Year: 1867

to such cub. think | should have
cultivated the beautiful and benignant
qualities of a wildcat; there would
have been one good fight, and one of
US would have been living, and the
other would have been dead, and that


would have been the end of it. But


Mrs. Jedwort bore and bore untold
mlseries, and large number of child
ren. She had had nine of these, and
three of them were under the sod and


six above it when Jedwort. ran off


with the meeting house in the way |
am going to tell you. There was


Maria, the Oldest girl, a perfect pic


ture of what her mother had been at


nineteen. Then there were the two


boys Dave and Dan, both fine young


fellows, spite Of their father. Then


came Lottie and Susie, and then Willie


a little four-year-old.


1T was amusing to see what the


mother would do to keep her family


looking decent, with the little means


she had. For Jedwort was the tight


est screw you ever saw. 1t was


avarice that had spoilt him, and came


near turning him into beast. The


boys used TO say he grew so bent,


looking in the dirt for pennies. That


was true Of his mind, if not of his body.


He was a poor man, and . very re-


spectacle man when he married his
! wife: but he had no sooner came into


possession of a little property, than he


grew crazy for more. There are a


good many men in the world, that no


body looks upon as monomanlacs,


who are crazy in just that sort of way.


They are all for laying up money,


depriving themselves of comforts, and


their families of the advantages of


society and education, just to add a


few dollars to their hoard every year.


and so they keep on till they die and


leave it all to their children, who


would be much better off if o little


more had been expended in the culti'


vation of their minds and manners


and less in stocks and bonds.


Jedwort was one OF that class of
men, although perhaps he carried the
| fault | speak Of a little to excess. A
dollar looked 50 big to him, and he
= held it so close, that at last he coulC


not see much of anything else. By
; degrees he lost all regard for decency
= and his neighbor's opinions. His
| children went barefoot even after they
r had got TO be great boys and girls
5 because he was too mean to buy they
l shoes. 1t was pitiful to see nic'
t interesting girl, like Maria, goins
5 about looking as she did, while he
y father was piling his money into tn
+ bank. She wanted to 60 to school
a and learn music, and be somebody
u but he would not keep a hired gir
d and so she was obliged to stay a
r, home and do house-work; and sh
t, could have no more got dollar out o
L him to pay for clothes and tuition
r than you could squeeze sap out of
5, hoe handle.


Is The only way his wife could eve
le get anything new for the family wa
Il by stealing butter from her own dair
lc and selling it behind his back. 'Yo
g needn't say anything to Mr.. Iedwo
a. about this batch of butter she woul
d. hint to the storekeeper; but you ma
H. hand the money to me, or will tai
TO my pay in goods In this way ne
e. gown, or a piece of goods for ii
ne boys coats, or something else the fal


lily needed, would be smuggled in
ID the house with fear and trembling lie
a old Jedwort should make a row al
to find where the money came from.
ng The house inside looked as ne
er as a pin, but everything around
RS looked terribly shiftless. 1t was bu
90 originally in an ambitious style, al


painted white. 1t had four tall fro
TO pillars supporting the part that cal
lie over the porch-lifting up the c!
an brows of the house, if | may so {
ge press myself, and making it look
'ut if it was going to sneeze, Half
7er blinds were off their hinges and
len rest tapped in the wind. The frC
ac- doorstep had rotted away. The POI
ely had once a good floor, but for YET
1rk Jedwort had been in the habit of
uld ing to it whenever he wanted a bo;
me for the pig pen, until not bit of
Use floor was left.


'lte But | began to tell about Jedw
ave leaning on the gate that morning
axe We all noticed him; and as Dave
'ed, brought in the milk his mother 6
ak ed, What is your father plann
lelr now? Half the time he stands til
UNI looking up the road, or else he's w
heir ing up that way in brown study.
p I'D s'He's got his eye on the old m
lalt ing house, said Dave, setting down
hey pail. He has been watching it
ton walking around it, off and on, fd
any week


yet, That was the first intimation |
W of what the old fellow was up l.
wo- But after breakfast he followed
arse out of the house, as if he had 81
illed thing on his mind to say to me-
d to Stark, says he, at last, 'you


had always insisted ont that | WASH
to- enterprisin' man.


tting ~ insist ont STILL, says |: 8
)u've was in the habit of talking mi
'rles, plain to him, and joking pretty
hor- sometimes IF | had this farr
tell show you enterprise. You won
meet see the hogs in the garden hal
id, | time, for want Of good fence to
J ex- them out. You wouldn't see the


that strip of land lying waste just for