Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1903-07-10
Career of His Fathers Son.
By L. PARRY TRUSc0TT.


W
band. of whom she had plainly stood in
considerable awe, before dying naa
considerably bequeathed to her mis-
living image"-in slightly more man
aaRable form. Like most women, MIS-
Hayes was prone. to concentration, es-
pecially In matters of the heart, ana
two So exactly alike might have proved
an embarras de richesse. But left Win
only one, and that small one, she re-
esta blished herself in her native VII
lage and contentedly applied herseH 10
the washtub and the ironing board Tor
the maintenance of herself and the
little Johnnie until he should be OF an
age to realize her great expectations OF
him and prove himself the man his
father was.
"Just about clever scholard, too,'
explained Mrs. Hayes to any one who
cared to listen.
None of her friends and relations
had seen this wonderful man of hsrs
in the flesh; she had met him in Lon
don while in the service there, and had
only returned to the country at his
death. But they were not allowed to
forget him, and the tale CT his numer-
Gus attachments was told and told
again. He had left only very few
pounds worth of furniture behind him,
but, according to his wife, he had been
most too clever" for money making
one of those men so topheavy with
brains that they cannot conveniently
Stoop to pick up a mere weekly wage.
And, then, he had died quite young, be-
| fore he had been given his chance"
A common laborer farm hand, keeps
himself from the time he is released
from school, but it is notorious that
men of talent take longer to start
themselves in independence; some
times the twenties see them still only
thinking of doing it, the thirties sur
prise them with the task .unaccom-
| plished. Every one knows that brains
take longer to develop than industry
or at any rate, all Mrs. Hayes's in
Inmates knew it, having had the theory
set forth to them in homely language
many times. And he never had his
chance, you understand me, = she would
end; was just snapped off like bud
as the frost catches" Aag
But Johnnie, lucky boy, Joined his
mothers robust constitution to his
fathers intellect, so she averred and
the constitution, at any rate, seemed
quite in evidence And If they look
to see what his father looked like, let
them look at Johnnie, said his mother,
his living pictured"
| Judged thus by Johnnie, his father
seems to have had sturdy, stumpy
figure. round, blunt featured face.
powerful white teeth, a shock of stub
by, sun bleached hair and prominent
light blue eyes that were wont to stare
unblinkingly during a conversation at
whatever object first met their gaze
AL this added to curious reluctance
to say word mere than the absolutely
necessary. A common enough type in
that neighborhood, yet not even that
neighborhood's preconceived idea of a
son of genius.
But, if any smiled, they were kindly
folk and took care to do it only be-
hind the mothers back.
During Johnnie's passage from
heavy baby into a healthy, hearty boy,
Mrs Hayes was spared half the pangs
Of motherhood. She gave away the last
Of his petticoats without sigh; %with
her own hands, to an accompaniment
Of smiles instead of tears, she cut close
the mop of hair which had always re-
fused to respond to her efforts to en-
lice it into curls. She was in such
hurry for him to attain mans estate,
and to show forth to a wondering
world the heritage his father had left
might through his early years. John
ME never grew out of his clothes like
other boys. He was forced to turn them
up, the trousers half way to his knees,
and the sleeves to his elbows, before he
could move in them, and they were al
ways beyond patching before his limbs
overlook them. When he was five years
Did she publicly announced her inten-
ton of calling him John" as a weight
Ter and more fitting name. But he was
so Enthusiastically Johnnie that no one
| could remember to follow her example,
and half her time she only managed to
end sentence started too nimbly with
4 Johnnie" that had slipped out"
AS soon as he could toddle Johnnie
| went to school, and continued to go
daily until the extreme limit of age
when schooling is compulsory on the
youth of England. Once laboriously es-
5ablished in standard" he showed
a marked Discrimination to leave it, and
the utmost prodding never advanced
him beyond the borderland of the
fourth" But his mother blamed the
school and her want of means to send
him to a better Cnes not Johnnie OF
course, what any yokel learned would
not be the learning to tempt her hus-
bands son. Johnnie received subtle
battery from her instead Of blows for
his slow progress. He met it, as he
net most things. with the impeaetra-
Bile stare of his light blue eyes. HIS
opinion OF himself would have inter-
ested good many people by this time,
but his silence remained unbroken on
that point as on so many others.
There followed the usual little diff
Guilty in fitting the village genius with
a means of earning livelihood. Mrs.
Hayes refused to contemplate anything
whereby honest sweat" might be
caused to flow from her sons low. hair
matched brow. Most of the men about
her worked cut of doors, or at some
humble trade, and nothing Of that
KIND, she had decided years ago, would
do for Johnnie. With great difficulty
and some delay. she obtained him en-
ployment at the village grocar's-just
while he looked about him. He was to
keep the books as his chief occupa-
ton, and she made great deal CONVEX
sationally of the glory of those books.
Johnnie made very little of them ex-
cept to blot them freely. He seemed
i all the while he sat over them to be
struggling hard to do something re-