Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1897-12-30
THE CAMEO RING.
BY BERT FOSTER.
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live told Joe Hall to come over ana
help you tomorrow Leonard
remarked Mr.. Ashton one evening at
the tea table. Hell be here by five
o'clock" he said.
"What did you do that for, pat" de-
manded Leonard, with whine, not at
all pleased by the information. I'VE
don't want any towns poor helping U.s.
And anyway, we can do it all oalr-
selves, promise YOU
ooh, | know you youngsters, and
lust about how much huskin' you'll
do" said good-natured Mr.. Ashton.
with a chuckle. You'll get tired OF
it b'fore the evenings half over. And
as for Joe's bein' towns poor" con-
tinued the farmer. "what if heis? He's
q smart youngster and knows how to
work. He'll do twice as much as any
Of the rest of you, I'll warrant
"Itll Just spoil the whole thing."
cried Len, almost whimpering' u
don't want him. I'd rather not have a
huskin' at all on my birthday than
have Pauper Joe hangin' round"
"There, that'll do!' interrupted Mr.
Ashton, sternly. Don't begin to
SWIVEL, nor don't you let me hear you
talkin' that way no more" he added,
with more force than elegance OF ex-
preston. "Joe is comm to help to-
morrow, and he is goin' to be treated
Just as well as anybody else Ii he
isn't, you'll hear from me-"
Mr.. Ashton was a well,to-dO farmer
in fact he was the weahhiest man in
the township-and Len did about as he
pleased in most things. He had more
pocket money at circus time than any
other boy who attended the Five Forks
school, and wore better clothing.
Five Forks was well off the railroad
and far from any city. The township
possessed no poorhouse, and when
some seven years before, a wandering
emigrant family had been overtaken
byfeverwhile passing through the town
ship and had all succumbed to the raw
ages of the disease but one youngster Of
eight years, the town fathers were per
picked to know what to do with the lit
tie charge thus left upon their hands
Finally one neighbor agreed to take
the boy and "give him his keep fol
what chores he could do
But little Joe proved to be able tt
"earn his keep" from the first. There
was not lazy bone in his body, and the
farmer who had at first taken the wal
in doubt found that he had made an ex
cellent bargain.
The farmers had taken good deal Of
interest in Joe, looking upon him as
sort of protege of the entire township
and nobody had thought OF calling hin
a pauper until after the school was
established in the log schoolhouse a
Five Forks. Joe's guardian sent hin
regularly, and the boy was as quick a
his lessons as he was at work. Before
long it became apparent that he wa
the smartest child on the prairie, rapid
ly overtaking and passing even the old
er scholars in his studies.
Then it was that the finger OF scorI
began to be pointed at the waif. TIT
boys and girls who found themselye'
his interiors in mental powers soothet
their wounded pride by calling hin
''pauper" and towns poor"
But Mr.. Ashton was one Of those witt
appreciated youngJ Joe Hall'sgood quail
tiles too highly to allow his anxiety 70
his own children's well-being to duh hi
kindness to the waif. During the year
which had passed since Joe's coming t
Five Forks two or three other need,
bodies had come upon the township TO
their support, and had been sent t
live with Joe's master. But the plac
was seldom called the poorhouse, no
were the old people who here found
pleasant home in their old age GALE
paupers.
II was Leonard Ashton who had real