Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1901-08-29
It'd
by JENNIE DAVIS BURTON.

NNNNNNNNNNNANNNEAO ~
there. Ye have them betther disthri-
| buted here, and it's a fine country,
though the things do grow small he
| decided applovingly, when the waste
OF his efforts was pointed out TO him.
1t would appear that the Mulligans
| had drifted all over the West in an
ainiess fashion, "saking health and
| bettherment," as Tid expressed it, till
the death of the father left his mother
| free to return "for the making Of me-"
he confided to Mr.. Kane.
Sure, lad nades to be looking up
| to good man, me mother says, and
| it's a POWER of t'achin' I'll made to
come up to me name, / do be think
| in"
The amusement that Mr. Kane de-
rived from the glorified ideal upon
which It'd was basing the formation
of his character gave way sometimes
to fleeing wish that he lsad culti-
waited more of the virtues which Tid
credited him with possessing. There
are drawbacks to being held as little
less than a saint by even an ignorant
| Irish boy. Suppose, now, that It'd
could look beneath the surface and see
the true state of the man within him.
| how would the revelation affect the
lads moral growth?
Mr.. Kane shrugged his shoulders
and threw off his uneasiness. 1t was
by no choice of his that he had been
| held up as a model Let the effects of
| the disillusionment fall where they be-
| longed. 1t was not likely that he was
| going to change his business methods,
his sharp dealing, his keen seizure of
apparent advantages. simply to spare
| the tender susceptibilitias of this small
vagrant; nevertheless the thought of
| TIA was at the bottom Of more than
cne reform that he made in these
| days.
Meantime It'd was cultivating a ten
| der heart among other things, and
when he had the misfortune to set
| his foot unawares On toad one day,
he was the more hurt of the two.
'rd no more scrunch the crature,
and it sitting by to do me a good turn,
| than you'd squeeze a tenant, SIR he
| protested, remorsefully.
There are some tenants that need
tlAe thumbscrews put on them. Tid."
"Of course. just as there are pertaty-
| bugs and cutworms and squash beetles
| to clane out. It's fine thing to have
| the head to pick AMI choose amongst
| them as weed out the docks and lave
the cabbages, to hould the helpin'
| IN lra
| the cowld back on the undesarvin." :"
I'm feared I'll be long learnin' all that
| from you, SIR
"Oh. you aspire to a share in the
management of the tenants, too?" in
| Quired Mr. Kane, with that sarcastic
accent which was quite thrown away
upon Tid.
I'm studying hard to be fit to go in
the office come fall, when you'll not
be nading me in the garding,' admit
ted It'd, modestly. "I'll be worth me
keep there outside of me schoolin',
will that. ye'll see.'
"Hum-um-m." That It'd was acting
like a prickly bur on his conscience,
the real estate man knew. and the far
posed move rather alarmed him.
Hadn't he closed up the typhoid well
and drained Ague Alley and given a
contract for rebuilding Ramshackle
Row-all goodpaying investments. to
be sure, and much-needed reforms
simply and solely through the quick
ened moral responsibility that the boy
had reused in him?
IF this thing goes on he said to
himself, 'Tll be renewing the Taft
mortgage and letting the Hope farm
slip through my fingers. It's sheer i'm
becility on my part. Who wants an
inconveniently active conscience in
these days? I'll throw off the yoke be-
fore it fastens tighter. I'll discharge
It'd and send the Mulligans packing. y
But to look into Tid's trustful eyes
and make this decision known was
more than Mr.. Kane cared to do at
that moment. 1t might be better to
talk the matter out with Tid's mother,
he concluded. A little bribe. now, to
persuade her to move on, say, without
betraying his part in the transaction
woald make everything smooth and
easy
Mr.. Kane had not seen Mrs. Multi
gan. It'd had caught his fancy, but he
had felt sure that the mother would
be a bore, ana had avoided the house
Well, they had transformed the desc
late shanty into rather picturesque
spot by the vines they had trained
over it, and the woman displayed some
of Tid's own confidence in receiving
him.
Sure felt yez comm, SIR" she ex
planned. BE sated, Place I'd pass
the chair if l could step foot unlel
me, but it was the Lords mercy thai
| kept on me legs till We r'ached ye