The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1902-12-25
T'iI-D......7.
BY JENNIE DAVIS BURTON.

when he had the misfortune to set his
! foot unawares on toad one day, he
was the more hurt of the two
I'D no more Scrunch the creature,
and it sitting by to do me good turn,
then you'd squeeze 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 clean out. It's fine thing to have
the head to pick and choose amongst
them as l weed out the docks and lave
the cabbages, to hould the helpin' hand
to the wake and nadey, and turn the
cowld back on the undesarvin." I'm
feared I'll be long learnin' all that from
you, SIR
ooh, you aspire to share in the man.
agement of the tenants, too?" inquired
Mr.. Kane, with that sarcastic accent
which was quite thrown away on lid.
'Im studying hard to be fit to 60 in
the office come fall, when you'll not be
nading me in the garding," admitted
/ It'd, modeStly. '1'll be worth me keep
there outside of me schoolin', l will
that, yen see.'
Hum um-m!" That It'd was acting
like prickley burr on his conscience,
the real estate man knew, and the far
reaching consequences of this proposed
move rather alarmed him. Hadn't he
closed up the typhoid well and drained
Ague Alley and given contract for re-
building Ramshackle Row-all good
paying investments, to be sure, and
much-needed reforms-simply and solely
through the quickened moral response
bility that the boy had reused in him?
eff this thing goes on" he said to
himself, 'I'll be renewing the Taft
slip through my fingers. It's sheer i'm
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"
But to look into lids truthful 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 lids mother,
he concluded. A little bride, 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. Mulligan.
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 desOlate
shanty into rather picturesque spot
by the vines they had trained over it,
and the woman displayed some of
lids own confidence in receiving him.
Sure, l felt yeZ comm, SIR she ex-
planned. ''Be stated, place. I'd pass
the chair if / could step foot under
me, but it was the Lords mercy that |
kept on me legs till we r'ached We, that
it was, and I've some use of me hands
still, SO that l do dale wild them, and
l can hitch me chair about while l do
me chores quite nate and convenient.
sakln' me -regardin' lid is it, then?
couldn't take afther you stronger if
he wur your own blood born
1t struck coldly home to Mr.. kane's
understanding that his task was none
the easier for coming here. This little
helpless woman, with her useless feet
and crippled hands, all gnarled and
twisted with rheumatism, and her
wlStful face beaming with tremulous
pride, was scarcely Il better subject for
his retaliation than It'd himself would
have been.
Nettled and disconnected but unwill-
ing to retreat, he demanded, sharply:
How did you come by that ridiculous
notion of training the boy after me?
Wasn't there any better model to be
found.'
"Sure, I'd want no betther if I'd a
hunder' to choose FROM" averred the
little woman, stoutly, but I'd none
other fit to pattern him by but yersif,
that's the truth. You see, it wor this
way. There wor me brothers and me
cousins in the ould country did be
breaking their heads in their fights;
and there was Mulligan got so in the
way of batting people when he wor on
the police that he cudn't lave off the
thrick while he lived, and there was
you with a good worrud to the fore,
and a joke when poor garrul blunder-
ed, and gintleman's way, whether it
was to the high or the low-and it's the
way that comes aisy to It'd now that
he has We before the two eyes of him."
said lids mother, proudly, while Mr..
Kane groaned in spirit.
How could he make these people un-
derstand that their attitude toward him
was both unwarranted and unWelcome?
Why should he consent to saddle him.
self with them? 1t was only his fool
ish good nature that had got him into
this scrape. They had no real claim on
him.
cit isn't livery fine giptleman that I'd
pattern him by, that's the TRUTH" went
on Mrs. Mulligan. There's thin, if
you'd behave it, wud see but the i'm
pydince and niver the honor of having
poor by thrained afther thin. Like
as if It'd wud be walkin' on the creep
ing things wild no thought for their
hurts, that's how some wud be lookin'
at the poor people that's to do thin the
good turn"
ooh, l assure you that l feel the
honor of it!' murmured Mr.. Kane iron
ically; but the struggle to express her
self filled the Woman'S mind, and she
went on without noticing the inter-
ruption.
'But if he thramped thin all out,
he'd be thrampin' on the good frinds of
him, and thrampin' out the tinderness
as wud make the good man of hissilf,
and niver know that he wor more hurt
by his hadelessness than thin. That's
why I'm thankful to the Lord that I'd
the right kind to pattern him by" con-
cluded the woman fervently; and no
light retort fell from Mr.. Kane's lips