Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-10-02
It'd.
BY JENNIE DAVIS BURTON
It'd
BY JENNIE DAVIS BURTON,

1t would appear that the Mulligans
had drifted all over the West in an
aimless fashion, "saking health and
bettherment," as It'd 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, a lad nades to be looking up
to a good man, me mother says, and
| it's q power Of t'achin' I'll made to
come up to NE name, l do be think
| in"
The amusement that Mr.. Kane de-
rived from the glorifled ideal upon
which It'd was basing the formation
of his character gave way sometimes
| to a fleeting wish that he lsad culti-
waited more of the virtues which It'd
credited him with possessing. There
are drawbacks to being held as little
+ less than q 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 susceptibiiities of this small
! l,1< 10 30
| It'd was at the bottom of more than
one 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 cn a toad one day,
he was the more hurt of the two.
"Id no more scrunch the crature,
| and it sitting by to do me good turn,
| than you'd squeeze a tenant, sir" he
protested, remorsefully.
There are some tenants that need
the thumbscrews put on them. It'd"
"Of course. just as there are pertaty-
| bugs and cutworms and squash beetles
| to clane out. It's a fine thing to have
the head to pick and choose amongst
them as weed out the docks and lave
the cabbages, to hould the helpin'
| hand to tlte wake and nadey, and turn
the cowld back on the undesarvn."
I'm feared III be long learnn' all that
from you. SIR
ooh, 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 It'd.
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. yell see.'
"Hum-um-m!" That It'd was acting
| like a pricllly bur on his conscience,
the real estate man knew. and the far
reaching consequences of this pro-
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 good-paying 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, "Pll 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? III throw off the yoke be-
fore it fastens tighter. I'll discharge
It'd and send the Mulligans packing"
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,
would 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 bore, and had avoided the house.
| Well, they had transformed the DESC
late shanty into rather a 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. Id pass
the chair if | could step foot unler
me, but it was the Lords mercy that
| kept on me legs till we r'ached ye,
tlat it was, and I've some use of me
hands still, so that l do a dale wild
them, and | can hitch me chair about
while | 60 me chores quite nate and
convenient. 'Tis honored am to have
ye come sallin' me-regardin' Tid is
| it, then? He's a credit to yez, that he
is, sir. He couldn't take afther you
stronger if be wur your own blood
born"
1t struck coldly home to Mr.. Kane's
understanding that his task was mono
| tho eaciar for oop1iop here THE lit-