The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-12-15
THE MAKING OVER
OF A SPOILED MAN,
By MARY P. WINSTON.

nurse uPIOu Suing Is dl"u . I'll
object of pity to me. l have seen ono
of these boys looking wistfully at q
group of romping children, longing to
join in their play, but deferred by the
woman who had him in charge. They.
dressed in corduroy or bingham, are
without fear of soiling their clothcs;
he, rugged out in a white wash suit,
knows that one Speck of dirt on 1t
will bring down the anathemas of the
she dragon hired to keep him clean.
Tommy Burch and | would have
been friends in our childhood had we
been permitted. But Tommy was al
ways Immediately dressed. and a
middle aged lady tutOr-nurse had him
in charge to elevate his mind. l was
always dirty, and my mother seldom
put good clothes on me. for she knew
I would tear them to tatters climbing
trees If Tommy had had common
nurse he might have occasionally got
away from her, but with his gov
erness it was another matter. He
was never permitted to be out Of her
sight for moment.
The worst Of it was that Tom was
not born milksop. He became one
because he couldn't help himself.
When he had got rid of his governCss
he begged me to take him cunning
and fishing and all that. A love Of
such sports was born in him, but he
had been so delicately reared that he
e,tc f1,N 1,or f1S,1,i inc
they involved and couldn't keep pace
with me in anything. Nevertheless !
was fond of him, and we became
quite chummy. So after first effort
at tramping all day through a wood
and eating bacon and bareback for
supper he gave it up and devoted him
self to drawing pictures, for which he
had considerable talent. If he had had
the luck to have been thrown on his
own resources he might have made an
artist Of himself.
My cousin, Frances Rose, having be-
come the object Of Burch's alteration,
he confided the secret to me and asked
me to sound her as to whether there
was any chance for him. l suggested
to her one day that she and Tom would
make good match.
81 make match with that ladylike
young man" she exclaimed disdainful-
ly. Not much"
"He might at least teach you to
speak good English retortcd. Then
I told her of the way Tom had been
brought up and the dragon and all
that She listened attentively and from
change Of front, veered right round to
sympathy. So when I proposed that
she help me to try to rectify the dam
age done she fell in with the plan. We
were to coach Tom in athletic games
and manly amusements. giving him
surdry hard raps. such as he should
have had years before. All l let him
know about 1t was that Frank admired
manly men and he'd better go in for
athletics He was a trihe old to begin.
but promised to help him.
commenced with boxing gloves and
after a few lessons hammered him so
numerically that I feared had killed
III. w
I'd turn him over to Frank for new
beginning, which she, a girl, would be
better fitted TO make than I, right
tackle football man.
Frank took him up, and l could
plainly see she developed deep inter
est in the work l have seen her keep
him on the tennis court. playing first a
set, then double set. losing just
enough games to necessitate ''play-
off, the sweat running down his
cheeks. his neck and trickling down
his back, while he painted like horse
with the heaves.
A crisis came at last. 1t was in
cross country horseback riding. Frank
could ride like a centaur She disdain-
ed to strain horse by sitting side
wise. She rode straddle with divided
skirts. She made Tom get out of bed
before daylight to ride with her, in
creasing the length of their canterS
till on one occasion she kept the poor
beggar out without morsel Of food
from o'clock till noon. During this
time he was obliged to jump his horse.
she leading the way over fences
bitches and logs. He had been born
with no craven spirit and would have
gone to his death rather than give
in to her. This led her to push him
to see how far he would go, till one
day she went over a log so large that
she barely missed it. Tom, who was
not so expert a horseman, raised his
beast too soon, and the animal, COM
ing down with his belly fiat on the
log, rolled over on his rider.
l was sent for to 60 to Toms house
and found Frank there in the hall
looking like a ghost, while the doctor
was making up his mind whether
there was any chance for the milksop
she had been trying to make man of.
Tom lowered between life and death
for a month, then gradually came
around. The first thing he did after
getting out was to come to me and
tell me Of his engagement to my