dis
appointed, and your sister and I arc
almost equally So"
Rob attacked the beefsteak in ST.
lence, and the rest of the meal was a
quiet one. Esther fingered after 1t
was over, half expecting some explana-
ton; but, beyond the remark that he
stayed at Joe's longer than he had In
tended, Rob vouchsafed none.
1t was the next morning that Joe
Simmons came over to the side porch
where Esther was sitting in her favor
lite place behind the vines.
Good morning, joe"
Good morning, Miss Esther. l.
er-"
II suppose You are after Rob. Ill
speak to him."
mo, no." Joe hastily interposed. "I
was looking for you" He broke off a
morning glory which had gone to
sleep under the suns too ardent atten-
tions, and ground its purple juice into
his fingers. Esther, from long expert
ence with boy ways, knew a disclosure
of some kind was coming.
"Sit down." she said, pleasantly
"You have something to tell me, and I
want to hear it"
"Well-er-Bob was over to my house
yesterday afternoon, you know. We
had big time out in the barn, and l.
I kinder forgot about the baby. Ma
and pa had gone out, you know, and
left him to me-"
L tlCob 1Ou IL piece OF
gross neglect on the part of Mr.. and
Mrs Simmons to intrust so precious q
charge to SO youthful an older broth
sr, it is we'll to state that the infant in
question was sturdy young creature
of two years.)
"He-er"-another lunge at the morn
lng-glory vine-''got a-hold of some
green apples, and after awhile he
same out to us in the barn, yelling
lwfully. First we didn't know what
was the matter; but we went into the
house and saw the pieces that he hadn't
eaten, and knew something must be
lone right off quick. Cholera morbus,
you know, is SO awful dangerous l
couldn't think of thing to give him
but whisky; knew they gave that in
lots of sudden cases; so while l held
Alfie Bob went after it."
"My goodness! wliskyw said Esther,
her startled imagin alton picturing her
innocent brother ma king his way be-
hind Objectionable screens II hope he
thought to go to q drug store"
"0h, ycs'm," answ cred Joe, ''he did.
1t was bad ehoug to go there after it.
I'm temperance, you know-belong to
the loyal legion; but knew the baby'd
got to have something. The clerk
told Rob he could get something better
than whisky and gave him bottle OF
medicine. We gave the baby dose of
it, and after awhile he went to sleep.
Ma said Il told her all about it this
morning) that 1t couldn't have been
the apple that hurt him; he couldn't
have felt it so quick, and besides, il
was ripper than it looked. But l tell
you was scared at the time.
"What came round for, Miss Esther
was to tell you that this is what made
Rob so late homo yestcrd ay. made
him promise not DO say anything about
what kept him; but forgot then about
the candy.pulling (you know Rob told
me before, that he expected to have
one). didn't find out till this morning
that he was late for dinner. | asked
Freddy. Ma said l oughtn't to make
! 1T 1 "a. r