Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-08-27

lhC llOh-ulnCo. II HlC On Oil CuSlnt |
or go into the powder-mills or Ill work
on a farm; but no, thank you, no more
school for mel"
But, Stephen" urged his mother,
you can't do any of those things sue
cessfully without an education"
Capt. Banks did"
do you want to be like Capt.
Banks?"
"Well, not Just like him." Stephen
admitted. 81 don't intend to drink or
bluster around the way he does; but
he makes piles of money. He boasts
that he never went to school a day in
his life"
WELL" said Mrs. Ward, mo one who
had ever listened for five minutes to his
conversation would think of disbeliev-
ing him."
His mother coaxed, his father
scolded, and Eleanor upbraided him,
but all to NO purpose. Stephen started
ostensibly for school, to keep peace in
the family, but in reality spent all
school hours in the woods. as he frank
ly confessed when he returned at night.
The boy had suddenly developed an
obstinacy as appalling as it was sur
prising. His parents did not know
what to do. Stephen was too old for
corporal punishment, and he would not
listen to reason.
1t was at this juncture that Grand
ma Ward rose to the occasion.
Let the lad alone" said she. You're
not using the right sort of bait. He's
got a streak of his Grandfather Ward
in him. His grandfather was so OBJ
stinate chat he would have planted his
apple trees upside down if anybody
had told him not to. 1t took me Is
years to learn to manage Alonzo Ward,
but when | once learn a thing | don't
forget it. Leave that boy to me for a
month; but whatever you do, don't let
him suspect that I'm paying any extra
attention to him.
Grandma Wards Don was on the
ground floor of the rambling, old-fash-
toned house. She was too stout to
climb stairs easily, and her thought
full daughter-in-law had made the large
room a very comfortable spot.
The elder Mrs. Ward never objected
to Stephens trash" as his mother
called the curiously shaped bits of
fungi, the specimens of mineral, the
agates and insects that the lad was
constantly collecting. He never felt
that his own room was entirely safe
from invasion. The housemaid's de-
v~astating broom had more than once
played havoc with his hoard; but he
had implicit confidence in his grand
mother. His choicest treasures occu-
pied the shelf over the CRATE, and nc
one knew how frequently she was
obliged to disentangle her knitting
from the ribs of his precious, but evil
smelling, s~keletonized trout.
Stephen, with no school work to do
fell into the habit of spending many
of his evenings on his grandmother's
hearth-rug. 1t was almost dark by five
o'clock, and the boy usually reached
=, home at that hour. He had always
been an obliging youth, except in the
one matter of going to school. Wher
, his grandmother, whose eyes seemed
suddenly to have failed, asked him tt
! write some important business letters
for her, incompetent Stephen corr
piled with the utmost cheerfulness.
The concern with the outside worlt
that his grandmother seemed all a
once to possess came as something o
f a surprise to Stephen. He had had M
idea that the enterprising old lad.
, had so many and such varied inter
ests.
Stephen was required to order seed
from the catalogues, to inquire into tn
0 details Of various projects advertised
a in the magazines, to write for infor
nation regarding certain stocks, bond
and parcels of land that existed onl,
O in his grandmother's vivid magma
ton. The unsuspicious boy neve
e knew how many of the laboriousl,
O written letters were mailed, to quot
Grandma Wards quaint phrase, gu.
the chimney to Santa Claus" Ste
! phen wrote them all in good faith. III
n patiently and conscientiously added u
d long columns Of figures, looked up i.
the dictionary the words he was unabl
h to spell-their number vas truly ap
h palling-and began, just as Grandm
Ward intended he should, to realiz
Il his limitations. Up to this point sh
had said little, but finding her un
e conscious pupil in a receptive mood on
day, she confided some of her trouble
d to him.
"You see," said she, apologetically
n I'D write those letters myself, but
( isn't only my eyes that trouble me
it's my lack of learning. Business lei
tiers have to be done sort of p%articulal
My writings terribly poor; l don't a
Is ways know how to spell; I'm not SUI
i of my grammar, and I never coul
figure well enough to come within
g dozen row Of apple-trees Of bein
"a right. I didn't have a chance to lear
o. those things when | was young, an
le nobody knows what a differeno
they've made all through my life.
is "A body that can't figure can't d
n anything. It's surprising, when yo
le come to think about it, what a quaint
Is ty Of figuring there is in everything
's Then there's grammar. If you don
feel sur Of your grammar, there al
le times when you don't dare open vol
D. mouth for fear Of shocking your relf
tons. Many's the time I've just kel
10 my mouth shut when | was just burs
&c ing to say something, but didn't hay
u the grammar to say it with. Many's tt
Ut time I've had things that were we
= worth saying, but I didn't dare SO
III them for fear of making some mistal