Year: 1867

Jack SprOut swore a terrible oath.
In fact he swore quite number Of
oaths, for he was very angry. 1t was
nothing wonderful for Jack Sprout to
swear, even in the presence of his wife,
for he was sadly given to the habit of
using profane language And yet Jack
was a good husband; an indulgent
father; an honest, industrious man;
and he possessed many other excellen-
cies of character which might have
made him a valuable member of socie-
ty, had it not been for certain loose
habits which had marked his course
from childhood. His parents had been
careless and profane before him; his
father had been tough, rough custo
mer; so Jack naturally enough came
up in the same track. But he was good
looking, and kind hearted, and genial
and social, and so he had gained for
wife one of the very best maidens Of
our town, as we'll as one of the hand
soonest.


Mastor Freddy Sprout, aged five
years, stood by his mothers side, with
a sadly begrimmed and tear-streaked
face, and his story was, that Solomon
Gordon had whipped him with a stick,
and the boys legs still bore a few slight
tokens Of the castigation. Two other
boys had come home with Master
Freddy, and their testimony corrobo-
rated that which the sufferer had Civ
en-. Freddy, with some Of his play
mates, had been throwing stones at
Mr.. Gordon's dog, and one of the mis-
siles hurled by Freddy had hit the an
imal and caused him to howl with pain.
OF course, the stone thrown by such a
tiny hand could not have inflicted
much injury upon the canine brute
| but Solomon Gordon loved his dog,
and when he saw what had been done
he caught Master Freddy and gave
him thrashing; for be it known, Sol
onion Gordon was just such another
man as Jack Sprout, warm-hearted,
generous, and neighborly; but rough,
uneducated, strong -willed, and impul-
sive


Jack Sprout put on his bat and pre-
pared to sally forth. His lips were
pale and tightly compressed, and the
huge muscles in his arms worked like
bundles OF ropes.


Dear Jack, pleaded his wife, Fdon't
go out now


FLet me alone, Abby. No man shall
strike a child of mine without having
a chance to strike me, shall 60 and
see Sol. Gordon, and I'll give him such
| q licking as he won't forget in hur-
ryP And Jack closed the sentence
with terrible oath.


mo, no, Jack-don't go. What
good will it do? Wait until you are
more cool!


'Pshaw! Go away, Abby. There
is not power enough on earth to save
Sol. Gordon from drubbing; and I'll
give it to him before the sun goes
down.


And as Jack Sprout looked at that
moment he gave awful evidence that
he was physically able to make good
his word; for more magnificent struc-
ture of frame work and muscles was
not to be found in the town.


Dear jack cried his wife, taking
her husband by the arm, 'Oh, do listen
to me one moment, Freddyis not much
hurt, and be ought not to have thrown
stones at Gordon's dog. You know
both Solomon and his wife set every
thing by the little animal, and he would
not bark at the boys if they did not
plague him. If you go and find Cor
don as you are now, you will only
make matters worse. Oh, wish you
would drop it.


Jack only shook his head, and smiled
one of those smiles which are terrible
upon the face of an angry man.