Horatio Alger

“ Flanagan. "Didn't he come home last night?"
"No," said the old woman, "and he isn't home yet. When he does come I'll give him a dose of the strap. He's a bad, lazy, shiftless boy, and worries my life out."
"You're hard on the poor boy, Mother Watson. You must remember he's but a wisp of a lad, and hasn't much strength."
"He's strong enough," muttered Mother Watson. "It's lazy he is. Just let him come hime, that's all!"
"You told him not to come home unless he had twenty-five cents to bring with him." ”

“ She only thought, therefore, that he had not got the twenty-five cents, and did not dare to come back, especially as she had forbidden him to do so.
So, determining to give him a taste in the leather strap in the morning, she went to bed, first taking a fresh pota- tion from the whisky bottle, which was her constant companion.
Late in the morning Mother Watson woke, feeling as usual, at that hour of the day, cross and uncomfortable, and with a strong desire to make some one else uncomfortable. But Mark, whom she usually made to bear the burden of her temper, was still away. ”

“ She did not mean to lose her hold upon him, if there was any chance of retaining it, and she therefore made up her mind to visit the places where he was commonly to be found, and, when found, to bring him home, by violence, if necessary. ”