Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-12-10

IKE uSFiI, line d OcNAA GO LIZ
is He looked at Jasper again, in
Well, what would you
have done?-fiddled too?'
My father, as you desire to know,
l will tell you would at once have
realized what | could and have cleared
off the debt to Mr.. Jordan
We'll, you may do that when the
day comes said the old manufacturer,
struggling his shoulders. 1t is no
thing to me what you do with the mill
and the house and the land after
am'-he turned up his eyes to the
dirty ceiling-'where the wicked cease
from fddling and no thieves break in
and steal. am not going TO pay the
miney twice over. Ny obligation ended
when the money went out of the house.
| did more than was required chastis-
cd my son for taking it. What was
seven years on Dartmoor? A fea-bite.
Under the old law the rebellious son
was stoned till he died. | suppose, now
you are hungry. Call the old crab;
kick her, pinch her, till she under
stands, and let her give you some
thing to eat There are some scraps, I
know, of veaI-pie and cold potatoes. |
think, by the way, the veal-pie is done.
Don't forget to ask a blessing be-
fore you fall-to on the cold potatoes.
Then he rubbed his forehead and
said, Stay, I'll go and rouse the old
toad myself; you stay here. You are
the best of my children. All the rest
were a bad lot-too much Of the
strange blood in them
Whilst Mr. Babb is rousing his old
housekeeper to produce some food, we
will say a few words Of the past his
tory of the Babb family.
Eve the first, Mr.. Babb's wife; had
led a miserable life. She did not
run away from him; she remained and
poured forth the fiery love of her
heart upon her children, especially on
her eldest, a daughter, Eve, TO whom
she talked of her old life-its freedom,
its happiness, its attractions. She
died of a broken spirit on the birth Of
her third son, Walter. Then Eve, the
eldest, a beautiful girl, unable to en-
dure the bad temper Of her father, the
depressing atmosphere of the house,
and the cares of housekeeping i'm
posed on her, ran away after travel
ling band of actors.
Jasper, the eldest son, grew up to
be grave and resigned. He was of
use in the house, managing it as far
as he was allowed, and helping his ia
Their in many ways. But the old man,
who had grumbled at and insulted his
wife whilst she was alive, could not
keep his tongue from the subject that
still ranked in his heart This Oc-
casioned quarrels; the boy took his
mothers side, and refused to hear his
fathers gibes at her memory. He
was passionately attached to his
brother Martin. The mother had
brought a warm, loving spirit into the
family, and Jasper had inherited much
of it. He stood as a screen between
his brother and his father, warding
Off from the former many a blow and
angry repTfmand. He did Martins
school tasks for him; he excused his
faults; he admired him for his beauty,
his spirit, his bearing, his lively talk.
There was no lad, in his opinion, who
could equal Martin; Watt was right
when he said that Jasper had contrib
uted to his ruin by humoring him, but
7 L. I1
him, and pitied him for the uncon-
geniality of his home. Martin dis
played a talent for music, and there
was an old musician at Ashburton, the
organist of the parish church, who de-
veloped and cultivated his talent, and
taught him both to play and sing. JAS
per had also an instructive love Of
and he also learned the violin
and surpassed his brother, who had
not the patience to master the first
and who preferred to sing,
The father, perhaps, saw in Martin
a recrudescence of the old proclivities
of his mother; he tried hard to inter
fere with his visits to the musician
and only made Martin more set on his
studies with him. But the most i'm
placabIe, incessant state of war was
that which ragged between the old ia
Their and the youngest son, Walter, or
Watt as his brothers called him. This
boy had no reverence IN him. He
secuted the authority OF his father and
Of Jasper. He scoffed at everything the
old man held sacred. He absolutely
refused to go to the Baptist chapel fire.
luented by his father, he stopped his
ears and made grimances at his
brothers and the servants during fam
ly worship, and the devotions were
rush of the old man at his youngest