Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-11-10

pipe was resumed with a would-be
SprightlineSs in which | thought I
found a note c. anxiety.
His audacity saved him. Whatever
the man had been, he interested me,
and, as it so happened that a small
garden which is a hobby with my
girls and myself stood at that time
badly in need of trimming, it ended
in my offering him the job.
He jumped at it eagerly, and did It
so well that when it was finished T
found more work for him. on which
he seemed to thrive, and, if not
particularly grateful, gave me cause
to congratulate myself that a good
turn had not been thrown away.
Then, one day, he failed to turn
up, and in a little while my family
had dubbed the man behind me-"
But six months later l met him again,
loo4,ng all the worse for the interval.
He was shutting along a path in
Kensington Gardens, and l came upon
him suddenly from the side.
WE'LL" | said.
He started, and jumped at once
upon the fiction Of the sea. "A man re-
turns to it" he said; cant help HIM
self. l shipped in a tramp" C'tramp"
was good), "and got wrecked in the
Mediterranean. There's some money
OF mine at the bottom of it now. /
was just coming along to see you:"
and, rogue or no rogue, his jauntinesS
was so sad to see that l took him
along with me and gave him a feed
and an odd job or two, on which he
seemed to thrive again for a while, as
before. l have never met a cleverer
man with his hands. He seemed
failed to lay a finger on the flaw in
him. For flaw there always is in a
broken life, and that a pretty big one.
But here, as | say, was quite at a
loss. Then one of the servants came
to me. ooh, please, SIR she said,
those cases downstairs"
We'll, what about them?" said l.
An old friend had recently sent me
some very fine Jamaica rum. The
case containing it stood at the end of
a passage in the basement, and | had
that morning given orders that my
friend of the omnibus should open
them.
well, sir, the man Williams; will
you come and see him." said the girl,
with a suppressed giggle.
| marched down.
The man behind me" was sitting
upon one of the cases in the sleeves of
shirt I had given him, handling a
hammer and chisel with a somewhat
wild deXterity. Over a second case
was flung his coat. A strong smell
of rum filled the passage. For
moment l was puzzled, then the state
of things flashed upon me.
Bit cold without your coat, isn't
it?" 1 said.
"Noratall, noratall; warm work."
he replied, raising his hammer.
You'd better put it on" | said with
meaning.
He rose somewhat unsteadily, made
for his coat and lifted it, revealing as
he did so a bottle skillfully smashed
across the neck and nearly half
empty
"Harra misfortune t. break one" he
explained, grabbing his coat and
nimbly putting himself between me
and the back door. CAPITAL SPIRITS"
he added when he thought he was
SAFE, but, unfortunately for himself,
he tripped the same moment over a
step, and it was not for nearly five
minutes that he left the house, dur
ing which time I once again expert
enced the sensation of requiring a
heavier boot
/ have never seen him since, but
my girls sometimes allude to him even
now as "the man in front of me