Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-03-21
The World Against Him
BY WILL N. HARDEN.
copyrisn,, 1900, py
AN Kellogg Newspaper Company
CHAPTER l.

~
held forth on Sundays when the law
and the Lord prohibited work and there
was nowhere to go.
On this sultry afternoon his theme
was his own misfortune in being bur-
dcned with family that contributed
raught to his desires. He had never,
in exact words, voiced their shortcom-
lngs, but in his secret soul he would |
have had them perhaps less like him
self, certainly less like his wife, who
weighed 200 if she weighed pound.
The two girls, Mary Lou, aged is,
and Ann Josephine, 90, threatened, as
their bedslats continued to break, to
surpass their mother in the flesh they
were heir to, and in addition to this
impeachment to activity and encourager
of sloth, they had come honestly by a
combination of their fathers tow-col-
ored and their mothers red hair, which
little suited their florid compilations.
They had, also, freckles as big as peck
marks, which a diligent application of
stump water" had failed to dim.
Fanshaw had two sons. Ronald, the
eldest child, was not in the room.
David, lusty fellow built on his ia
TIERS plan, but with a more cheerful
face, was lying on the high-posted bed
in the corner of the room. He always
hurled into his fathers TRADES against
his family comments in favor OF his
brother, whom he admired intensely.
you cayn't complain of Rom he
said this afternoon, as he famed the
flies from his face with his big straw
hat lined with blue calico. He looks
after his own business. Mr.. Hague
said Saturday before last that he'd
ruther have Ron rent land from i'm
than any man in the country. He
lowed Ron paid every dollar he con-
tracted to pay an that the niggers
liked i'm so much that they'd work
twice as hard for i'm as they would for
anybody else"
"That don't do me no good" snarled
Fanshaw.
No, reckon not" admitted Dave,
but you won't ever be ashamed of
i'm, if you are of the rest of us. He's
been readin' and studyin' every spare
minute sence he was knee high to a
gras.hopper. For the last six months
Mr.. Redding, the best lawyer in Dan
ube, has been providin' i'm with books,
an my idea is that he is goin' to make
a lawyer out'n hisse'f. You cayn't
hold i'm down; he'll rise like cork;
an as fur good looks, geewhilikins!
Did ever tell you-uns what happened
at campmeetin'? l was settin' un-
| ~, ,hae
from the front last Sunday was a
week when Ron come in dyked out
in his best Sunday clothes. You ort
to a-seed how the folks turned their
heads. A young dude behind me axed
a man next to i'm who in the thunder
that was, an the fellow said he wasn't
certain, but he lowed it was some
chap visitin' at Col. Hasbrooke's from
Boston or New York. Then it was my
put in. l bent over an informed 'em
that it was Ronald Fanshaw, the old
est son of Jason Fanshaw. An you
ort to a-heerd 'em giggle. Then the
man that had aXed the question come
back at me fairly slobberin' in the
mouth to keep frum laughin' out loud.
"'You're away off, my friend seq
he; you shorely amt acquainted bout
heer Old Fanshaw is the daddy of the
sorriest layout ON the face of crea-
ton. l hain't never been to his side
show myself, but know heap O. folks
that has paid Their way an never axed
fur the money back, nuther.'
"Then jest punched my face over
to his yeer an said, / did: Il ort to
know 'im,' l says, tetchin' the butt
o my pistol. He's my brother, an
when meetin' is over mem you'll go
into the sideshow fur minute; the
tents stretched right out thar in the
bushes an the latest addition to it is
Buffalo Bill dead shot
HE wilted an got as white as the
inside of cucumber; an then the
preacher aXed every body to kneel down
and pray. l was akin the Lord to
bless my purpose when them two riz
an poled it out over the straw. half
way got up, but the preacher broke
off in his prayer an begun to talk
about the law agin disturbin' public
worship, an sunk down on my knees
an seed them two mount an gallop oil
like the woods was afire."
you ort to a-mashed Us teeth down
his throat" said Mrs. Fanshaw
"Folks has poked too much fun at us
to suit me. In war times you wouldn',
a-stood it, jade" She called her hus,
band Jade, not because he was tired
or was horse, but because it was thu
only abbreviation of the name She
knew.
An expression of hot fury lay or
Fanshaw's wrinkled face as he looked
out into the yard where half a hundred
ducks, turkeys, guinea-hens and pea
cocks were feasting on the remains Of
the watermelon the family had jus,
eaten. my Lord" he grunted, "ef
took folks to taw ever time they ioied
about you-uns, I'd have my hands full.
"Well, they'd better not let me heel
EN- THROWN off on u.s." declared Dave
and he stood up and stretched himself
"But when you come to think of it, Ror
Is SO different from the rest of us tina
it's no wonder folks take i'm for one
O. that highfalutin' crowd. 1 tell you
he's no slouch!"
| lave went OUT INTO Ine DUCK porch
where stream of water shot from
the end of hollow log into trough;
the water came from spring on hill.
side half a mile distant. The inventor OF
this crude aqueduct was Ronald Fan.
shaw; he was only boy when he con.
ceived the idea, but he gave every spare
moment to its construction. He hat
felled the trees, dug the long ditch
through the meadows and fields, take1
the level and completed what was still
considered a marvel of convenience by
the neighbors. While it was building
Jason Fanshaw had contributed many
peevish objections to the work, which
he considered a waste of time, but wher
the clear, cold water gushed out at his
door, he melted under blaze of won
der, and now no stranger ever came tt
r his house who was not shown "the wa
terworks."
"Huh," he would exclaim with pride
nobody else has got spring on hi.