The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-21


 this story nrst appeared in monthly in- stsllnents h the Comic Amanack. each menth's instaliment being illustrated by George Cruikshank. The treatment of the chief character is entirely diff ferent from Thackeray's ruling method ef letting both weaknesses and virtues lnte11et in the delinsation. and up- fbuilAlng of his characters. In Stubbs he portrays the remorseless and unrs- Iieved growth of seifishness and |. Loilyfsliow, who. in common with z most other judges of the day. thought very hfxh1y of the story, advised every one to read #. saying: Tt 10 very clever caricature on c very subtle theme--the meannsss of mean man s who does not suspect his own defect"
 From his earliest youth MT. Robert stubbs was careful and prudent per son. He was not . spendthrift and never injured fellow creature. h. deed. he could look back on many Strfking occasions when he had shown the most wonderful forbearahce. though deeply injured himself
 Some evil destiny must have govern cd him. however. Despite his frugali- ty and thrift. and despite the fair for tune that he inherited from his family. LA0 Wcnt 0OWu I4 Dtea0tAys VaHSucu " misfortune. Life played him such scurvy tricks that at last he was in such . condition of poverty and low state of mind that he. was willing to tell, his story for pint of beer.
 Mir. Stubbs was of the Suffolk Stubbses. His father was a well known gentleman of Bungay. who had inherited a comfortable little fortune.
 4fter Master Stubbs had been car fAA k~a~ he. Ho beset with every malady known to af- feet the young of man. he was sent to ,Dr. Swishtail's Academy. His mother cried very bitterly when she kissed him farewell, but Master Stubbs per- ceived with inexpressible relief that she was not utterly overcome; for she attained enough ,composure in the end to give him eighteen-pence.
 He had. already small capital of his own, having amassed, three shiilings by un1eviating perseverance and nies and earned for him the honorable title of Copper Merchant" when his profligate and extravagant school fellows learned of it.
 A wel1-regulated person begins early in life with thrift and prudence. Mas ter Stubbs adhered to his early prin-' ciples. despite the temptations of gin- GeTDfeaI ana OtH6f uHHoditHluA eSerefore delightful luxuries. Conse- 'quently. though he never stood very high in his classes there was no chap so much respected. The reason was simple. He always had money
 The other boys spent all theirs in the first day or two. during which time it was quite unnecessary for Mas ter Stubbs to spend any. for they were so foohsh1y free. with cakes and bar. IA.x nxA @Ah xh.A soon sank into well-deserved poverty.
 But at the end of the week. when all their holiday money was gone and they had only their three-pknce a week to expect, and they wanted a slice of gingerbread, who was the man to whom they had to turn for help?
 And Master Stubbs never refused.
 Hicks" he said. liberally and freely. to the first conner. Hicks. .ru buy you three ha1f-pennies' worth of gin- ger; bread. Then you can give me sthree-pence next Saturday" ;t
 Of course 1t happened often that a careless or frnprovident debtor could mot pay more than. say. three halfI pence on that next Saturday. Then that meant in ordinary justice that Master Stubbs should have three pence on the third Saturday, to make up for the loss of interest.
 There was one chop who never could raise three whole pennies. Conseouent- f. iy he had to pay three half-pence week after week till he had paid two shill- ings and ten-pence haif-penny. Yet even then the careless fellow stilI owed the eyiginaI three half-pence, for or course the payments he had made were only the interest But he was an unsratefui chap. indeed. When the holidays came Stubbs didn't ciamor. as ne might have done, demanding nav ement. Instead. he let+tf1e fnconsfderate a schaps go away owing it. Now that meantIin all mere honor and simple hntegrity that at the,e of the six weeks holiday the sum due, capital qua interest. would be sixteen shill- inss. for. you see, there had not been single payment during all that time.
 but the dishonest lad refused to pay II and offered Copper Merchant three Hnaif-pence; and Copper Merchant had Co take 1t, for he couldn't very well appeal to the masters.
 The mean rascal who did that was DICK Bunting. and he had to pay for his duplicity and lack of honor in the end. He spent all his holiday money m fortnight and then naturally it cost him something to make loans He had 10 give up a quarter of his bread and butter at breakfast and tea. and e silver fruit knife and a pair of com passes and a knife and a fine brass corkscrew and last, but not least, a very pretty silver laced waistccast
 At he end of that year Robert stabbs had not only all these things. but also three golden guineas and if teen shillings. It wasn't bad interest. ana the best of 1t all was that when ne gave the brass corkscrew to his fa- ther both of his parents burst into tears at his generosity and gave him a crown piece.
 That encouraged him in generosity and showed him that he was not throw Ing gifts away on undeserving persons. So he gave his mother a very neat brass thimble, which brought him in half guinea from her. Subsequently he got a sold-laced hat through being Kind again to his mother and making . needle book for her out of some old playing cards and bit of flannel.
 His father, however, treated him rather badly He accepted a tobacco stopper with cold smile and. begged nm not to make any more presents. because they were too expensive. Bob saw what he meant, and 1t was a great warning to him. It taught him that most people were ungratefuf- In the end.
 Re suffered still more keenly from the, vice of ingratitude when he re- turned to school. Dr. Swishtail hap peend to ask him where he had obtain ed the waistcoat ,and that selfish lit- tile Bunting burst into tears and sniv- ieled that Copper Merchant had forced Shim to give it up for debt.
 Dr. Swish tail. a maa lost to all sense of justice, hungrily asked for details, and all the other boys were led to tell tSA AAlv A